qualtalk

As we're going to start printing some of our photos soon, I'd like to upgrade my monitor With that in mind, I have two questions:

1. What monitors do you recommend for photo editing? I'm looking for something in the 27"-28" range and don't want to spend more than necessary to get good results. I'll be using it on a Windows 10 64-bit machine.

2. What devices/processes do you recommend for calibrating the monitor to minimize discrepancies between the viewed and printed images?

Thanks in advance for your help!

James Van Ells

Depending on the detail you want to see you can go to a 1080p monitor or a 4K. The 4K is more expensive but you see more detail which is nice in editing in LR and PS.

charlienow Loc: Hershey, PA

I too am interested in this topic...

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Dell has great values in photo editing displays. They offer 10 bit accuracy, 100% Adobe RGB gamut and exceptional color performance at a price that is lower than the top tier displays from HP, Eizo and others.

https://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_up2718q.htm

I use an older pair of Dell 10 bit, 24" displays - this way I get easy to read fonts, 2X the screen area, and with the expanded desktop I have a bunch of stuff open on both screens, or use software that has dual screen support. I am not a fan of high-resolution large display - too much head movement, and I hate squinting at text. Not all of the programs I use have appropriate font scaling.

At the moment, Xrite has the solution for a display with a programmable LUT - the i1 Display Pro. Datacolor solutions lack that capability. The display adapter family that will best for an expanded bit and color depth would be the NVidia Quadro. I'd pass on the low end and high end cards, and go for the mid-range.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

BenQ, Eizo, NEC, Sony are good brands.

IMPORTANT: Get a monitor designed for PHOTOGRAPHY and the GRAPHIC ARTS. Forget gaming monitors — They are designed quite differently.

You want a monitor with a very wide color gamut. >98% Adobe RGB (1998) color space is preferable. That will contain the entire sRGB space.

10-bit monitors are great... IF your graphics processor supports them. If not, get an 8-bit monitor.

X-Rite and Datacolor are the primary sources of color management tools used to calibrate and profile monitors and to profile printers. Use what makes sense to you. Their websites are worth SCOURING (and DEVOURING the information there).

Calibrate the monitor for photography. Some common lab aims:

White Point 85-125 cd/m^2 (that's candelas per square meter)
Black Point 0.5 cd/m^2
Color Temperature 5000 to 6500K (or calibration software recommended value based on ambient light)
Gamma 2.2

Print viewing condition standard:

5000K, 91+ CRI, photo grade illuminant metered to EV 9.5 to 10.5 (referenced to ISO 100) at the print surface, using an incident meter (or a standard gray card and camera meter)

Ambient room conditions:

Very low light level — one 5000K photo grade CFL bounced off a white ceiling above and behind the monitor is about right. No direct light should fall on your screen!

The area surrounding the monitor should be middle gray, or as neutral as possible, with no bright colors.

Wear a dark gray or black shirt or smock.

Set your computer desktop to a charcoal gray or slightly brighter gray... no images that might bias your color vision.

Beware caffeine, prescription drugs, recent exposure to bright sunlight, pregnancy, emotional distraught, prolonged exposure to one saturated color, color blindness...

Take the Munsell Hue Test:

https://www.colormunki.com/game/huetest_kiosk

If your color perception is average or below, get someone else to adjust your color!

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I am using a 27" 2560x1440 (2.5K) Asus Graphic Arts Monitor I got 6+ years ago - Model PB278Q and still sold by Asus.
$340 on Amazon, B&H etc.
One guy on Ebay has them for $200, probably gray market.

Lastcastmike

As others have mentioned consider using 2 smaller monitors. This stupid works great for editing as you can perform your changes on one screen and watch those changes at close to full size on the other screen. I think both monitors should be the same.

gmsatty Loc: Chicago IL

Remember that if you get a 4k monitor and your graphics card does not support it, you will one that does. and that could double the price of the purchase. MY kids got me a 4k monitor for about $500 and then I had to get a new graphics card that also cost nearly $500. So be aware.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

The other thing to remember about 4K monitors is that they offer marginal resolution improvements if they are small. Get one that is too big, and you will have to put it so far away, text becomes hard to read.

photoman43

Check out this link from 2017. I agree that a new monitor might require a new video card and a new calibration software.

https://www.naturescapes.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=273656&hilit=new+monitor

I use a NEC monitor that came with its own calibration software and puck--SpectraView.

If you run a dual monitor system, I believe you only calibrate the monitor that displays the images.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

On the Mac, you may calibrate and profile each monitor separately. If they are identical, using the same software and calibrator to apply the same aims to each monitor will make them look nearly identical.

I'm pretty sure you can do the same thing on Windows.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I'm very impressed with the BenQ monitors... They seem to offer a lot for the money. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?ci=38738&fct=fct_screen-size_953%7c27in%2bfct_screen-size_953%7c28in%2bfct_panel-type_4484%7cips%2b&

I use a Datacolor Spyder calibration system. It works well. I'm sure X-Rite's calibration devices are good, too.

charlienow Loc: Hershey, PA

will the datacolor spyder work on a laptop. I have a lenovo about 4 years old...

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

It will work, but most PC laptops have very poor 6-bit monitors. Their color gamuts are limited to something less than sRGB, which is not recommended for photo editing.

I would get a desktop monitor and calibrate that.

rfmaude41 Loc: Lancaster, Texas (DFW area)

DataColor also has an equally good system.