Steer me in the right direction

JD
Posted By
Joe_Dempsey
May 23, 2007
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559
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18
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A bit off topic for this board, but where better to find critical monitor users. Can some steer me to a site or source that rates the kind of LCD monitors that serious PS folks use? When I bought my last ones (crt’s), the best advice came from here.
Thanks,
Joe
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C
chrisjbirchall
May 23, 2007
A bit off topic for this board

Not at all. Have a look at:
< http://www.nativedigital.co.uk/shop/section.php?xSec=48& jssCart=f08a0a829ccf1df889da5a10037433af>
RK
Rob_Keijzer
May 23, 2007
I can second that. Received mine last week. Very satisfied.

Rob
C
chrisjbirchall
May 23, 2007
Rob. I’m still at the "shall I, shan’t I" stage.

Which model did you go for?
What are you using for calibration?
How does the screen/print colour/contrast matching compare with a pro CRT? Can you lend me £2325 (plus VAT) 🙂
JD
Joe_Dempsey
May 23, 2007
Thanks … I am heading in the right direction
Joe
JJ
John_Joslin
May 23, 2007
"Now you can make the switch to LCD monitors and not suffer!"

Well I did it without paying out that kind of money!
RK
Rob_Keijzer
May 23, 2007
Chris,

I now have the Eizo ColorEdge CE240W. 24 inch 1920 x 1200 px

Now retired is my very old 19 inch, 25 kilogrammes Philips CRT.

I calibrate and profile the Eizo with their ColorNavigator software that supports a number of colorimeters/spectrophotometers, including the GMB i1 Display 2 that I have.

Still experimenting, but it’s already clear that with this combo I get superb neutrality from deep shadows till highlights.

The Colornavigator software uploads the 10-bit not to the video card, but to the monitor, which is known hardware to the software. It does this via a separate USB cable between the computer and the monitor. the monitor has an internal hub giving two USB ports on the side, for the measuring device.

I once saw a little experiment that you can do your self to check the dynamic range.

On the Luminous Landscape, Product reviews section go to the Sony Artisan monitor.

There you’re instructed to make a new doc, fill it with black (0, 0, 0) an then lift a selection to 1, 1, 1. So from black to one step (of 256) towards white.

The Artisan was renowned for being able to show this difference.

Now, my old Philips started to show a difference at step 4, but the Eizo, although on the threshold of (my) vision, does it. Also on the Highlight side.

The doc claims a contrast range of 1:1000. I use 120cd/m light (the max is 140, a bit to bright) Gamma is 2,2 Temp is 6500 Kelvin.

I can only say that the Gamut is surprisingly large. (the gamut was always my reason to stick with CRT.

Colours are beautiful, but what makes me happy is the smooth neutral greys. A bit what you get when you put a piece of Ilford Pan-F 50 plus negative in a slide viewer.

I also tried several gradients, and I never got it to posterize.

I certainly don’t regret the purchase.

Can you lend me £2325 (plus VAT)

I just wanted to ask you the same 🙂

Hope this helps, Chris.

Rob
C
chrisjbirchall
May 23, 2007
Rob. What I really wanted you to say was – "Nope definately NOT worth the money". 😉

Having said that, the CE240W is one of the more reasonably priced ones. I could get two for my £2325!

I currently use dual CRTs (one 19" with a 17" for the palettes etc). I guess the 24" Eizo would be big enough to do away with the need for the second monitor. I also have a third screen for my customers to preview on, but I guess an el-cheapo LCD would do for that.

As more and more high-end LCDs are being sold, I guess the prices will drop anyway.

Chris.
D
dpick
May 24, 2007
I am starting to look at this, too. My 22" CRT is showing its age, and now-a-days LCD is a viable alternative. I want something in the 24" range, and I’ve looked at the 24" Eizo ($1600), the 23" Apple Cinema ($800), the 24" NEC LCD2490WUXi-BK ($1400), and the 24" Samsung 244T ($700). The Lacie’s strating at over $2,000 is simply out of my price range.

The above comments of Eizo sound great, and I’m willing to bite the bullet and spend that kind of money (I’m not a pro–just a very fussy amateur). However, I’d like to see more comments about any of these monitors, or reasonable alternatives, before I make the final choice.

Thanks.
MV
Mathias_Vejerslev
May 24, 2007
No doubt Lacie and Eizo are the top contenders for serious color work. However, they come at a premium price.

Me? I’m considering a Samsung 215TW 21" Anyone got a word on this one?

The Apple Cinemas are using the same panel as the Dell monitors, albeit with a different backlight. The Dells are cheaper.

Generally, you want to look at the panel type for the monitor. For graphic work, avoid TN (cheap consumer) panels, go with an S-IPS or S-PVA type panel – they usually have a huge viewing angle, along the order of 178 dgrees as well as superior image quality.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD>
JD
Joe_Dempsey
May 24, 2007
Having started this thread, thanks to those who are contributing valuable knowledge to enable an informed choice.
Joe
JD
Joe_Dempsey
May 24, 2007
On the mention of the Samsung 215TW, here is a link to the specs < http://www.samsung.com/Products/Monitor/LCD_Digital/LS21DPWA BXAA.asp?page=Specifications> Mathias, how does this stack up on specs?
Joe
MV
Mathias_Vejerslev
May 24, 2007
The 215TW is seemingly a great all-round monitor. It excels over its competition because of a large amount of connections on the screen, as well as height adjustment in the foot and a tilt function for the screen (you can rotate the monitor to portrait format). If none of these extra features are important to you, be aware that you are paying for them with this one.

It also features a good panel (I believe its an S-PVA panel – never heard of ‘a-si LCD TV Monitor’). It was a testwinner in a recent TFT monitor test among 9 comparable contenders in the danish PC World.

1680 x 1054 is a bit exotic for a widescreen resolution, which is normally 1680×1050 – I don’t know why.

I dont have the monitor yet, but I’m probably going with this one, alternatively a Dell Ultrasharp (depends on where I buy my next system).
JD
Joe_Dempsey
May 24, 2007
Mathias:
Thanks for the info. This one definitely will rank h igh in my choices. Particularly rotating function.
Joe
DP
Daryl_Pritchard
May 24, 2007
Joe,

I have been very happy with my BenQ FP241W 24-inch LCD monitor < http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824014 124>. Some time ago, I shot a series of test images <http://ambress.com/benq> which give you some sense of the monitor’s performance at various viewing angles, but moire patterns in the images render them useless for a critical image quality assessment. Visually, I can hardly tell any difference in the color rendition on the BenQ LCD versus my Iiyama CRT sitting next to it, both being calibrated. However, as the Benq is quite bright (similar to the Dell Ultrasharps) and my Monaco EZColor software with OptixXR colorimeter seemed to provide calibrated results with a luminance on the order of 200+ nits, I took a different approach in my calibration, aiming first to establish a luminance around 105 nits before profiling the colors. That luminance was about the same level as my CRT produced, and I believe that is why both monitors match up so well now. Image quality on the BenQ is excellent and my only two complaints are both relatively minor:

1. The monitor has 3 built-in USB ports, 2 on the left and 1 at top center (for a webcam), but those ports are powered off along with the monitor power. If I wanted to leave a webcam running while I’m away, for remote monitoring purposes, then it has to be plugged into the PC’s USB port or a hub, rather than using the monitor’s port.

2. The on-screen control buttons are on the left outside edge of the monitor, as are their labels, so you cannot see them from a front-on view. To rectify this, I simply shot a photo of the switches and printed that out as a label which I affixed to the front bezel. At a glance, you hardly notice the makeshift solution.

Regards,

Daryl
JD
Joe_Dempsey
May 24, 2007
Look at the specs of the Samsung VS Lacie. The Samsung has a higher luminance (brightness) and contrast ratio. The Lacie is more than twice the cost of the Samsung.
MD
Michael_D_Sullivan
May 26, 2007
I have the Samsung 215TW. It is absolutely excellent, and I got a very good price on it from newegg.com. I calibrate it with a Monaco OptixXR and Monaco EZcolor 2.6. I found the calibration to be a bit difficult to get right; what helped a lot was to use the Samsung visual calibration software first to get the monitor’s RGB adjustments close, and then run EZcolor with the colorimeter. It easily shows the difference between 0,0,0 and 1,1,1 with my current settings. At the white end, I have to go down to 252,252,252 to notice a difference, but this is because I have it calibrated for a fairly brightly lit room.
FN
Fred_Nirque
May 26, 2007
Thanks for that, Michael.

A friend just spent a fortune on am Eizo, which I reckoned was little different from my aging LaCie e22bIV crt, so I’m thinking that there is as with many things the law of diminishing returns going on – lots more money for marginal improvements in practical performance.

I’ll demo a Samsung in the near future, but it sounds just fine for my needs. I can get two and still have a wad of change left over from the price of one Eizo.
MV
Mathias_Vejerslev
May 26, 2007
Thanks Michael.

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