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Author Topic: What to look for in a monitor  (Read 2262 times)

Peter McLennan

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Re: What to look for in a monitor
« Reply #20 on: May 25, 2020, 02:37:25 pm »

How long did you have it, Peter?

Sorry, Alan.  I missed your question.  A few years.  Three, maybe.  The power supply died.
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Jim Kasson

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Re: What to look for in a monitor
« Reply #21 on: May 25, 2020, 02:48:17 pm »

If you splurge on a pro display ( e.g. Digitaldog's extolled Spectraview), make sure your GPU supports 10-bit OpenGL in Photoshop. Otherwise, you'll be stuck with only 8-bit color.  I hear that Nvidia has a new driver that makes some older GPUs compatible with 10-bit, but don't quote me on that.

I haven't found that 10 bit precision makes much difference for still image editing, if the calibration tables are in the monitor. If the OS and/or the app would support dithering, it wouldn't make any practical difference at all. As it is, unless I'm looking at images designed to show the difference, I can't see it.

Jim

jrsforums

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Re: What to look for in a monitor
« Reply #22 on: May 25, 2020, 03:02:49 pm »

Both gaming and studio Nvidia drivers support 10bit now.  Been that way for over a year now.

I thought GeForce & Titan ‘Gaming’ drivers still only supported 8bit.  I thought that was the point of the SIGGRAPH 209 announcement
https://petapixel.com/2019/07/29/nvidia-unveils-new-studio-driver-with-support-for-10-bit-color-for-creatives/

https://www.cnet.com/news/nvidia-studio-drivers-deliver-geforce-30-bit-color-unto-photoshop-and-more/
« Last Edit: May 25, 2020, 03:07:43 pm by jrsforums »
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John

geneo

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Re: What to look for in a monitor
« Reply #23 on: May 25, 2020, 06:39:34 pm »

I thought GeForce & Titan ‘Gaming’ drivers still only supported 8bit.  I thought that was the point of the SIGGRAPH 209 announcement
https://petapixel.com/2019/07/29/nvidia-unveils-new-studio-driver-with-support-for-10-bit-color-for-creatives/

https://www.cnet.com/news/nvidia-studio-drivers-deliver-geforce-30-bit-color-unto-photoshop-and-more/

No they all do. I am running a 2070 Super gaming drivers with 10 bit (and it works rather than indicating it does like the old drivers).  They have done away with the distinction - probably too much extra work for little gain (plus competing with AMD).

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/gamescom-2019-game-ready-driver/
« Last Edit: May 25, 2020, 06:46:52 pm by geneo »
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Walk softly and carry a big lens

texshooter

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Re: What to look for in a monitor
« Reply #24 on: May 28, 2020, 05:01:28 pm »

You also may want a monitor with high contrast.
I remember when I bought my 30" monitor ten years ago people advised me to get one with low contrast, supposedly because editing images on high contrast screens makes soft proofing for print difficult, since printers have much lower contrast than LCDs.
At the time, they recommended a 500:1 contrast ratio with 1,000:1 being the highest. In hind sight, I wish I bought a high contrast monitor instead because my printer (Epson 3800 at the time) consistently produced greater shadow detail than my 1,000:1 monitor ever could (the opposite of what you'd expect).This frustrated me to no end. I concluded that my monitor's native contrast was considerably lower than its official specs claimed.  Next time I'm going HIGH contrast no matter what they say.
« Last Edit: May 28, 2020, 05:07:28 pm by texshooter »
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Jim Kasson

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Re: What to look for in a monitor
« Reply #25 on: May 28, 2020, 05:52:17 pm »

You also may want a monitor with high contrast.
I remember when I bought my 30" monitor ten years ago people advised me to get one with low contrast, supposedly because editing images on high contrast screens makes soft proofing for print difficult, since printers have much lower contrast than LCDs.
At the time, they recommended a 500:1 contrast ratio with 1,000:1 being the highest. In hind sight, I wish I bought a high contrast monitor instead because my printer (Epson 3800 at the time) consistently produced greater shadow detail than my 1,000:1 monitor ever could (the opposite of what you'd expect).This frustrated me to no end. I concluded that my monitor's native contrast was considerably lower than its official specs claimed.  Next time I'm going HIGH contrast no matter what they say.

The contrast you observe in use is almost always lower than the spec'd contrast, sometimes a lot lower, unless you work in the dark and wear black clothing.

Jim

texshooter

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Re: What to look for in a monitor
« Reply #26 on: May 29, 2020, 07:22:07 pm »

I found that with that version of the NEC, it was hard to determine really critical focus because of the coarse grain of the monitor surface.

Are matte surface screens really all that necessary?  I would think the anti-reflective coating, plus a monitor hood, plus smart room lighting would be enough.  Are there any pro level monitors that don't have a grainy matte screen other than Eizo?
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