What should I look for in a monitor for photo editing .
Discussion
So last year I was going to replace my aging Mac, now well over 7years old, with a shiny new Mac book pro. However given I have a new state of the art pc that I use for playing VR games on I figured a better use of my funds would be to buy a really good large screen and start using the desk top and get rid of the Mac.
So what should I be looking for, it’s really about the editing not gaming specs, I’d like a 32 inch screen, is curved ok or does it change the perspective?
I want to make prints from the editing so coloring reproduction accuracy is very important.
Any suggestions, price wise 800-1500 ish?
Plus I assume a transition from Mac to pc should be simple enough?
Won’t be able to answer for a few days as in hong kong right now and about to fly back to nyc tomorrow, a pleasant 15hour flight, so excuse me, I’m not ignoring anyone!
Thanks
So what should I be looking for, it’s really about the editing not gaming specs, I’d like a 32 inch screen, is curved ok or does it change the perspective?
I want to make prints from the editing so coloring reproduction accuracy is very important.
Any suggestions, price wise 800-1500 ish?
Plus I assume a transition from Mac to pc should be simple enough?
Won’t be able to answer for a few days as in hong kong right now and about to fly back to nyc tomorrow, a pleasant 15hour flight, so excuse me, I’m not ignoring anyone!
Thanks
Glyn Dewis did a video about this recently and decided on BenQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcsCWWqJ7hM
I believe Frank Doorhof uses BenQ too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcsCWWqJ7hM
I believe Frank Doorhof uses BenQ too.
Simpo Two said:
Can't help specifically but look also into colour calibrating software/hardware, as whatever screen you get will need calibrating.
Yep - colour calibration will be vital if you want accurate prints as you say.There are several hardware/software products out there.
Personally I use (and have been happy with) the X-rite i1 Display Pro
Other advice seems to be variations on the Datacolor Spyder
Either way, you'll need between £100-£200 of your budget for the calibration kit, but it'll be worth it to get the best out of the screen, and accurate prints.
In terms of the monitor itself, you need to ensure that the panel is some flavour of IPS (In Plane Switching) display for accurate colour reproduction and decent viewing angles.
You also should go for one with a good coverage of the colour space you will be using. At the very least you should have a colour gamut of 99%+ coverage of the sRGB colour space and ideally 100%. More expensive monitors have extended colour gamut which will be able to display even more colours and give coverage of the Adobe RGB colour space which is wider than sRGB, and if your workflow is to use Adobe RGB throughout, would be really helpful.
I don't know about the curved or flat for sure, but would have thought a flat monitor better.
Also a glossy screen is sharper with better colours provided you are not using it in a brightly lit room causing lots of reflections.
Also, once you've got it all set up and calibrated, you need to ensure that the ambient lighting in the room remains consistent with the conditions when you calibrated it. If there's a lot of natural light in the room, the colour temperature of this changes with time of day, weather, time of year etc.. So ideally working in an artificially lit room with known colour temp lighting.
This is my understanding, but do read up on colour spaces and calibration to decide how far you want to go before deciding on your monitor.
Thanks. I think the BenQ SW320 looks like a winner, a bit pricey, but In for a penny in for a pound and all that.
Hopefully it will save me in the long run when making prints they will come out how I wanted them rather than off color , contrast and brightness like my last 2 efforts I paid for!
Hopefully it will save me in the long run when making prints they will come out how I wanted them rather than off color , contrast and brightness like my last 2 efforts I paid for!
Gassing Station | Photography & Video | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff