I'm looking to up size my monitor and 24 inch seems to be the size for my desk space I will couple it with a side monitor of 17 inches. My primary use is for photo print work and capable of calibration and good blacks is a must. My budget is the 5 to 7 hundred range. I would like to here from those using or with knowledge of 24 inch monitors in this range with there pros and cons.
Some of my thoughts have been Apple 23"cinema screen, Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP, NEC MultiSync LCD2470WNX, & HP LP2465, but I don't know enough about LCD monitor lingo.
I'm sort of in a similar boat to you. I was looking at the NEC LCD2690WUXi which is 25.5inch screen and aimed at color professionals. The one aspect with the NEC one interested me alot was the 16:10 ratio as well as the inclusion of a colorimeter, color calibration device. I believe the same applies to the 24inch version as well, NEC MultiSync LCD2490WUXi.
I would also look at how well does the Apple 23inch compare to the NEC one. The other question you could ask yourself is that will be color calibration device benefit you unless you already own a unit.
Dell albeit offering you bang for buck I dont know how accurately it represents colors on the screen incontrast to say the NEC and Apple screens.
> NEC LCD2690WUXi ... as well as the inclusion of a colorimeter
Not in Europe and Australia afaik. There's also different software for US (SpectraView II) and SpectraView Profiler (from basICColor) in Europe/Australia.
The SpectraViews displays got excellent reviews from Karl Lang (architect of Sony Artisan, Radius PressView) at PhotoExpoPlus in NYC. Key was the SpectraView II software, that you just cannot buy in Europe and Australia.
Because of horrible support from NEC (emails/telephones are not being answered, hood is still not available), I just got fed up with them and decided to go for the EIZO CG241W.
There's also the issue of the somewhat vague difference between 2690WUXi and 2690 SpectraView. You can also run the 2690WUXi with SpectraView software. They apparently both use the same panel, and if you account for the various differences (like software, hood etc), there's a premium of approximately 500 EUR (700 USD) that you pay extra for the 2690 SpectraView.
On another forum I got the following reply from Karl Koch (basICColor):
"Hi,
making their (European and Australian) software, maybe I can shed some light on that issue – and you all can stop guessing ;-)
Of course the OEMs donīt get the crap! All monitors come off the same production line.
But then comes the discrimination: The European logistic center (respectively a service provider in Australia) screen the monitors using pretty strict criteria according to ISO standards. Those which pass the test get a different firmware, indicating them as SpectraView monitors, are equipped with hood and software and then sold as the high-end SpectraView monitors. The others remain MuliSyncs.
I cannot speak for the OEMs, though. Since they donīt have two different lines of each model, I guess they take them as they come."
> I am waiting for the Samsung XL 24 LED monitor to be released in the US
I've heard it'll come with a customized Huey in the US and a customized Eye-One Display in Europe. Both devices will include filters optimized for XL models.
Not too sure how good it is compared to others for photo work, but I absolutely love my Apple 23" Cinema display. I use a 30" at work and if I had the extra cash I would have gotten one of them, but both are equally good as far as quality in my opinion.
I use them both on PCs, so they aren't Mac only if that is your concern.
I just purchased a HP 24" widescreen monitor. It is fabulous. Of course the difference in cost between the 22' and the 24' is substantial, but well worth it if you do any thing in Photoshop.
I recently upgraded my monitor and was looking in the 24"+ class. The NEC2470WNX made my final list. There was an excellent review of the monitor on www.prad.de that included full calibration results (you have to look carefully for the link in the text). When I first started my project, I picked up the Dell 2407 HC. But, could not get the calibration dialed in to my satisfaction and returned it ... but, I'm not sure that I couldn't calibrate it at this point having learned a lot about wide gamut monitors since evaluating it. I think www.prad.de has a review of the HP as well ... not totally sure about that.
In the end, I went with a NEC2690WUXi plus Spectraview II. If you go with a wide gamut monitor, search back through my posts because I wrote up a thread on wide gamut monitors and it contains some excellent fact about gettng a wide gamut environment setup.
> NEC2690WUXi plus Spectraview II ... gettng a wide gamut environment setup
You might be interested in this recipe that I got through Andrew Rodney:
"How to use an iOne Pro/Monitor to create an offset for an iOne
Display / DTP94 when calibrating the LCD2690WUXi
Background:
The iOne Pro is much better at measuring color on wide gamut displays
than the iOne Display or DTP94. However it suffers from noise and
drift at low luminance which makes it somewhat unsuitable for
creating a perfect greyscale. The iOne Display and DTP94 may give
white point errors due to the nature of the wide color gamut display,
but are much better at measuring low luminance.
The two devices can be used in combination to create a correction
offset which will lead to much better results. This involves first
calibrating the display with the iOne Pro/Monitor, measuring the
resulting white point with the iOne Display / DTP94 and creating a
new target based on that measured white point.
Steps:
1. Connect the iOne Pro/Monitor
2. Select the desired Target in SpectraView and calibrate the display.
3. Confirm that the calibrated white point is acceptable (judge 100%
white only).
4. Disconnect the iOne Pro/Monitor and connect the iOne Display / DTP94.
5. Open the SpectraView Preferences dialog.
6. Re-detect the color sensor.
7. Change the "Primary Colors Chromaticity Source" to "Factory Measurement"
8. Click OK.
Next you will create a new Target with a custom white point that has
been adjusted with the offset between the two devices:
1. In SpectraView, click the "Edit Target settings" icon.
2. Click the "Edit..." button in the "White Point" group.
3. Click the "Measure" button and measure the white patch on the
screen using the iOne Display / DTP94.
4. The CIE xy values should be filled in automatically.
5. Click OK.
6. Click OK.
7. Enter a new name for the Target file.
8. Make sure the new Target is selected, and calibrate using the iOne
Display / DTP94.
The white point should match what you got with the iOne Pro/Monitor,
and the greyscale should be much better."
Hermie ... thanks for the tip ... I'll give it a try. I am aware of the fact that the Eye-One Pro is not as accurate in the very low luminance range. I have set Spectraview II to sample multiple times to try and off-set some of the accuracy problems. In addition, using a lower number of samples, ie 52 or less and letting Spectraview interpolate between them helps. I do agree that if you calibrate with 256 samples in Spectraview II the system seems to struggle on the very low luminance samples.
What we really need for those wide gamut displays are colorimeters with filters mated to the display (like e.g. the colorimeter that comes with the NEC LED display).
Rodney's report on Lang's seminar at PPE (originally posted on LL):
"It was a great session! I learned a lot. Hopefully Karl will release the results of this on his site in about a month or so. The three NECs (2490, 2690 and LED) get spectacular reviews from Karl. If you need an sRGB display, the 2490 got very high quality results from the testing Karl did with very expensive spectroradiometer, something like 9000 patch samples and custom software of his design. The wider gamut display I have (2690) would do better with a colorimeter that has filters mated to the unit. It was off about 500K which is still pretty darn good. The LED was top of the heap (and it IS mated with a special filter set in an EyeOne for it's chromaticity). But you have to be using the SpectraView II software to drive the units (at a cost of a few hundred bucks with the puck, a no brainier). I really love the 2690 since its a one button affair once I setup my calibration target values. For those who like super color geek features and lots of buttons, extra costs and complexity, this isn't for you (there's that other product ). If you want a system that works wonderfully and easily and produces some stellar results, backed up by a guy who builds color reference systems, this is bomb.
Karl explained his testing procedures and showed all the plots which were extremely interesting and easy to digest. He said these newer displays finally bring us closer to what we had with the best of the reference CRT displays of the past. A great session."
Keep an eye on Karl Lang's website. He'll be posting the results there http://www.lumita.com/
Hermie wrote:
> NEC LCD2690WUXi ... as well as the inclusion of a colorimeter
Not in Europe and Australia afaik. There's also different software for US (SpectraView II) and SpectraView Profiler (from basICColor) in Europe/Australia.
i just assumed it would come with one and I didnt even read the fine print. :-(
The logic could come from any number of sources, and in truth could favor either side. They could have pre-existing distribution arrangements with one or the other, might get better service or price or reliability from one or the other, might have better/worse feedback about one or the other, or whatever. It could even be as simple as that some companies insist that their products be sold in other countries exclusively through their distributors to avoid fights.
Impossible to know, really. The more interesting question (but that is also pretty much impossible to know) is, which customers are getting the better deal?
Rodolfo Paiz wrote:
The logic could come from any number of sources, and in truth could favor either side. They could have pre-existing distribution arrangements with one or the other, might get better service or price or reliability from one or the other, might have better/worse feedback about one or the other, or whatever. It could even be as simple as that some companies insist that their products be sold in other countries exclusively through their distributors to avoid fights.
Impossible to know, really. The more interesting question (but that is also pretty much impossible to know) is, which customers are getting the better deal?...Show more →
I came across this statement from Tom Lianza from X-rite corporation:
"... Now there have been some comments about issues of choice of bundled product by region. If you have ever done business on a world wide basis, you understand that your product sells in the context of a local currency and your profit is reflected in the currency of the nation of incorporation. The dollar is extremely low. An importer can buy a US made product very cheaply, and make a handsome profit by selling it in a region that has a high currency/dollar ratio. The same is not true for the US. The US market is killing the display industry. Prices for displays are falling quicker than the dollar. Keep in mind what Graeme has said about the performance difference between a Huey and and i1Display. In a bundled situation, on a high end display with custom software, there is essentially no difference in performance. It is not the case that the US is any less critical about color, it is simply a question of a manufacturer staying alive through this very tough time, by making intelligent technical decisions that respect the financial realities.
I'm in love with my Apple 23" monitor. It's not too expensive if you can pull a student discount and its resolution is on par with the larger monitors (1920x1200) which means FULL HD (1920x1080) and sharper images on screen than those with larger pixels.
It doesn't have many inputs (DVI), but it does have a powered USB 2 and FireWire 400 hub and as long as your desk isn't also home to an xbox or PS3, it shouldn't ever be deficient.
