NEC PA 301W

[warmtone]

I'm current upgrading my old 24inch low end Samsung Monitor and considering NEC PA series as my first option.

There's a good deal at the moment on the 30inch NEC which is only slightly more expensive than the NEC PA271W.

In Australia prices are: $2000 including calibration software for the 30" and $1900 for the 27"

The 30 inch option got very good reviews on the Prad.de site.  But most photographers I know are using 27 inch NEC or Eizo.

But bigger is not always better!

So before I jump in I would appreciate advice on whether the Image Quality of the larger PA  NEC  screen is as good as the 27" NEC  for  critical photo editing in LR and Photoshop? Or is 27" the sweet spot?

Option 2 is to consider the highly regarded much smaller CX 24 Eizo for the same price as the NEC 30" ...... some people feel that Eizo is worth the extra but I feel NEC is offering similar IQ for considerably less. Opinions please ......maybe its in the calibration software or better panels/electronics?

[studio347]

A personal opinion only with limited experience: If money and portability is not objection, I would buy the best quality Eizo 27 inch with or without (smaller_cheaper) second monitor. If money is some concern and portability is not concern, I would go with PA 27 inch with or without second monitor. At 30 inch size, I'm expecting some quality issues which may not a big concern...depending... I want to emphasize the fact that my opinion is based on limited experience

[afx]

I was in a similar position a few months ago and thanks to a very special offer, I ended up with the 30".
I do not have the 27" for comparison, I only have the 30".

The larger the screen, the harder it is to get uniform color and illumination. So for extremely accurate work, a 27" and more so a 24" might have an advantage over the 30", you need to check the details of the reviews. Apart from that, go for 30". The 16:10 aspect ratio is much more useful for imaging work than 16:9.
The 30" has slightly larger pixels, so you do not need to play font scaling games for proper font display.

I personally would not buy any high end Eizo as long as they have fans in there.

cheers
afx

[digitaldog]

I've had both. I slightly prefer the PA27 but both are good units. The 30 and 27 have the same width but different aspect ratio. The 30 is huge! It also appears to have run warmer which is to be expected. Advantage of the PA is you can use MutliProfiler and/or SpectraView. If you got a great deal on the 30, go for it.

[warmtone]

I've had both. I slightly prefer the PA27 but both are good units. The 30 and 27 have the same width but different aspect ratio. The 30 is huge! It also appears to have run warmer which is to be expected. Advantage of the PA is you can use MutliProfiler and/or SpectraView. If you got a great deal on the 30, go for it.

Well I finally bit the bullet on the PA 271W - purchased from Image Science  in Melbourne - I paid a bit extra to avoid the "virtual" experience of the online alternatives.

In the end I appreciated the advice I received and the piece of mind that if I need assistance it's there.

I decided the PA271W was the best compromise for size/image quality and price.
All working and Wow what a difference!  I discovered half the colour spectrum has been missing!
Also bought the i1Pro calibrator - but the monitor was well adjusted from the factor.  It seems to work well with the Spectra view software.
Couldn't be happier........

Thanks to everyone for assistance

[Tony Jay]

I can recommend Image Science as a fantastic business.
Their customer service is second to none.

They also have a website that deals with every aspect of colour management, particularly as it pertains to printing.
A wonderful resource.

Tony Jay

[PeterAit]

The 30" is excellent. I have both the 30 and the 27 sitting next to one another and when I move a photo from one to the other it looks precisely the same.

[studio347]

yes, with usual pictures, it should be fine. In some very unusual cases, for example, like a white long dress image, there might be some small issues.... We might see the lower part is slightly magenta and darker.... than expected.... You can make the whole monitor covered with light gray tone and see... how the tone looks...
I mean it's not a big deal. It's just not 100% perfect which is normal...