Anyone got Samsung G8 / G80SD monitor?

[LongLensPhotography]

I'm looking at buying one. Looks like it has nice spec and is antiglare unless I'm missing something very important.

Just wanted to hear from real world users who are photographers or graphics designers rather than gamers

Thanks.

 

[the_accidental]

So last time I was seriously monitor shopping (for work, computer vision so quality matters and budget was secondary, but refresh rate did matter too) OLED wasn’t there yet for critical work. Nice for gaming because of the contrast but poor brightness for general office work etc.

So I don’t know about that specific model, but try find someone reviewing it for that sort of use. The first couple generations of OLED monitors weren’t good for desktop use.

I _do_ have a high end OLED TV and it’s not great for desktop use either because it’s dull, even though it can manage a night bright TV image (you can watch it darken if you make a large white window like a webpage or text editor). Changing brightness depending on image content wouldn’t be great for editing photos.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

So last time I was seriously monitor shopping (for work, computer vision so quality matters and budget was secondary, but refresh rate did matter too) OLED wasn’t there yet for critical work. Nice for gaming because of the contrast but poor brightness for general office work etc.

So I don’t know about that specific model, but try find someone reviewing it for that sort of use. The first couple generations of OLED monitors weren’t good for desktop use.

I _do_ have a high end OLED TV and it’s not great for desktop use either because it’s dull, even though it can manage a night bright TV image (you can watch it darken if you make a large white window like a webpage or text editor). Changing brightness depending on image content wouldn’t be great for editing photos.

you were likely looking at w-oled model. This is QD-LED so could be better?

I have Samsung galaxy book2 laptop with a different sort of AMOLED screen and that is well nice, basically puts the old desktop IPS to shame, just wouldn't drop near £1k now on one - no way.

 

[the_accidental]

The QD-OLED I’ve seen (Dell’s) suffer from poor text clarity from the sub pixel arrangement and also muddy whites. Again, might not matter to you - but do check it.

From a look on RTINGs https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/samsung/odyssey-oled-g8-g85sb-s34bg85

That looks like it has similar issues - see the poor score for SDR brightness and I also see text clarity mentioned.

OLED is really nice for contrast and refresh rates, it’s amazing for gaming and films etc, but just not there for contrast and consistent brightness for general purpose use.

Mini-LED on the other hand is wonderful, but not very budget friendly!

 

[the_accidental]

wouldn't drop near £1k now on one

I ended up dropping that, per person, for about 20 people, as it was still the best option if high refresh and accurate colour are important (and specifically good dynamic range/tones). We were spending a lot (it was part of a laptop refresh too) so dell sent us various monitors to try. I forget the exact model, but we ended up on a high-hz 32” 4k screen.

That was nearly 2 years ago mind, but monitor tech moves woefully slowly. I occasionally look at replacing my home setup but there’s nothing better yet.

My kingdom for a 27” 5k/32” 6k mini-led screen with 1000 nits and 120hz+…

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Would you know any place where I could see the thing in person? That is obviously the best way.

The new non-curved Samsung certainly looks better https://www.rtings.com/monitor/tool...ung-odyssey-oled-g8-g80sd-s32dg80/47132/63127 and better than glossy MSI just not sure if that is good enough....

re brightness, it possibly doesn't need to be that bright. When you calibrate them the things asks you to set the brightness to 120 units, which is not that much at all. Quite dim actually. But that's fine, I hate screaming brightness. It is very nice having black blacks at those sort of settings. Quite a failure of IPS types hence my flat rejection of the idea about getting another.

Mini-LED on the other hand is wonderful, but not very budget friendly!

agreed. But I don't have spare £3k lying around at the moment....

My kingdom for a 27” 5k/32” 6k mini-led screen with 1000 nits and 120hz+…

what would that be? 6k 32".

 

[the_accidental]

Yeah the only 6k 32” options are 60hz.

Thunderbolt 5 being a thing now opens up the possibility of higher refresh rates at good dpi but they won’t be cheap.

The issue with oled brightness is how bright or not they get with a large light area. I was buying for well lit office use, if you have more control of room lighting dimmer monitors might be ok. Though there is the text issue too.

I wouldn’t have one for home use because of text clarity mainly, and the brightness secondarily but my home desk is near a window.

Good IPS screens have good contrast for critical image work. Their contrast and dynamic range can do better than you can typically print, although many sensors can capture more range than you can display. I cared about good shade with no stepping at low values (near black) so blacks not being “black” was less important than seeing all the shades

Also consider what you need it to be good for - your experience? A viewer seeing the image on a different screen? To get accurate prints? Etc.

I don’t know where you can try them sorry, but you also need a similar viewing environment. Maybe order somewhere good on returns?

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Yeah the only 6k 32” options are 60hz.

Thunderbolt 5 being a thing now opens up the possibility of higher refresh rates at good dpi but they won’t be cheap.

The issue with oled brightness is how bright or not they get with a large light area. I was buying for well lit office use, if you have more control of room lighting dimmer monitors might be ok. Though there is the text issue too.

I wouldn’t have one for home use because of text clarity mainly, and the brightness secondarily but my home desk is near a window.

Good IPS screens have good contrast for critical image work. Their contrast and dynamic range can do better than you can typically print, although many sensors can capture more range than you can display. I cared about good shade with no stepping at low values (near black) so blacks not being “black” was less important than seeing all the shades

Also consider what you need it to be good for - your experience? A viewer seeing the image on a different screen? To get accurate prints? Etc.

I don’t know where you can try them sorry, but you also need a similar viewing environment. Maybe order somewhere good on returns?

I can hardly see the need for more than 60hz. Maybe I'm just not aware for such a reason. I don't play games nor develop them. My videos hardly if ever output at 60fps let alone higher.

My PC is in a north facing room and at night I have overhead diffused 3x6W LED lighting so a little brighter than most but not office level.

I think you would really struggle not to output more contrast, gamut and DR than a print. It is actually a fight to cram it all into a suitable file for printing. No, the real problems start at darker video content where those blacks shine through at dimmer settings. You think they are not too bad but then see OLED laptop right next to it and they are bad. Lights off in the room and that's completely game over. Your customer will probably watch it on a state of the art OLED TV. With HDR10+ and all that. That's before uniformity issues, delamination of layers over time and so on. I just won't have another one. Mine is nearly a scrap after 5 yr. 100% unsellable, maybe just usable as a secondary preview screen.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

You may wonder what the hell happened. I was reading too much nonsense like this, ended up buying bargain deal Samsung Viewfinity S8 IPS, and now have to deal with returns and be stuck with a faulty old panel for a long time to come till next round of offers because £1200 is not something I can stomach right now.

The IPS looked same or worse as the old panel with the addition of dead pixel cluster and some very nasty digital sharpening effect which cannot be completely turned off in the settings. It can be minimised but it remains there. Basically total s***. I only hope the returns handling is smooth. No more crappy IPS for me

 

[the_accidental]

No more crappy IPS for me

I mean, you could always get not-crappy IPS...

Pro Display XDR

Pro Display XDR. A new 32-inch Retina 6K display with extreme brightness, contrast, color accuracy, and HDR that transforms the way you work.

www.apple.com

Costs mind ;-)

(and some might say "overpriced" but they still have no competition, which is a real shame)

If you can't stomach 1200 I'm afraid you might have to wait a while. There just isn't much demand for high quality monitors to drive the price down. More people want a £200 monitor than want a "nice" monitor, it'll be a bit niche for a long time.

The screen in front of me is a 10yo panel model, I still can't do better for under about 2k! (and it didn't cost me that much)

 

[LongLensPhotography]

I could buy that for £770 effective. I'm not just spending +£500 3 days later. That's really the end of this whole nonsense