Monitor and Calibration for Prepress

[silvergelatin]

Hello all. My first post here, so please be gentle

I'm getting into publishing, and would like to optimize my system for remote printing. I work primarily in black and white, but not always. Currently I am using a modest Dell U2415 monitor with an i1Display Pro and either dispcalgui or the ColorEyes demo (for another week, anyway). I've been doing some remote proofing with a local GMG proofing service, and am in the ballpark already with the ColorEyes. The dispcalgui works fine in PS, but it wreaked havoc in my web browser after multiple attempts. Everyone turned green!

Questions:

- If I were to upgrade my monitor to something like the NEC PA272/Eizo equivalent and dedicated calibrator, would the grayscale reproduction and accuracy improve significantly?

- I am using a 2012 Macbook Pro. Is it a waste to buy such a monitor, since I do not have support for a billion colors?

- What are the ideal black point, gamma, white point, and luminance values for remote printing? Big question, I know. ColorEyes freaks out if I use anything other than L* for gamma, and I'm not really sure what to put for black point. Is D50 and 100cd/m2 still the thing to do? I have mine down to 80 now, and the printed shadows are still a little darker than on screen. I mentally compensate, but it'd be nice to get a better match.

Thanks!

[digitaldog]

- What are the ideal black point, gamma, white point, and luminance values for remote printing? Big question, I know.

The settings the produce a visual match to the proof. http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/why_are_my_prints_too_dark.shtml

ColorEyes freaks out if I use anything other than L* for gamma, and I'm not really sure what to put for black point. Is D50 and 100cd/m2 still the thing to do? I have mine down to 80 now, and the printed shadows are still a little darker than on screen. I mentally compensate, but it'd be nice to get a better match.

The TRC or gamma settings are the least of your worries, in a color managed app, it's not super critical like backlight intensity or White Point.
As for the web, start here:
http://www.gballard.net/psd/go_live_page_profile/embeddedJPEGprofiles.html

[silvergelatin]

Thank you for the input, Andrew! Do you think that my existing monitor, properly calibrated and used in conjunction with prints under a dedicated viewing light as mentioned in the article, would suffice, ro will I gain a significant advantage in upgrading the monitor?