Monitor recommendations

S

Sean Wilson

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Hi,
Just getting into the post processing, built a starter/midrange PC and so far been using a cheap flatscreen TV as a monitor which is pants to be honest.
Looking to purchase a monitor, budget is not fantastic £300ish possibly £400 at a push.
Been trolling tinernet and my head is spinning two many choices,
Type HD, Quad HD, 4K
Size 24, 27, 28 or 30 inch
Panel type TN, which I believe isn’t good for colour rendition, IPS etc.
Widescreen or Ultrawide
It will also be used by the middle sprog for gaming purposes.
Hoping to get something in the Black Friday sales.
Started with a 4k Samsung at Currys for £199 ended up looking at LG34inch Ultrawide UWHD 144mhz for £369 and many in between.
Any help would be appreciated
Many thanks
 
I've been using a Dell U2412M for the last 4-5 years. Excellent screen, though smaller and more expensive than the AOC recommended above.
 
Sean,

At this price point your best bet will be a 24" HD 1920px wide monitor.

4k will give you tiny labels and writing on the programs at this size, and you won't be able to get a decent 27" 4k monitor which is the minimum recommended size for 4k

If you can find something with 2k uhd at this price point then it may be worth considering, but while its nice, 1920px should be fine.

Don't consider TN screens, IPS is a must

Remember to factor in a colour calibration device to ensure you're getting accurate colours. You don't need to go overboard on price for these, something like a colourmunki smile can be had new for about £85.

Regarding the actual monitors themselves, Dell are always a good option if you go for the ultrasharp range. Current model is the Dell UltraSharp 24 Monitor: U2419HC, but in all honestly there isn't much change year to year on models so any of the ultrasharp U24xx range should be good.

Second recommendation is the EIZO FlexScan EV2450 23.8 Inch Monitor - Black. £253 from Wex at the moment. I've never used this one myself but Eizo are pretty much top of the range

Mike
 
wouldn't worry too much about colour calibration, unless you are printing a shed load of stuff, do a quick online calibration, job done :)
 
GreenNinja67 said:
All the reviews say not suitable for image editing.

Have you got one of these @johnnypanic and can you recommend its colour accuracy?
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Not suitable for much really. At 32" you absolutely need 4K resolution. Even at 27" you really really need 4K these days. Otherwise you will be looking at it from over a meter distance.... Maybe that's what you like.

They even include a useless VGA port. Anything with VGA still in shouldn't even be looked at.
 
pooley said:
Bit worrying if you can't guess what that means after advising short cut against getting correct colours in a shot.

I hope none of your clients read this and see such a slap dash attitude towards work

OP - apologies, as you were
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I think this is actually an interesting point.

Back when I sold a lot of prints, I would do frequent lab checks - sending a test file in with a bunch of prints so I could check accuracy of the lab over time and simply hold it up to the screen to check it's all in the right ballpark.

Now most of my work is either viewed by clients on Excel based machines or goes to a proper print team. Either way, my "calibration" is mostly to check that people will look human on office screens. There doesn't really seem a lot of point paying for a monitor and calibrator that is better than the viewing medium your clients will use. If you're a hobbyist, that may mean you simply want to check colours against a decent TV.
 
pooley said:
Bit worrying if you can't guess what that means after advising short cut against getting correct colours in a shot.

I hope none of your clients read this and see such a slap dash attitude towards work

OP - apologies, as you were
Click to expand...


Be careful, I am all for friendly banter/debate, but saying what we do is "slapdash" I will not tolerate, my clients are very happy and have no issues, what I am saying is just common sense, it may upset the purist but hard lines,

Anyway we do what we do VERY successfully with NO issues from any of our clients, give us a shout when you have nearly 2 million colour specific images published and we can have a chat about how we are doing it wrong.

As a side note, do you actually think that the hundreds of clients we service each year would accept images that were not correct ? are they ALL that "slapdash" in terms of their own business that they would simply just accept what is sent to them ( when in reality they are the most critical) I mean 95% of what we do is fashion, so hey why would they be bothered about the colour being correct !
 
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JonathanRyan said:
Based on some brand advice in another thread and reading reviews I just bought this

https://www.cclonline.com/product/b...a-hd-va-panel-amd-freesync-grey-9h-lgvla-tse/

It will be here in a week or so when my PC is built so I'll let you know but you get a lot for your money. I expect it to be huge though - will have to wall mount to even have a chance of getting another monitor on the desk.
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Nice choice, its a VA panel but the shift looks very minimal, I like BenQ monitors, superb VFM and colour accuracy is very good at the price point. Waiting for BF deals but I think this monitor will be my next choice alongside an ITX build... If I can choose/find the case Id like.
 
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JonathanRyan said:
I think this is actually an interesting point.

Back when I sold a lot of prints, I would do frequent lab checks - sending a test file in with a bunch of prints so I could check accuracy of the lab over time and simply hold it up to the screen to check it's all in the right ballpark.

Now most of my work is either viewed by clients on Excel based machines or goes to a proper print team. Either way, my "calibration" is mostly to check that people will look human on office screens. There doesn't really seem a lot of point paying for a monitor and calibrator that is better than the viewing medium your clients will use. If you're a hobbyist, that may mean you simply want to check colours against a decent TV.
Click to expand...

You are right, print is a different beast, you have a fixed reference that is the print, everyone is looking at the same thing, however online people are viewing content on televisions, phones, tablets, monitors, led screens etc, hey but what do we know, we just work in a very colour specific environment with no problems :)
 
Studio488commercial said:
wouldn't worry too much about colour calibration, unless you are printing a shed load of stuff, do a quick online calibration, job done :)
Click to expand...

pooley said:
Wow.....
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Studio488commercial said:
what does that mean ? are are we supposed to guess?
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LongLensPhotography said:
Not suitable for much really. At 32" you absolutely need 4K resolution. Even at 27" you really really need 4K these days. Otherwise you will be looking at it from over a meter distance.... Maybe that's what you like.

They even include a useless VGA port. Anything with VGA still in shouldn't even be looked at.
Click to expand...

pooley said:
Bit worrying if you can't guess what that means after advising short cut against getting correct colours in a shot.

I hope none of your clients read this and see such a slap dash attitude towards work

OP - apologies, as you were
Click to expand...

JonathanRyan said:
I think this is actually an interesting point.

Back when I sold a lot of prints, I would do frequent lab checks - sending a test file in with a bunch of prints so I could check accuracy of the lab over time and simply hold it up to the screen to check it's all in the right ballpark.

Now most of my work is either viewed by clients on Excel based machines or goes to a proper print team. Either way, my "calibration" is mostly to check that people will look human on office screens. There doesn't really seem a lot of point paying for a monitor and calibrator that is better than the viewing medium your clients will use. If you're a hobbyist, that may mean you simply want to check colours against a decent TV.
Click to expand...

Studio488commercial said:
Be careful, I am all for friendly banter/debate, but saying what we do is "slapdash" I will not tolerate, my clients are very happy and have no issues, what I am saying is just common sense, it may upset the purist but hard lines,

Anyway we do what we do VERY successfully with NO issues from any of our clients, give us a shout when you have nearly 2 million colour specific images published and we can have a chat about how we are doing it wrong.
Click to expand...

Studio488commercial said:
You are right, print is a different beast, you have a fixed reference that is the print, everyone is looking at the same thing, however online people are viewing content on televisions, phones, tablets, monitors, led screens etc, hey but what do we know, we just work in a very colour specific environment with no problems :)
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This covers why advice to the OP's question can be mixed and confusing to him/them.......................he does not mention prints but as a photography forum when it comes to questions about calibration most are 'talking about prints'. Not all photographers are doing the same things with the same kit ;)

@Studio488commercial if all (almost all%?) your output is for non-print usage and that said output is created on hardware calibrated monitors [you don't mention what studio kit you are using] where you can be sure of a closed loop accuracy {your output will be seen as "right" when viewed by most folk when seen on an unknown range of mostly uncalibrated screens} using an online (colour tile & grayscale?) checker, then as you say your output will be good and the clients will be happy, paying you for your worthy services.

FWIW in the Printing sub fora have been 'cri de couer' aplenty of OP's saying their prints are too dark and/or colours are wrong and of those those who cry out a few have used Adobe Gamma and online calibration tools and still not managed to produce decent prints.

Sorry to be long winded but "context is all" in many walks of life and photography & PP none more so!
 
Studio488commercial said:
Be careful, I am all for friendly banter/debate, but saying what we do is "slapdash" I will not tolerate, my clients are very happy and have no issues, what I am saying is just common sense, it may upset the purist but hard lines,

Anyway we do what we do VERY successfully with NO issues from any of our clients, give us a shout when you have nearly 2 million colour specific images published and we can have a chat about how we are doing it wrong.

As a side note, do you actually think that the hundreds of clients we service each year would accept images that were not correct ? are they ALL that "slapdash" in terms of their own business that they would simply just accept what is sent to them ( when in reality they are the most critical) I mean 95% of what we do is fashion, so hey why would they be bothered about the colour being correct !
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Be careful of what? Just because you may run a successful business doesn't mean you shouldn't get pulled up when you give poor advice. Telling someone to skimp a few quid on a very important part of a workflow is very poor.

I have no interest in chest beating telling me how many images you've had published, I've had countless thousands myself all over the world, but in reality that means absolutely nothing either.

Good luck with your business

Mike
 
pooley said:
Be careful of what? Just because you may run a successful business doesn't mean you shouldn't get pulled up when you give poor advice. Telling someone to skimp a few quid on a very important part of a workflow is very poor.

I have no interest in chest beating telling me how many images you've had published, I've had countless thousands myself all over the world, but in reality that means absolutely nothing either.

Good luck with your business

Mike
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No luck needed, its not a good business plan, if you ever need to see a modern workflow with very happy client base, then feel free to drop in, happy to educate and be educated.
 
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Studio488commercial said:
No luck needed, its not a good business plan, if you ever need to see a modern workflow with very happy client base, then feel free to drop in, happy to educate and be educated.
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pooley said:
Oh dear, what arrogance. Think I'll give it a swerve thanks. Let me know when you need some help deflating your ego
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I don't think this helps the OP with the monitor choices.... Let's maybe get back on track. Thanks.
 
Studio488commercial said:
wouldn't worry too much about colour calibration
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Not going to go through some of the other posts but that isn't the greatest of advice and again is not helping with the OP's question... first thing is that calibration is 'setting' your monitor to a given standard you then create a profile (LUT) which will reproduce colours close to what they should be (on your monitor). Now, as we all know, that does not mean that the colours will reproduce correctly on all viewing device, but, isn't it important to know that what you are providing clients is correct? (I have to point out that my background involves fidelity in colour for scientific purposes)... Your methodology obviously works in your high productivity online world, which I accept is successful, but please try to consider your advice appropriately.
 
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PhilH04 said:
Not going to go through some of the other posts but that isn't the greatest of advice and again is not helping with the OP's question... first thing is that calibration is 'setting' your monitor to a given standard you then create a profile (LUT) which will reproduce colours close to what they should be (on your monitor). Now, as we all know, that does not mean that the colours will reproduce correctly on all viewing device, but, isn't it important to know that what you are providing clients is correct? (I have to point out that my background involves fidelity in colour for scientific purposes)... Your methodology obviously works in your high productivity online world, which I accept is successful, but please try to consider your advice appropriately.
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My advice is sound, its not based on assumptions but FACTS, something which people simply refuse to accept. If the OP is not printing most of their images and are simply displaying them online, colour accuracy to the point of hardware calibration is not necessary.
 
PhilH04 said:
Not going to go through some of the other posts but that isn't the greatest of advice and again is not helping with the OP's question... first thing is that calibration is 'setting' your monitor to a given standard you then create a profile (LUT) which will reproduce colours close to what they should be (on your monitor). Now, as we all know, that does not mean that the colours will reproduce correctly on all viewing device, but, isn't it important to know that what you are providing clients is correct? (I have to point out that my background involves fidelity in colour for scientific purposes)... Your methodology obviously works in your high productivity online world, which I accept is successful, but please try to consider your advice appropriately.
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In the best case you would get a well calibrated screen. My Acer 320 had a pretty decent ARGB profile out of the box, and calibration made little improvement. But everything else was a mile off had I opted using it! Macs tend to come quite close too. So you can certainly get away with it at least initially with more expensive device, but there is no guarantee that you will or for how long.

Now it then depends where images go. On ipads customers may actually come to expect truthful colours unless they are used to viewing digicam rubbish. On the other many android phones will at least by default oversaturate the colours so far that nothing matters at all anyway. For print it very very much requires careful output, but then it also depends if customers have any idea at all. Even if that is the case there is no excuse delivering out of calibration product to this customer base.
 
I ended up acquiring an Apple LED Cinema Display and with a cheap display port adapter for use on my PC it works very well. I’ve got a couple of Dell UP2716Ds at work and to be honest I’m disappointed with them, the build quality is nasty as they’re made from cheap plastic and the stand is very wobbly - the picture is ok but the old Apple screen is far nicer and extremely well built. If you can find a good deal on eBay or elsewhere it’s worth investigating
 
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Studio488commercial said:
My advice is sound, its not based on assumptions but FACTS, something which people simply refuse to accept. If the OP is not printing most of their images and are simply displaying them online, colour accuracy to the point of hardware calibration is not necessary.
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We will have to agree to disagree, obviously any form of colour accuracy is not part of your business model which I accept works for you, me personally after a 40yr professional career, I am only happy knowing that I have provided the best I can and that includes colour, I realise that all viewing devices will be different but I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have provided an accurately edited image.
 
PhilH04 said:
We will have to agree to disagree, obviously any form of colour accuracy is not part of your business model which I accept works for you, me personally after a 40yr professional career, I am only happy knowing that I have provided the best I can and that includes colour, I realise that all viewing devices will be different but I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have provided an accurately edited image.
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Sorry stop misrepresenting what I said, at NO point did we say colour accuracy was not part of our business, it is bloody obvious that it is or we wouldn't be in business, our clients are not stupid they require a accurate representation of their products our work flow is different to how other people "think" it should be done, For example I am sure the time group would have had a problem with the 4000 balls of very colour specific wool we shot for one of their online magazines, and you know what they didn't have a single one !
 
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