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View Full Version : Let's go nuts: find me the right monitor.


X-Warrior
28th of April 2009 (Tue), 13:14
Topic title says most of it already.

I'm mainly looking for a proper monitor for my photography work. This 'work' involves mostly displaying things on my website. Maybe a few prints for myself every now and then. No commercial stuff. Not yet anyway, but I'm not excluding anything from the future.
However, I'm perfectionistic enough to want something proper to work with. It's just not right spending thousands of €'s on gear and forgetting about the final bit: post processing.

Sooo... this one looks quite nice:
http://www.eizo.com/products/graphics/cg222w/index.asp
...but comes with a serious price tag. And I may not be needing a massive Adobe RGB coverage. Or do I ? On the other hand, I did pay €750 for my current screen and it's worth every cent. Rather strange that €1000 (?) would suddenly be too much these days :confused:
I heard that NEC also produces some interesting screens as well ? Might be an interesting direction to look at.
Of course it would be good to also hear about other good brands in this area.

Anyway, a small list of what I'd like to see:
- Wide viewing angle. 178º or something like that. I believe IPS displays have this ?
- Good colour reproduction - equal throughout the screen. As little variations as possible.
- 20" and up will do, along with appropriate resolutions of 1680x1050 or 1920x1200. The former would actually be preferable due to my PC performance, although 1920x1200 wouldn't kill it outright.
- Hardware calibration - does this mean I don't need to have software running in the background all the time ? If so, want!
- Must not be of hideous design. Though most models should be alright there. Preferably something compact, relative to screen size. Good looking gets favoured.
- DVI connection, future compatibility by other connections (HDMI / display port ?) would be given extra consideration.

I will also require a calibration tool. Suggestions are welcome.

Budget is whatever I think a display of a certain performance is worth.


Alternively, I could be talked out of this if anyone can convince me my current Philips Brilliance 200W will do a great job, if only I took the effort to calibrate it ;)

Thanks in advance :)

Bearmann
28th of April 2009 (Tue), 23:13
Ok, since no one has answered you, I give it a go. First I would get a good hardware calibration device. You will need one no matter what monitor you end up with. You might decide to keep the Phillips once it's calibrated and profiled. If you are not happy with the Phillips, you can do some reading here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=2049206&enterthread=y

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/selector.htm

http://www.digitalversus.com/duels.php?ty=6&ma1=88&mo1=477&p1=4862&ma2=36&mo2=397&p2=3698&ph=8

If you are primarily posting on the web and not printing, I would not recommend a wide gamut monitor. These monitors have their own issues and the web is closest to sRGB so it would be a waste and an irritation to you.

Many like the Dell 2209WA monitor for an inexpensive solution. The top of the line NEC monitors are thought to be some of the best value, premium monitors, especially when you get them with the calibrator and Spectraview software. Again avoid the wide gamut ones for your usage.

tim
29th of April 2009 (Wed), 03:37
Why do you need that viewing angle? The only reason I can think you'd need more than 30 degrees is for others to view the screen.

Kronie
29th of April 2009 (Wed), 07:06
Many like the Dell 2209WA monitor for an inexpensive solution.

That was going to be my suggestion, the 2209WA. I just bought one. Will be here on Friday.....

X-Warrior
29th of April 2009 (Wed), 12:33
Why do you need that viewing angle? The only reason I can think you'd need more than 30 degrees is for others to view the screen.

Because on rare occasions other people do watch along. But more reason is because I would get annoyed when looking from the side, even if it's totally irrelevant. I like having it wide :)


Good point on the wide gamut. I've already taken a look at tftcentral yesterday (via another thread), and found that this 200W is most likely an S-IPS. Sure explains the price I paid and the very apparent quality when comparing it to most other displays I see.

I'm tending more and more towards just a calibration tool and keeping this one running. I am happy with it, but I was thinking I might do better. After thinking and reading some more, I'm starting to think I actually can't, as far as the monitor goes. Just need to calibrate the thing.
Which brings me to:
What calibration tool would you recommend ?

Bearmann
30th of April 2009 (Thu), 17:13
Oh, something like a Spider3, or Eyeone Display 2, or ColorMunki. I'm not really sure which is the best. All should do fine on a normal gamut monitor.

X-Warrior
1st of May 2009 (Fri), 10:06
Well I've made my choice and ordered a Spyder 3 Pro. I'll be calibrating my current screens.
Thanks for the help, and for saving me lots of money and likely trouble ;)

ChasP505
1st of May 2009 (Fri), 11:58
Well I've made my choice and ordered a Spyder 3 Pro. I'll be calibrating my current screens.
Thanks for the help, and for saving me lots of money and likely trouble ;)

I would have gone with an EyeOne Display 2 or Spyder3 Elite instead (both about the same price).

X-Warrior
1st of May 2009 (Fri), 12:19
I would have gone with an EyeOne Display 2 or Spyder3 Elite instead (both about the same price).

They had the spider 3 elite for about €50 more, but I checked them out on the datacolor site and figured the elite would be overkill for my non-professional purposes. I don't need all the fancy stuff, just a tool that will get my colour display right :)