the new apple cinema screens

[marc gerritsen]

I am busy re-configuring my office computers and am thinking of getting two imacs 27"
but I keep hearing here and there that the screens are too light and/or too reflective

I am working on a new mac book pro with a similar quality screen when I am on the road
and realized that my photos look very different once i put them on the office screens

any of you have experience with those screens in terms of calibrating etc

cheers
marc

[CBarrett]

I am busy re-configuring my office computers and am thinking of getting two imacs 27"
but I keep hearing here and there that the screens are too light and/or too reflective

I am working on a new mac book pro with a similar quality screen when I am on the road
and realized that my photos look very different once i put them on the office screens

any of you have experience with those screens in terms of calibrating etc

cheers
marc

Hmm.... I would avoid the glossy screens as much as possible.  I ordered my 17" MBP with the matte screen and my old 24" Cinema Display has the matte screen too.  I think the glossy versions ten to make things feel more contrasty and oversaturated.... plus annoying reflections.  I ordered a 24" Eizo yesterday and am anxious to compare it to the Apple display.

[Jeff-Grant]

I am busy re-configuring my office computers and am thinking of getting two imacs 27"
but I keep hearing here and there that the screens are too light and/or too reflective

I am working on a new mac book pro with a similar quality screen when I am on the road
and realized that my photos look very different once i put them on the office screens

any of you have experience with those screens in terms of calibrating etc

cheers
marc

Calibrating an iMac is an exercise in frustration. You can't get it dark enough and the edge to edge uniformity is less than stellar. I use an Eizo CG222W for serious colour, and the iMac for palettes, etc.

[marc gerritsen]

Hmm.... I would avoid the glossy screens as much as possible.  I ordered my 17" MBP with the matte screen and my old 24" Cinema Display has the matte screen too.  I think the glossy versions ten to make things feel more contrasty and oversaturated.... plus annoying reflections.  I ordered a 24" Eizo yesterday and am anxious to compare it to the Apple display.

the problem with that is that apple does not make any non-glossy screens either in the imacs or any other display
wondering if a certain film could rectify some of the problems and if it is managable.
m

[gwhitf]

I recently bought a top of the line MBP 17 inch, and they mostly offered the glossy monitor. I paid extra for the matte screen, but the problem with that is that your eyes must be exactly in line with the monitor, or else the visual representation changes drastically. Up to what I'd estimate to be about a stop lighter, if you're not directly in line with the monitor.

But I found that glossy option to be completely objectionable; I don't want to see myself, when I'm tethering a job in direct sunlight. Very irritating.

I don't know of a good option. Maybe paint the sheetrock behind your editing station very dark grey, and wear your fashion-black tshirt when you're retouching, and hope your hair is combed, because if it's not, it's gonna bug you to death while you're working, when you see your reflection.

I retouch with the older matte Apple 30" monitors, calibrated with EyeOne Photo, and I love those monitors. Maybe not as accurate as a pricey Eizo, but still, a very nice monitor, when calibrated.

[rethmeier]

Marc,
do yourself a favor and get yourself a NEC SpectraView 3090 30 Inch.
You can get them from B&H for around $2500 USD
They are 100% RGB.

Not much comes close apart from the Eizo.

You can afford it,the busiest shooter in the East!

[Jack Flesher]

Marc,
do yourself a favor and get yourself a NEC SpectraView 3090 30 Inch.
You can get them from B&H for around $2500 USD
They are 100% RGB.

Not much comes close apart from the Eizo.

You can afford it,the busiest shooter in the East!

What Willem said... And actually, it's been discounted -- it's now around $1900 with the puck and Spectaview software.

[JonRoemer]

do yourself a favor and get yourself a NEC SpectraView 3090 30 Inch.
You can get them from B&H for around $2500 USD
They are 100% RGB.

Not much comes close apart from the Eizo.

I've had one of these for just over a year.  It replaced my Apple 30" ACD.  Great monitor, much better shadow detail than the ACD, more neutral in grays and more accurate.  Also, a breeze to calibrate.  No more futzing with the luminosity slider in the Mac display sys. pref's.

[Guy Mancuso]

What Willem said... And actually, it's been discounted -- it's now around $1900 with the puck and Spectaview software.

 I just bought one also. what a difference for the better.

[michele]

You simply can't have a good calibration with the iMac because you have only software controls on the monitor, of course you can move up and down the luminosity, but it's like calibrating the macbook, it's better then nothing but far far away from a good pro level monitor. A good monitor, like the Eizo, have usb port somewhere on the right where you can attach a spectrophotometer and with the eizo's software you can first run a hardware calibration and then create a profile... The imac is good for teeneagers and for receptionists... The gloss screen makes me dizzy after 2 hours, with my eizo i can work all day long and my eyes are fresh like in the morning  
another point is the contrast of the monitor, choose something around 400:1 i guess the imac is something like 1000:1 that is a bad starting point for printing proofing.
if you want to buy an iMac you don't need much power and much ram, keep the macbook and attach it to a good eizo, oh and if you don't have it, buy a spectrophotometer...  remember that an eizo can live beteween 5 and 10 years, so if you think they are expensive, think again...

[tho_mas]

remember that an eizo can live beteween 5 and 10 years, so if you think they are expensive, think again...

actually ... we don't know yet. The wide gamut panels are still relatively new. And they produce more heat than the former sRGB panels.
Eizo excludes the max. luminance level from their 5 year warranty - a max. luminance level of 120cd/qm is guaranteed for "only" 3 years.
On the other hand my wide gamut Eizo is 2.5 years old and the generic luminosity is reduced just a little. Also the generic white point has shifted just a bit (warmer). Uniformity is still very good.
So 5 years... probably yes. But I'd consider 10 years as quite optimistic...

[michele]

actually ... we don't know yet. The wide gamut panels are still relatively new. And they produce more heat than the former sRGB panels.
Eizo excludes the max. luminance level from their 5 year warranty - a max. luminance level of 120cd/qm is guaranteed for "only" 3 years.
On the other hand my wide gamut Eizo is 2.5 years old and the generic luminosity is reduced just a little. Also the generic white point has shifted just a bit (warmer). Uniformity is still very good.
So 5 years... probably yes. But I'd consider 10 years as quite optimistic...

Good to know it, i didn't...  Thanks tho_mas

[Jeff-Grant]

On the subject of calibration, I have just discovered that an i1 display 2 just doesn't cut it with an Eizo CG222W. I got a nasty pink cast which didn't go away until I profiled it with an i1 Pro. My i1 display may be broken, but I have wasted enough time. It's for the rubbish bin.

[geesbert]

I have had an Imac 24 with a NEC 2690 WUXI attached and quite liked that combo, though they were impossible to get looking alike, so I trusted the NEC and used the iMAC for anything not requiring critical color.

recently I have upgraded to a Mac tower and a EIZO CG241W, alongside with my NEC.

I am not so sure it was worth spending for the Eizo, I can't see much difference to the NEC, but it is true, it seems to be easier to my eyes than the imac/NEC combo.


the best thing now it the Imac comes along to shootings in a ilugger, it is so much nicer to tether than my macbook. I can even slip a Benq widescreen display into that bag, so my stylist gets his own tripod mounted screen for liveview in line of sight, while me and my clients can watch the captures on the Imac.

[Mr. Rib]

Although Eizo may seem to be pricey, you don't need a top-notch Eizo monitor to have a very accurate color rendition after calibration. Plus they come with long warranty.
I've heard bad things about 30" cinema displays so be careful (greenish color cast at the edge, inconsistent lighting of the screen).

[Craig Lamson]

Marc,
do yourself a favor and get yourself a NEC SpectraView 3090 30 Inch.
You can get them from B&H for around $2500 USD
They are 100% RGB.

Not much comes close apart from the Eizo.

You can afford it,the busiest shooter in the East!

+1 on the 90 series NEC's.  Just got the 2690 to replace a very trusted Lacie Electron blue crt.  What a nice monitor.  Sorry I waited so long to change.

[BJNY]

New series from NEC to be available in the next few months according to:

http://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subac...p;id=1265200378

[Christopher]

I can only say that I love my Eizo CG301 and CG220. The CG220 is over 5 years old now and works still great. The 30'' Eizo is a dream to work.

[BJNY]

I was using CG301 for capture a couple weeks ago,

and did not like at all how the image displayed changed from different viewing angles.

I suppose that's why an improved model CG303 using IPS panel is coming out soon.

[Doug Peterson]

I was using CG301 for capture a couple weeks ago,

and did not like at all how the image displayed changed from different viewing angles.

I suppose that's why an improved model CG303 using IPS panel is coming out soon.

There are only so many manufacturer's of 30" panels and a company like Eizo doesn't just "throw" the latest panel into a monitor - they create a monitor very specifically for that panel which takes some time. So those products are often half a generation behind. Still I find the viewing angle of the 301 to be good - of huge note though I almost always have the hood on (this panel is so huge that it's nearly impossible to work with if you're not shading it) and that restricts your angle of view (can't look through a hood! :-)).

Generally speaking I far prefer the 24" size for price/value/product-cycles. If needed, two 24" monitors (or a 24" and a cheap 20") makes a much more flexible (IMO) solution than one 30". If pure size (for impact on non-color-critical clients) is the desire an output to a larger-and-still-cheap HDTV seems more reasonable.

I LOVE the Eizo CG243w (diclaimer: we sell Eizo and LaCie so I'm biased). Display port and HDMI inputs, great viewing angle, fantastically accurate and consistent rendition of even difficult images (shadow detail, detail in areas of bright color like back-lite clothing, gradients) no matter where they are on the screen.

Once you've worked on an built-only-for-color-critical-proofing Eizo it's really hard to go back to general-purpose monitors.

Doug Peterson
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