Best monitor right now for critical color-work?

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FaniSkogen

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Hi,

I'm looking for a monitor that will do my girlfriend well when she's working with color-critical projects. Mostly photographing and retusch.

The size we're looking for is the 24-27" section.
AdobeRGB-covering is important.
Light anti-reflection coating would be nice.


I have the Dell U2713H and I'm quite happy with it. It suffer from the overdrive-problem which is not that disturbing for me. Also the luminance and color-uniformity is not great but not a big problem either as it's often to small to notice for the eye.
At my work I have two Eizo CG 276. These are great with nice uniformity, built in calibrator and all. But, the AG-coating is horrible!!

We have looked at the Dell U2413 but this also sacrifice from the problems of the U2713H. Maybe there is something better? I haven't been updated on the display-market since I bought my U2713H when it was just released.

The budget is preferably under 700$. But can go over if it means major improvements.

So, what would you suggest?

Thank you!
 
FaniSkogen said:
I'm looking for a monitor that will do my girlfriend well when she's working with color-critical projects.


The budget is preferably under 700$. But can go over if it means major improvements.

So, what would you suggest?

Thank you!
Click to expand...

Color critical projects almost require a monitor that is HARDWARE calibrated. The NEC "PA" series come to mind. But those are well over $1000. Plus the calibrating hardware and software. Plus OS/Apps that support them properly. Etc, Etc, Etc.
 
It think ViewSonic VP2770 is considered the king of color and image quality, but it is slightly over your $750 budget.
 
kindasmart said:
Color critical projects almost require a monitor that is HARDWARE calibrated. The NEC "PA" series come to mind. But those are well over $1000. Plus the calibrating hardware and software. Plus OS/Apps that support them properly. Etc, Etc, Etc.
Click to expand...
Yes, that's true. The Dell U2713H and U2413 that we're looking at can be calibrated at hardware level. So the color accuracy on these are great really. The problem is the uniformity.
There is also an Asus and LG I think. These goes for around 500$ plus 100$ for the calibrator.

The NEC PA do unfortunately have the horrible anti reflection coating the last time I checked. Or have they come out with something new?

sharknice said:
It think ViewSonic VP2770 is considered the king of color and image quality, but it is slightly over your $750 budget.
Click to expand...

Will look that up, thank you!

EDIT: Unfortunately this display does not cover the Adobe RGB color space. We do need that coverage. Thank you anyway :)
 
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FaniSkogen said:
Yes, that's true. The Dell U2713H and U2413 that we're looking at can be calibrated at hardware level. So the color accuracy on these are great really. The problem is the uniformity.
There is also an Asus and LG I think. These goes for around 500$ plus 100$ for the calibrator.

The NEC PA do unfortunately have the horrible anti reflection coating the last time I checked. Or have they come out with something new?



Will look that up, thank you!

EDIT: Unfortunately this display does not cover the Adobe RGB color space. We do need that coverage. Thank you anyway :)
Click to expand...

The new PA2 models feature the same coating as the rest of the AH-IPS monitors, which is semi-gloss/matte. Whatever it's called, it's still lighter than their previous PA models. Of course, you will need to fork over more money for the new models but eh...
 
If you want Adobe color and hardware calibration, it'll get pricey. But the places to look are NEC (their pro models) and Eizo. As for screen coating, some will be light-ish, some heavy, so do your research on whatever model you choose before you order. I expect a decent size pro model to cost around 1K at a min. though. And not all of them have heavy IPS coatings anymore.

Eizo does have some smaller 22" pro models around your pricerange, but they will be VA, so perhaps not so ideal.
 
The Dell U2713H is the best around 700$. 1000$ buys a Viewsonic VP2772 which do not suffer from obvious overshoot ghosting (confirmed by Digital Versus) or NEC PA242W (confirmed by PRAD, review is available for free in January).

The Asus PA249Q does not suffer from overshoot ghosting, otherwise it is pretty much the same as the U2413H. Use Google or Chrome to translate these reviews:

http://www.prad.de/new/monitore/test/2013/test-asus-pa249q.html
http://www.overclockers.ru/lab/54636/V_tu_zhe_step._Obzor_i_testirovanie_monitora_ASUS_PA249Q.html
http://extrahardware.cnews.cz/recen...inace-led-widegamut-pololeskly-ips-za-539-eur
 
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The NEC PA242W can be found on Amazon under $1000. It's got excellent uniformity and the color accuracy you're looking for. It even comes out of the box perfectly calibrated. Obviously, it's not near $700 but I don't think you are going to find an AdobeRGB monitor with professional-level uniformity around $700. Of course, it's up to you whether that level of color uniformity is worth paying $900+ for a 24" monitor...
 
What medium is the work for, and what color space does she need to work in?
 
What is you need my friend is a spectrophotometer like the X-Rite i1 Pro.
There a big difference between a monitor that has the potential to produce accurate color and actually being accurate. The bridge that will bring you there is a spectrophotometer.
But we are talking $1,000...

Otherwise, achieving accuracy for critical work is not possible.
An affordable colorimeter will not do it as they are not reliable for LCDs.
 
For a monitor closest to your budget that meets your requirements, I agree with the Dell UltraSharp U2713H suggestion.

It will exceed the budget by a bit but is the best monitor you can get as far as accuracy near that price range unless you drop to a 24" monitor.
 
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RadXge said:
What is you need my friend is a spectrophotometer like the X-Rite i1 Pro.
There a big difference between a monitor that has the potential to produce accurate color and actually being accurate. The bridge that will bring you there is a spectrophotometer.
But we are talking $1,000...

Otherwise, achieving accuracy for critical work is not possible.
An affordable colorimeter will not do it as they are not reliable for LCDs.
Click to expand...

What's the difference between a Colorimeter and a Spectrophotometer?
 
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