Hi, I've been searching for a little while and I found these monitors to be the most likely to suit my needs: Viewsonic vp2365wb; Dell 2209wa; HP zr22w; HP zr24w; NEC ea231wmi. I am wondering if anyone has had any experience with these monitors or any suggestions for buying a monitor. If you have any other monitors you would suggest, please add them (not an Eizo though). Also, I am thinking about buying the Xrite Eye-one display 2. Is that a good purchase? I have also heard that photoshop comes with a calibration system. Is this good enough?
Thank you all for your thoughts and time!!
BTW: I have already bought the pc and just need to decide on a monitor to pair it with.
I can't comment on the monitors in your list, as I have no experience with them.
The X-Rite Eye One photometer and software are excellent, and is a good value. I have an older Monaco Optix-XR with the X-Rite software and it very easy to use and is accurate.
There is excellent info on color management at Chromix.com. They do sell the X-Rite tools. Nice folks there, too.
Erik,
I've zero experience with the monitors you've cited. Monitors and their components change so frequently.
One resource I do highly recommend is the Anandtech.com LCD Thread. They do update their recommendations and have a lot of interesting comments.
Erik, I recently bought a sony Vaio laptop, and had it calibrated using a Spyder3 elite (pro version) from DataColor. I made about 7 calibrations, and yet I wasn´t satisfied. Had some problems on neutral tones, some color casts that my Spyder wasn´t taking care of. But then I used the Xrite Eye-one display 2 colorimeter, and at the 1st attempt I got excellent results. I´ll recommend it for sure.
Erik, I am in the same boat as you as I will be buying a new computer in a couple of weeks and want a new monitor to go with it. I have been reading any info I could find on a reasonably priced monitor that is good for photography. I think I have setted on the Dell U2410 which is currently on sale for $499. If you go to the Rocky Mountain forum and search for U2410 you will find a couple of threads where this monitor is discussed and highly recommended by several people. (Sorry I don't know how to post a link.)
The Xrite was an excellent tool when it worked. Mine is DOA after 2 years of service. Everything has a blue cast. I have gone back to my old Spyder 2 until I find another option.
Eric,
As you can kind of gather from the responses here, it's not going to be enough to just use the Adobe Gamma program to adjust your monitor "by eye". Our eyes are so susceptible to optical illusions and tricks of light that we really need an instrument to actually measure the color coming off the monitor, and make a monitor profile that corrects and scales the color accurately. In my experience I've seen that even a cheap display that's been properly calibrated is better than a more expensive one that is not.
The i1Display2 is a good unit.
Some of the displays in your list have IPS panels which are good choices. They will tend to give you better side viewing angles - in other words, you don't have to keep your head perfectly still, directly in front of the display in order to view the color accurately.
Kelly wrote: "The Xrite was an excellent tool when it worked. Mine is DOA after 2 years of service. Everything has a blue cast"
Just curious, here, but did the colorimeter go south, or is it a software problem? Just for grins, you might try downloading and installing new software.
I recently purchased the NEC display and the Xrite calibrator that you mentioned. I chose the NEC over some others based on the 16:9 aspect ratio. I use Lightroom and like the added horizontal real estate. I've not been disappointed with the display. Having said that, this is the first IPS display I've owned ( previously I used a Samsung 245BW ); but, I really enjoy the color, saturation and improved viewing angles of this display.
I have used the Huey Pro calibrator, too. The main thing I like about the Xrite Display2 is that you can set brightness, which seems to help with printing. I'm really happy with that purchase, but I had problems with the disk I got. It wasn't compatible with Win7, 'cuz it was an older distribution. Had to download the application, which is called IMatch.
I recently bought the Dell 2209WA based on reviews on the internet and paired it with the Spyder3Pro. I bought a refurbished unit through Dell for about $200 and so far I'm happy with it. I will say that it was a bit difficult to install the driver for Windows 7 since Dell's instructions don't match what you get when you download the driver. Once I knew what to do, it wasn't hard to install the driver and have it recognized (i'm connecting it to my Dell laptop).
I bought the Spyder since it seemed to get positive reviews (of course there are opposing points of view about them) and the screenshots I saw for their software seemed to be pretty straightforward and easy to use.
In general, I haven't noticed a significant change pre/post color calibration with the exception of one particular image of mine that I reprocessed on a whim. I couldn't believe how garrish the greens where when I compared it to my newly reprocessed version. There's definately something to be said for color calibration but I'm still learning the whole process!
Hi all, I've made my decision. I have selected on buying the HP 2275w for its overall excellence in color reproduction, black point and contrast ratios. I know this wasn't on the list but it seems to be a great screen. I found the xrite i1 display 2 to fit my needs and my budget. I decided on this monitor and calibration system using this site:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/selector.htm
It has a very scientific stance toward finding the best monitor, but doesn't have multiple trials. That is the ONLY negative. It is a great resource if you are looking to get a monitor or a calibration package. You can go by the special selector path which will narrow down your search, or go review by review.
Thanks very much for your input!
Posted by Joel DeYoung on April 17, 2010 at 7:31 AM
Erik,
Glad you found the monitor and calibration system that will suit your needs. I would be interested in what your calibration values are. mostly monitor brightness. I've seen everything from 90cd/m² to 140cd/m² depending on the brightness of your viewing environment and would be curious to see what you came up with. (hope that doesn't open up a can of confusion for anyone)
Discussion
11 repliesThank you all for your thoughts and time!!
BTW: I have already bought the pc and just need to decide on a monitor to pair it with.
I can't comment on the monitors in your list, as I have no experience with them.
The X-Rite Eye One photometer and software are excellent, and is a good value. I have an older Monaco Optix-XR with the X-Rite software and it very easy to use and is accurate.
There is excellent info on color management at Chromix.com. They do sell the X-Rite tools. Nice folks there, too.
--P
I've zero experience with the monitors you've cited. Monitors and their components change so frequently.
One resource I do highly recommend is the Anandtech.com LCD Thread. They do update their recommendations and have a lot of interesting comments.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?s=de31aeb4b4fd177afa92aa1c5f45704d&t=39226
ME
As you can kind of gather from the responses here, it's not going to be enough to just use the Adobe Gamma program to adjust your monitor "by eye". Our eyes are so susceptible to optical illusions and tricks of light that we really need an instrument to actually measure the color coming off the monitor, and make a monitor profile that corrects and scales the color accurately. In my experience I've seen that even a cheap display that's been properly calibrated is better than a more expensive one that is not.
The i1Display2 is a good unit.
Some of the displays in your list have IPS panels which are good choices. They will tend to give you better side viewing angles - in other words, you don't have to keep your head perfectly still, directly in front of the display in order to view the color accurately.
Patrick Herold
Tech Support
www.chromix.com
Just curious, here, but did the colorimeter go south, or is it a software problem? Just for grins, you might try downloading and installing new software.
X-rite Support-Downloads
You will need the product key and serial number to run the software
--P
I have used the Huey Pro calibrator, too. The main thing I like about the Xrite Display2 is that you can set brightness, which seems to help with printing. I'm really happy with that purchase, but I had problems with the disk I got. It wasn't compatible with Win7, 'cuz it was an older distribution. Had to download the application, which is called IMatch.
I bought the Spyder since it seemed to get positive reviews (of course there are opposing points of view about them) and the screenshots I saw for their software seemed to be pretty straightforward and easy to use.
In general, I haven't noticed a significant change pre/post color calibration with the exception of one particular image of mine that I reprocessed on a whim. I couldn't believe how garrish the greens where when I compared it to my newly reprocessed version. There's definately something to be said for color calibration but I'm still learning the whole process!
Good luck!
Steve
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/selector.htm
It has a very scientific stance toward finding the best monitor, but doesn't have multiple trials. That is the ONLY negative. It is a great resource if you are looking to get a monitor or a calibration package. You can go by the special selector path which will narrow down your search, or go review by review.
Thanks very much for your input!
Glad you found the monitor and calibration system that will suit your needs. I would be interested in what your calibration values are. mostly monitor brightness. I've seen everything from 90cd/m² to 140cd/m² depending on the brightness of your viewing environment and would be curious to see what you came up with. (hope that doesn't open up a can of confusion for anyone)
Thanks