Which monitor to get?

Dustbak · June 10, 2011, 07:37:40 PM

After my little adventure with various color calibration systems I am in the process of determining what the best monitor is to get. Sofar I have narrowed down the options to basically 2 brands, NEC or EIZO. Strangely the EIZO's are currently cheaper than the NEC which is not something I expected. I want a wide-gamut screen that has the possibility of hardware based calibration.

I think I am now down to choosing between either the 30" EIZO CG301W-BK or the 27" Eizo ColorGraphic CG275W-BK . Of these 2 the 30" appears to be a generation older than the 27" (actually many monitors seem a bit on the old technology side to me, as if I see the same models as 3 years ago when I bought the Cinema Display). Based on spec's I would opt for the 27" but I wonder if I would really miss the 10% of pixels (the 27" has 2560x1440 & the 30" has 2560x1600). It does seem I can turn the 27" to portrait mode which would make it helpful when working in this orientation.

Anyone any ideas on which monitor to get? Are there any other really good options that I am overlooking?

Fotograf · June 10, 2011, 10:27:40 PM

The actual 30' model of Eizo is the CG303. I bought it in February.

pro:
* it is big an I love it (and the 275 is a 16:9, what I do not like)
* colour realism, uniformity of luminance, gamut (98% Adobe) is great
* Eizo software for calibration is excellent (hardware calibration, I use with the i1pro)

con:
* after switching on the monitor it has a greenish cast that disappear after a few minutes
* 16-bit data, which should the monitor be able to process, did not work on installation (I was told it is a OS X and graphic card problem, maybe solved in the future)

But what really counts for me: After calibrating it to 80-90 candela: The prints now are 99,9% of what I see on the screen from shadows to highlights.

Dustbak · June 11, 2011, 02:31:13 AM

The CG303 is the newest, I accidently copied the wrong link. Indeed the 16:9 is what is holding me back (I am not going to watch movies on the thing). Marc, can you swing your 30" into portrait mode?

The ATI5870 is the current top dog for the MacPro, Derek. No other higher end cards available unless I plan on flashing it myself

(which I am not, no more).

Fotograf · June 11, 2011, 04:13:54 AM

no, I am Michael

Yes, you can switch it to portrait mode, but it is not convenient.

As I am not doing any video, a professional video card has no advantage, but 16 bit and it is not clear if this will work in the actual mac environment.

Michael

Dustbak · June 11, 2011, 06:29:57 AM

Sorry Michael, Fotograf or Fotografz got me off-guard for a second

Thanks. I think it will be the 30 eventually but still not entirely sure.

Dustbak · June 21, 2011, 06:19:17 AM

Ok, it is going to be a 30". I now had narrowed it down to the NEC Spectraview Reference 301 but EIZO CG303W someone came up with the LaCie730.

Is there anyone that knows more about the Lacie, especially the idea of using a LED monitor for photography editing work?

H3dfan · June 22, 2011, 08:56:41 AM

Stay away from Lacie monitors. Go for the Nec when best price Quality is wanted, go for the Eizo when warenty is important to you( they really have a great waranty program.).

Alex Maxim · June 22, 2011, 12:14:24 PM

I must say that I am happy with NEC Multisynch with S-IPS panel and planning to upgrade it to NEC MultiSync LCD3090WQXi soon. Not sure about the difference from Spectrview. I heard they have the same panel, but Spectraview comes in a bundle with a calibrator. I use i1 and the profile curve after calibration is almost straight.
Love the non-shiny finish of the panel. It's been on every day for about 16 hours and it's still like new. No bad pixels and the colors are right.
Can't say about Eizo or Lacie, I am not sure if there is enough or any difference in quality to justify their price. It would be nice to test all three at the same place showing the same picture and compare them to each other and to print...

Alex

Dustbak · July 03, 2011, 09:14:30 AM

I ended up buying the Eizo CG303W-BK. Still kind of nauseous spending such an obscene amount on a monitor. This must be the most expensive screen I ever bought. I will let you guys know how I like it when it turns up at my doorstep and after I have set it up.

jeff.grant@pobox.com · July 03, 2011, 12:41:13 PM

I doubt that you will be disappointed, Ray. My Eizo monitors are excellent. Knowing that an image will look the same wherever it is on the monitor is a nice feeling. Now, if only we could have a mid-grey background with Phocus, life would be easier.

HLArt · July 03, 2011, 08:01:56 PM

Quote from: Dustbak on July 03, 2011, 09:14:30 AM
I ended up buying the Eizo CG303W-BK. Still kind of nauseous spending such an obscene amount on a monitor. This must be the most expensive screen I ever bought. I will let you guys know how I like it when it turns up at my doorstep and after I have set it up.

I also use the Eizo. For me it`s "perfect".

Dustbak · July 06, 2011, 05:48:32 PM

Well, it is in. Nice feature is the calibration. First thing I noticed is that things look 'different'. Where the colors look absolutely amazing I find I have some issues with the overall lightness and with white. Everything seems to be more muted and the whites appear not to be white anymore.

I think I really need to get adjusted to this screen. That will take a couple of weeks I reckon.

jeff.grant@pobox.com · July 06, 2011, 06:04:20 PM

Ray, anything will look dull after the Apple

. I use 90CD, Black level 0.4, whitepoint 6500K and Gamma 2.2. It's easy to create a new one in ColorNavigator.

Dustbak · July 06, 2011, 06:53:19 PM

Thanks Jeff! I now made a new profile on 90Cd and that is better. Somehow the default is at 80 apparently and that is just too little for me to be comfortable.

Dustbak · July 07, 2011, 06:05:11 AM

It still will take a little while to get used to this screen which is kind of normal and I did expect it to be this way. I do really notice the difference! The Eizo shows much more, it is really obvious. The transitions this screen is capable of showing are totally amazing! This will make working much more precise, easy and indeed better.