Monitor advice please

[parasko]

Hi folks,

I want to purchase a monitor for photo-editing, colour work but I'm confused by all the issues. I'm not technical by any stretch and my questions are based on what I have read on the net.

1. S-IPS or S-PVA? From what I have read, IPS is the way to go. However, many of the best-brand monitors, such as Eizo, are S-PVA in my price range. What gives?

2. Wide colour gamut or standard? So, wide is better for fine art colour printing to match screen and final print (Adobe RGB). What happens if I also need those same images on a website (sRGB)? How do people get around this with wide gamut monitors? Is standard in fact better if you are using one monitor for both needs?

3. Specific monitor recommendation? I have factored in between $1000-$2000 Aussie dollars (US$900-$1800), but preferably in that mid-range. I am considering one of the NEC multisync models. 24" is sufficient. Opinions?

4. In this price range, is there really much difference between brands and types with issues such as even brightness across the screen, viewing angles etc?

Any advice appreciated.

[PeterAit]

Hi folks,

I want to purchase a monitor for photo-editing, colour work but I'm confused by all the issues. I'm not technical by any stretch and my questions are based on what I have read on the net.

1. S-IPS or S-PVA? From what I have read, IPS is the way to go. However, many of the best-brand monitors, such as Eizo, are S-PVA in my price range. What gives?

2. Wide colour gamut or standard? So, wide is better for fine art colour printing to match screen and final print (Adobe RGB). What happens if I also need those same images on a website (sRGB)? How do people get around this with wide gamut monitors? Is standard in fact better if you are using one monitor for both needs?

3. Specific monitor recommendation? I have factored in between $1000-$2000 Aussie dollars (US$900-$1800), but preferably in that mid-range. I am considering one of the NEC multisync models. 24" is sufficient. Opinions?

4. In this price range, is there really much difference between brands and types with issues such as even brightness across the screen, viewing angles etc?

Any advice appreciated.

To address #2, there is no need to "get around" anything when preparing sRGB images for the web. Once an image has been converted to sRGB, the wide gamut monitor will display it just fine.

[David Saffir]

Many of the wide-gamut monitors available now are quite good. HP Dreamcolor, the Eizo  CG241 are very good. I have personally used both extensively.

I hope you have looked at the monitors that appeal to you - even better, with one of your images that will challenge the display.

No need to be concerned about sRGB. A wide gamut monitor will do just fine.

Hope this helps a bit.

David Saffir

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,


S-IPS is probably preferable but S-PVA is probably OK. The best monitors are have hardware calibration, that is you connect the calibration device to the screen and it will adjust it's internal tables instead of adjust color lookup tables (LUT) in the graphics card. As most graphics cards only have 8-bit LUTs (256 shades per color) while pro level monitors often have 14 bit LUTs (16384 shades / color) doing adjustment in the monitor makes a lot of sense.
That said I would say that you probably won't have issues with any decent monitor.

It's important that brightness is adjustable, because many problems arise from setting the monitor to bright.

A good site for information is http://shop.colourconfidence.com/ they have a "monitor showroom" here: http://shop.colourconfidence.com/section.p...809774a12512fb5

Regarding the choice of sRGB or Adobe RGB it doesn't really matter which you use as long as you don't have colors falling outside the sRGB gamut. Modern printers will be able to print some colors that fall outside both gamuts.
You may check this link: http://www.outbackphoto.com/tforum/viewtop...hp?TopicID=1700

Publishing on the web is problematic anyway. It's mandatory that you convert your images to sRGB before publishing on the net, because 99.9% of viewers would use a non calibrated equipment and non color managed application. If you are using Lightroom it's a piece of cake.

Best regards
Erik

Hi folks,

I want to purchase a monitor for photo-editing, colour work but I'm confused by all the issues. I'm not technical by any stretch and my questions are based on what I have read on the net.

1. S-IPS or S-PVA? From what I have read, IPS is the way to go. However, many of the best-brand monitors, such as Eizo, are S-PVA in my price range. What gives?

2. Wide colour gamut or standard? So, wide is better for fine art colour printing to match screen and final print (Adobe RGB). What happens if I also need those same images on a website (sRGB)? How do people get around this with wide gamut monitors? Is standard in fact better if you are using one monitor for both needs?

3. Specific monitor recommendation? I have factored in between $1000-$2000 Aussie dollars (US$900-$1800), but preferably in that mid-range. I am considering one of the NEC multisync models. 24" is sufficient. Opinions?

4. In this price range, is there really much difference between brands and types with issues such as even brightness across the screen, viewing angles etc?

Any advice appreciated.

[fike]

Take a look under the color management forum.  Lots of discussion is going on there on the topic of picking a good display.  Here was one when I was preparing to purchase a Dell.  http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....showtopic=40068