Photo Editing Monitor

Hello Everyone,

I am in the process of ordering a 32" 4k monitor for my photo editing. so far i have narrowed it down to BenQ sw320 4k and Dell up3216q. I am also in the process of buying a laptop Dell XPS 15 with 4k touch with i7 processor 32 gb ram and either 512 or 1TB nvme drive. I am wondering if I use of of the above mentioned monitors with the Dell laptop, will it degrade the quality or colours? Any advise, suggestion or feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

You will want a good calibrator.

What color space do you want? Check each monitor spec to see what percentage they are compliant to sRGB and AdobeRGB. Can be easier to do color editing of raw images shot in ProPhoto or AdobeRGB with a monitor calibrated to high compliance of AdobeRGB.

Thank you both for your input. I was considering getting the xrite calibration tool as I have heard great feedback for it. I would like 100%srgb and 100% Adobe rgb which I believe both monitors offer. I will be using for photoshop and other software and I need the colours to match as I will be printing quite a lot. Eizo is too expensive for me right now.

I use i1Display Pro. Excellent product.

Also - be aware that there are plenty of applications and plug-in interfaces that assume sRGB or have no color management and these applications will display super saturated images, etc. on your wide(r) gamut display.

kirk

kirkt wrote in post #18751818
Also - be aware that there are plenty of applications and plug-in interfaces that assume sRGB or have no color management and these applications will display super saturated images, etc. on your wide(r) gamut display.

kirk

Dell seem to have that issue covered for their wide gamut monitors. I have a UP2715K and use the Dell monitor management software to dynamically switch colour profile on a per program basis. So I can have 99% AdobeRGB while using Lr/Ps, but as soon as I switch to a chrome browser I can have the monitor switch to 100% sRGB instead. I know that browsers are mostly colour managed these days, but so many images online are sRGB but without colour management data that defaulting to sRGB isn't really a loss.

Alan

How much do you want to spend? Check out NEC.

https://www.necdisplay​.com/p/displays/pa271q​-bk

Hen3Ry wrote in post #18752334
How much do you want to spend? Check out NEC.

https://www.necdisplay​.com/p/displays/pa271q​-bk

YESSSS!

I got an NEC a few months ago. Top flight stuff they are.

And, as Digital Paradise said above, you'll need a good calibration system if you don't have one. Makes all the difference in the world.

Hen3Ry wrote in post #18752334
How much do you want to spend? Check out NEC.

https://www.necdisplay​.com/p/displays/pa271q​-bk

Thank you. I will research on nec. I am okay to spend up to $2k Canadian. You think it's better than Benq 32" 4k model?

Here are the specs for the NEC current equivalents:

30” MultiSync PA302W-BK

30” MultiSync PA302W-BK
https://www.projectors​uperstore.com …tails.cfm?produ​ctId=78827
GB-R LED backlight consumes 44% less power than a comparable CCFL backlight
99.3% coverage of AdobeRGB color space
Superior screen performance (1000:1 contrast ratio, 2560x1600 native resolution, 340cd/m2 brightness)
14-bit 3D internal programmable lookup tables (LUTs) for calibration
Picture in Picture and Picture by Picture modes increase productivity by displaying two sources simultaneously
MultiProfiler™ software provides complete control over the five picture modes, including the loading of any ICC profile directly into the monitor for optimal color space matching
DisplaySync ProTM controls two computers with only one keyboard and mouse
Wide connectivity includes both regular and Mini DisplayPort with 10-bit support, 10-bit HDMI, a DVI-D input as well as a USB hub
DisplayPort cable compatibility notice
NaViSet Administrator 2: Free software solution that greatly eases administration and management of larger display device installations
Available with SpectraViewII Color Calibration Kit (PA302W-BK-SV)
Available in white (PA302W)

NEC PA272W-B https://www.projectors​uperstore.com …tX8NZZPsSKbxoCo​ZkQAvD_BwE

GB-R LED backlight consumes 37% less power than a comparable CCFL backlight
99.3% coverage of AdobeRGB color space
Superior screen performance (1000:1 contrast ratio, 2560x1440 native resolution, 340cd/m2 brightness)
14-bit 3D internal programmable lookup tables (LUTs) for calibration
Picture in Picture and Picture by Picture modes increase productivity by displaying two sources simultaneously
MultiProfiler™ software provides complete control over the five picture modes, including the loading of any ICC profile directly into the monitor for optimal color space matching
DisplaySync ProTM controls two computers with only one keyboard and mouse
Wide connectivity includes both regular and Mini DisplayPort with 10-bit support, 10-bit HDMI, a DVI-D input as well as a USB hub
DisplayPort cable compatibility notice
NaViSet Administrator 2: Free software solution that greatly eases administration and management of larger display device installations

Hen3Ry wrote in post #18752916
Here are the specs for the NEC current equivalents:

30” MultiSync PA302W-BK

30” MultiSync PA302W-BK
https://www.projectors​uperstore.com …tails.cfm?produ​ctId=78827
GB-R LED backlight consumes 44% less power than a comparable CCFL backlight
99.3% coverage of AdobeRGB color space
Superior screen performance (1000:1 contrast ratio, 2560x1600 native resolution, 340cd/m2 brightness)
14-bit 3D internal programmable lookup tables (LUTs) for calibration
Picture in Picture and Picture by Picture modes increase productivity by displaying two sources simultaneously
MultiProfiler™ software provides complete control over the five picture modes, including the loading of any ICC profile directly into the monitor for optimal color space matching
DisplaySync ProTM controls two computers with only one keyboard and mouse
Wide connectivity includes both regular and Mini DisplayPort with 10-bit support, 10-bit HDMI, a DVI-D input as well as a USB hub
DisplayPort cable compatibility notice
NaViSet Administrator 2: Free software solution that greatly eases administration and management of larger display device installations
Available with SpectraViewII Color Calibration Kit (PA302W-BK-SV)
Available in white (PA302W)

NEC PA272W-B https://www.projectors​uperstore.com …tX8NZZPsSKbxoCo​ZkQAvD_BwE

GB-R LED backlight consumes 37% less power than a comparable CCFL backlight
99.3% coverage of AdobeRGB color space
Superior screen performance (1000:1 contrast ratio, 2560x1440 native resolution, 340cd/m2 brightness)
14-bit 3D internal programmable lookup tables (LUTs) for calibration
Picture in Picture and Picture by Picture modes increase productivity by displaying two sources simultaneously
MultiProfiler™ software provides complete control over the five picture modes, including the loading of any ICC profile directly into the monitor for optimal color space matching
DisplaySync ProTM controls two computers with only one keyboard and mouse
Wide connectivity includes both regular and Mini DisplayPort with 10-bit support, 10-bit HDMI, a DVI-D input as well as a USB hub
DisplayPort cable compatibility notice
NaViSet Administrator 2: Free software solution that greatly eases administration and management of larger display device installations

Fron what incan understand the difference between the two models is 3 inches as mostly everything is the same? $700 extra for only 3" real estate doesnt justify the cost. I am still wondering if benq sw320 is a better offer compared to nec. I am really considering NEC and thinking of pulling the trigger on it this week.

Appreciate your input so far Henry. Thank you.

You are welcome. Personally today I'd go with the 27, but I currently have the previous generation's 30 inch, which is 16 x 10 rather than 16 x 9. It's totally trouble free, and as far as I can see, about as accurate as they come, although it takes 20 minutes to warm up.

But Craigslist is your friend. Be aware that there are a lot of folks out there that over-buy when they get into post processing, and then this kind of stuff just sits around when they get tired of not knowing what they are doing. I was able to buy my monitor and an Epson 3880 together for 800 bucks. They were both still in the box.

we do clipping path regularly, and you know for this work i need to focus on display all time. but my asus monitor protect my eyes for this. you can check asus monitor from various model, they are good for long term work.

In general the colours should be the same for any system (laptop, pc or mac) that you plug a monitor into with no degradation as long as each system has been calibrated. There may be small differences depending on what connections and cables it uses though. The laptop says it has displayport 1.2 which should be fine for nearly all monitors unless you are going to be doing 4K 10bit+, then some monitors require the bandwidth of displayport 1.4. Last I checked very few applications actually supported a full 10bit (or more) colour workflow and you needed a workstation graphics card like a Quattro or FirePro for non directx applications. Lightroom (last time I checked) only displays 8bit colour even though it uses 16bit internal math. The need for 10bit+ monitors is very limited at the moment but hopefully will be more useful in the future.


For photo editing you will probably get the most bang for your buck from an IPS panel type monitor.
Make sure it's flicker free (does not use PWM to regulate backlight brightness).
Make sure it covers sRGB 100% for accuracy online/general digital image sharing.
Make sure it covers as close to 100% AdobeRGB as possible for accuracy in print pipelines that use AdobeRGB.

Both the i1 Display Pro and ColorMunki Display are very good pieces of hardware for monitor calibration. The tech in each one is pretty much the same, though the software differs. There's third party software for calibration that is supposed to be a bit more accurate like CalMAN (costly) and DisplayCAL (free). A lot of higher end monitors come factory pre-calibrated to varying accuracy but you should always calibrate it yourself and repeat it every so often. A lot of camera hire places will hire these out fairly cheaply, though in the long run it's probably best to buy one.

The bigger the better? For photo work this is generally true but not always practical given your work-space, viewing distance and budget. Once you get over about 27" you probably want 1440p (2560×1440) or 4K (3840 x 2160) resolution.

Refresh rate and response time don't matter that much unless you want to play games too, but getting a colour accurate monitor with a really good refresh rate and response time will almost double the cost. Good HDR is also expensive and mostly only useful for viewing HDR movies or games with HDR.

VESA mount, screen surface, menu system, adjust-ability, bezels, speakers, usb, etc. All this stuff is personal preference.

I'm sure the NEC professional monitors are very very good but you could get two monitors (my preferred workspace) for the same price that probably cover your needs. In terms of AdobeRGB, the NEC PA272W covers 99.3% and the NEC PA271Q-BK covers 98.5%.

A couple of random examples from memory: The Dell UP series (UP = ultrasharp premium aimed at professionals and most in the UP series cover 99% AdobeRGB):
100% AdobeRGB, 2560 x 1440, 27" flicker free - $523 - https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …6d_27_widescree​n_led.html
99% AdobeRGB 2560 x 1600, 30" flicker Free - $999 https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …_30_up3017_16_1​0_ips.html
https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …grapher_monitor​_with.html $599

These won't perform well for fast paced gaming, you would need to go for something more gaming oriented like:
Acer Predator X27 27" 120hz, low response time and 98% AdobeRGB coverage. $1,699 https://www.amazon.com …tings-tv-cm11b-20&ie=UTF8
Aorus AD27QD 27" 144Hz but it only covers 87% AdobeRGB for $583 https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …7_ad27qd_144hz_​1440p.html

If you google 100% adobe rgb you should be able to find lists of monitors that will work for what you need.

ps. If anyone is looking for a monitor and doesn't do much printing, you can skip the AdobeRGB coverage and save money and have more options.