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What are the best PC monitor brands?

Best monitor for photography under Linux?

  • I am currently (still) using a CRT monitor and would like to move to an LCD panel. My primary usage is for photography and web browsing. I have spent the last three weeks or so researching monitors and have found out that (1) I will need to buy an IPS panel, (2) having looked at monitor sizes in the store I really would prefer a 27 or 30 inch monitor and (2) I have resigned myself to the fact that I should expect to pay at least $1,000 for a good monitor, possibly closer to $2,000. What monitor would you recommend? Is it really worth upgrading to a really high-end monitor ($2,000+)? More questions and details inside. In my free time, I do "semi-professional" photography, primarily 360 degree panorama photography, using a Canon 7D, L series lenses, shooting raw and working with a 16 bit workflow to get the best possible results and colors. I publish most of my photos online, although I also occasionally print them in books or calendars. It almost seems silly to do all that color-critical work on an old, uncalibrated, CRT monitor and I therefore decided to upgrade to a photography oriented, high-quality, LCD monitor. I currently exclusively use Linux (Mint 12 currently) with software such as dDrktable, Gimp and Autopano pro and have no intention to move to a Mac or Windows PC. It may also be relevant to mention that I live in Europe as there are different monitor models available in Europe from the US. Having spent way too much time researching monitors lately, I have currently narrowed my choices down to a few options: The NEC PA271W appears to be a very high-quality 27 inch monitor from NEC for about $1,300. I like the extensive calibration options and the monitor appears to also provide options for hardware calibration. I do not like the 16:9 aspect ratio and am concerned about possible graininess due to anti-glare issues. The Dell U3011 is often listed as a monitor of choice due to its rich feature set, it's factory calibration and very accurate calibration results that people are getting. The Dell goes also for about the same price ($1,300). It does, however, not do any hardware calibration and cannot emulate other color spaces. I had pretty much decided to go with the NEC, when I found out on http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2010/review-nec-pa241w-part19.html that hardware calibration, one of the key features of the monitor, appears to not be available in Europe as the Spectraview II software is not available here. There is another monitor the NEC SpectraView® Reference 271 that does appear to do hardware calibration, but it is also double the price from the PA271W, bringing me to a completely different class of monitors. When I go there, I also need to consider brands such as EIZO and basically go back to "square one" to do more research. Any advise on whether for my usage, it is worthwhile to make that leap to the very expensive professional monitors? It is a lot of extra money to spend and I am not sure if I will get much value out of that higher expense? Am I constrained by running Linux? None of the hardware calibration tools appear to run under Linux anyway in which case there may not be an advantage of having a monitor that does hardware calibration and then the Dell may be a better option? Does anyone have experience with the NEC PA271W (not the reference model) and hardware calibration in Europe - can it be done and is it giving good results? Anything else I am missing? Any help or guidance is very appreciated!

  • Answer:

    I've got an old Dell 24" WPS and am a photography hobbyist. It wasn't terribly expensive. But it has served me well for working with photos. If you calibrate it properly, your prints will come back looking as intended. I printed some photos for a gallery show through Adorama on chromagenic paper (C prints) and they came back just like what I had on the monitor. So I wouldn't fret about spending a ton on a "pro" monitor. A middle of the road IPS panel is plenty good for a hobbyist. But with any monitor, calibration is key.

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Dell's U-series IPS monitors go on sale about every six weeks, and will cost you much less than $1k.

mhoye

This is a http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=samsung+27+monitor&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#q=samsung+27+3d+monitor&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=shop&ei=AFL_Tp-SCYeg-waa_MHVAQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=6&ved=0CCsQ_AUoBQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=f584ddc2ba020018&biw=1314&bih=677, selling for about half of the 1, 300 figure, it is 'future ready' in that it has 3d capabilities (and can do 3d up converting, from 2d sources, which several forums seems to suggest is pretty nice [comes with a pair of glasses] to me, the 3d just means it has amazing refresh rates [5MS refreshing]), 3d can be fully disabled, it is but largely the contrast stats, and the fast refresh, it has a lot of settings, and modes, large customizable contrast, tones, brightness, backlight, warmth and coolness. A very customizable display (can even do 'just red, or green, or blue'). It has frame smoothing software, making fast moving images seem less dizzying. Duplicating and inserting interpolated frames between frames It has an "HDR" mode, which has high contrast, and brightness. Making normal images look amazing. (their marketing materials describe it as: LED monitor. It delivers unbelievably smooth visuals through its 3D HyperReal engine and the real 120 Hz speed, while also producing brighter 3D images. Other features include the mega dynamic contrast ratio and photo accuracy 100%, which really bring pictures to life.) Websites suggest it shares a panel with one of Samsungs higher end models. It has HDMI inputs (which can connect to a mac by [displayport>HDMI], or on a PC with DVI-D by a DVI-D converter and HDMI cable. It happens to have a Co-ax input, allowing cable, or an antenna to attach, it has the "samsung Smart TV" firmware featured in their highest end TV models (it is a computer monitor), it has ethernet, and usb inputs for Removable Drives, with videos, or images without a computer or input, it can take a usb-wireless adaptor, allowing for wireless "smart tv" (like, youtube, hulu, netflix, twitter, Facebook, google mail, and other services [like a few free 3d movies from a small selection]). It is about as thick as a thumb. Beautiful display for seeing the full potential of images.

infinite intimation

Looks like a nice monitor, I hope you enjoy it! I wish my HP monitor had the light sensor / automatic dimming. http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/nec_pa271w.htm gives a view into the confusion with SpectraView US vs Europe. Sounds like it's mostly political, not technical, and frankly embarrassing for a global company. I'm sure eurandom's already found this, but here's info on http://www.necdisplay.com/spectra-view-II/compatibility#linux_comp. My guess is they just don't want to support the software; if you can get an actual human to see your request I assume they'd give it to you. Alternately you could find a way to plug the monitor into a Windows box for a one time hardware calibration.

Nelson

Customer service aside, the electricity in Europe is different than in the US, which could explain different models and maybe software (though the latter is probably more likely evidence of corporate balkanization).

rhizome

Thank you all for your input. My key take-away is that a good LCD panel should do me well without having to go into a professional range monitor. I decided to go with the NEC PA271W monitor which appears to be one of the best 27" monitors for photography work without going into the professional $2,000+ range. Due to hardware calibration, this monitor should work well with Linux and there may be a Linux version of the Spectraview II software available, although that is unclear at this stage as I am still waiting for feedback from NEC on that. I have not been too impressed by NEC's approach of having different models and calibration software in the US and in Europe and for not being able to answer the question on how to obtain the Linux version of the Spectraview II software that is mentioned on their website.

eurandom

I thought you needed some sort of special device for pro-level calibration, something which reads the colors displayed on the monitor. Am I misremembering this? You are correct, for the calibration itself, you need a hardware calibration device. I have one, but may need to upgrade it depending on the monitor I get. However, the quality of the calibration also depends on the monitor itself - does it do hardware calibration (inside the monitor, which tends to give the best results) or does it do software calibration (through the graphics card). I know hardware calibration is considered better, but I am not sure how much difference it makes for my application.

eurandom

You remember correctly, but I don't think the OP is at the hardware calibrator level yet.

rhizome

I thought you needed some sort of special device for pro-level calibration, something which reads the colors displayed on the monitor. Am I misremembering this?

shothotbot

My comment up above about Linux is outdated: Gimp has http://www.gimp.org/release-notes/gimp-2.4-cm.html. So if you get a nicely calibrated LCD on your desktop you may be able to use it meaningfully in Gimp on Linux. Hopefully a real expert on Linux color management will pop in to answer. As several people have said, any LCD you buy is going to be an enormous improvement over an old CRT.

Nelson

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