Monitors: Too many to choose from

[Eekthecat]

Hi all,

Calling on expert advice on which monitor would be best suited for someone starting their own freelance graphic design business. My main outputs would be in print either offset or digital printing.

I was able to check out an Eizo monitor today (however due to its cost) I won't be able to afford one for the time being.

Are there any monitors that come close? I can afford a mid range monitor, but nothing as expensive as the flexscan Eizos.

ALL HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED!

[Tony W]

For me it would have to be from the NEC Multisync range with Spectraview bundle. I am sure that you will find something within your budget from the range - what is that budget though and where in the world will you be buying?

[andrewrodney]

If you want Eizo performance in an affordable unit, check out the NEC SpectraView II line. The newer PA series may allow you to find the older (and excellent) 2690 or 3090 units at bargain prices or just go for a PA (like the PA271W). But be sure you get the SpectraView II software and a supported instrument for calibration. They usually offer a good bundle of all three.

[Eekthecat]

Hi andrew and Tony,

Thanks for your advice re NEC.

I am actually in australia, queensland.

Do you think its worth getting a wide format compared to a 4:3? Also, are the BENQ worth a look at?

[Eekthecat]

I found this NEC MultiSync P221W for $808 AUD. Is that a decent price?
Just a couple of things... is a 22" a good format? Noticed the ratio is 1680 x 1050 - is that ok

[Tony W]

I know that Andrew has a lot of experience, far more than me, but I will try to answer as best I can. If when he gets here he disagrees take his word for it

As you are starting a freelance graphics business I suspect that you will want to get the best monitor you can specifically for the purpose of image editing. And of course one that falls within your budget.

I may be wrong as I am not that familiar with the 2 products you mention but I strongly suspect these are not in the same league as the Eizo you first mentioned or the NEC SpectraView II mentioned by Andrew. The BENQ name in particular, at least for me conjures up a make weight monitor that used to be thrown in with cheap computer packages. They could of course be excellent and certainly offer a decent spec for the money.
The Nec model costs around £299 - 354.00 (approx $458 - $543 AUD) incl vat in the UK. Seems that you are paying a premium price over the UK and I bet we in turn are paying a premium over our USA and Canadian cousins.

Anyway out of those 2 I would go I am sure for the NEC

[andrewrodney]

The P221W is the entry level SpectraView. For the money, its very good however its not an IPS display panel. Its only 22” which is on the small side too. If you can up the budget, either the NEC 2690 or better, PA271W is the way to go.

[Ikiri]

Interesting thread. How about colour space on the monitors mentioned here? Can they all show more than 90% of the Adobe RGB colour space?
How important is that percentage? I mean – is it worthwhile paying more money for a higher AdobeRGB percentage? Or is it just yadda-yadda from the marketing department?

[andrewrodney]

Some is yadda-yadda marking depending on how the percentages are specified.

Here is a post from the ColorSync list from the product manager at NEC:

To clarify what this means, since there is a lot of confusion about this in the industry (intentional or not):

The de facto standard when throwing around display gamut sizes is currently to quote the gamut area, calculated in CIE xy, relative to a reference gamut and expressed as a percentage. If the reference color gamut is unspecified, it is generally assumed to be NTSC (1953) - (which is pretty useless since it's not in use and makes things more confusing, especially for those doing video work).

Another confusing point about this figure is that it does not say what portion of the 2 gamuts overlap, so it would be possible to have a very large % gamut area, but only have a smaller portion of it actually covering the reference gamut.

At NEC we have started to quote 2 sets of figures: "Percent Area" and "Percent Coverage".

The "Percent Area" is simply the area in CIE xy of the display gamut vs the reference gamut, with no consideration of how much of the gamuts actually overlap. This value can be > 100%.

The "Percent Coverage" is the overlapping area of the 2 gamuts expressed as a percent of the total area of the reference gamut. The maximum possible value for this is 100%.

We generally quote these values for AdobeRGB and sRGB, so it is easier to determine which color gamut best suits a particular application.

Using CIE xy is not ideal because it overemphasizes the greens and under emphasizes the blues. A much better way would be to use CIE u' v', but that would probably cause more confusion and make direct comparisons even more difficult.

Will Hollingworth
Manager of OEM Product Design & Development Engineering
NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc.
http://www.necdisplay.com

[Ikiri]

Thanks for this, Andrew. Very interesting.
Also quite technical (I'm not a native English speaker).

So – in laymen terms, and without having 2 monitors side by side:
Is there a way of comparing, say a NEC and a Eizo monitor, by purely looking at the % of AdobeRGB? And does it make sense to do so?
Or is it safe to buy any NEC or Eizo (Quato,...) with more than 90%?

I do a bit of comp work and 3d-work from time to time – so it'd be nice for those intense reds/greens/blues to show good definition.

(The other day in a Photoshop-Magazine they showed some locally well-known retouchers' workspaces. I was surprised to see the odd Apple screen there – they're known not to be that good, considering the price tag).

[andrewrodney]

To compare the two gamuts, I’d use ColorThink Pro from CHROMIX and either have it tell me the gamut value (a raw numeric value) or better, plot the two profiles in 3D and see where they line up or don’t. But no, I don’t think it tells you that much. IOW, if one has a slightly larger gamut, but has worse purity across the screen, which would you prefer to use?

[Ikiri]

So, "on paper" and without having various monitors on my desk for comparison – it's better to concentrate on other things than just gamut, right?
(As long as I go for the higher-end monitors from NEC / Eizo)

[andrewrodney]

I’d try to look over the software that drives them, the price point and have some conversations with people who have used them (over on Luminous Landscape, both camps have posted their impressions).