What PC monitors do you guys use? I'm after something that's fairly cheap but something that is either pre calibrated or something that I can calibrate myself. If the latter, what calibration tools are recommended?
Pre-calibrated is a gimmick. Dell do a load that are and they're quite a way off being accurate, plus... screens do not stay calibrated.. they drift as they age. I'd definitely recommend a calibrator.
You don't mention price, and fairly cheap can change from person to person.
If you mean around £200 as fairly cheap, then the Dell U2412M is a great screen for the money. Genuine 16:10 (1920x1200). Calibrated very well (I bought one for my wife, and used many others). As it's now been replaced by the U2415, I bet you can get a bargain.
There's also the Dell U2415H, slightly more expensive, but still could be called cheapish, and equally as good.
In the market around £200, there's not much competition at the moment.
There's the Eizo FlexScan EV2455, again a genuine 24" 16:10 screen, and considering it has Eizo written on it, as a reasonable £270 approx. Turn OFF the ambient light sensor though... you don't want automatic adjustments of screen settings if you're going to calibrate it.
All of the above are IPS panels, but standard gamut (sRGB).. which is, unless you really know what you're doing with colour management, a safer option for 90% of users.
Going a little higher in Price there venerable old Asus PA248Q is worth a look.. again, full 16:10, and a well respected screen. The Asus PA248QJ is a wide gamut version that's about £80 more than the plain Q version.
Probably the most well respected calibrator for home use is the x-rite i1 Display Pro. The x-rite Color Munki Photo is also worth a look as it can calibrate printer media too, but it's not cheap. If you are only bothered about screen calibration then either X-Rite i1 Display Pro or the X-Rite Color Munki Display woudl be my choices.
I've never been entirely happy with Datacolor Products, which include the Spyder range of colorimeters.
I have noticed lots of differences on the screens that I have viewed my images on so I think now is the time for something that I can be sure of! I mainly use LR and PS.
Cheers
Calibrating your monitor will not make your images look the same when viewing them on other monitors
I don't think that's what he means... He just realises that because they are different on different uncalibrated monitors, he wants a calibrated screen to be sure that HIS monitor is accurate.. I think. LOL