Which Monitor?

Digifrog

Digifrog

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Scott
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Hi

Without wanting to hijack the other monitor thread I'm a bit lost when it comes to deciding which monitor is best for me. My budget is £800 but I could push a little more if the benefits are more advantageous. Ideally I would like a 27" display but it's not important.

I've been looking at the WEX range of displays and prices/display sizes are a little confusing. I would expect that the larger the display the heavier the cost but there are a couple of exceptions. For example this 22" monitor is £1400...
http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-eizo-coloredge-cg221-22-inch-monitor-black/p1525703

...which is the same price as this NEC 27"...
http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-...h-monitor-with-x-rite-i1-display-pro/p1536794

The thing I like about the Eizo is the line "The Eizo ColorEdge CG221 22 inch Monitor lets you view the colours on your screen as your camera saw them when the image was taken." Is this true of most high end displays or is that specific to this model?

The benchmark for my choice is the Apple Thunderbolt (I like the display but unsure of the true spec) but I don't use a Mac. The other is the Dell Ultrasharp 27".

Without pushing my budget to silly money what is my best option?

Many thanks in advance.

Scott
 
You don't want an Apple screen they are too glossy.

The Dell 27" is a superb screen for the money and would probably be your best bet. I'm sure I'm missing something great about that Eizo screen, but it has a RGB colour gamut of 98% and the Dell's is 99%. I'm sure there may be more to it in that, but colour reproduction probably wouldn't be any more sophisticated on the Eizo than the Dell.

For the money, the Dell is a great purchase.
 
For the Eizo look at either Native Digital or Colour Confidence and save a few hundred quid.

The Eizo ColorEdge monitors are superb, I have the CG19 & CG223W.

CG221 at Colour Confidence LINK
 
Martyn... said:
For the Eizo look at either Native Digital or Colour Confidence and save a few hundred quid.

The Eizo ColorEdge monitors are superb, I have the CG19 & CG223W.

CG221 at Colour Confidence LINK
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link Martyn. It might be an obvious question then, why is a 22" Eizo ColorEdge more expensive than a 27" ColorEdge? I don't print professionally on a frequent basis so I'm unsure what it is about these monitors that differentiates them from one another, which in turn makes it unclear which one would be ideal for me.

What's the difference between the 22" @ £1400 and this 27" at £1350
http://shop.colourconfidence.com/product.php/4589/eizo-coloredge-cg276

edit: I may have missed the VAT difference but the point remains unchanged.

http://shop.colourconfidence.com/product.php/2684/eizo-coloredge-cg232w £4330?
 
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Digifrog said:
Thanks for the link Martyn. It might be an obvious question then, why is a 22" Eizo ColorEdge more expensive than a 27" ColorEdge?
Click to expand...

For a lot of technical reasons that the guy at Native Digital did explain to me once, mainly to do with the spec of the panel used.

If you want some decent advice give Native Digital a call, they will explain the differences and give you an honest opinion of what will suit your requirements, they will not try and palm you off with the dearest monitor in the shop.
 
Digifrog said:
Thanks for the link Martyn. It might be an obvious question then, why is a 22" Eizo ColorEdge more expensive than a 27" ColorEdge? I don't print professionally on a frequent basis so I'm unsure what it is about these monitors that differentiates them from one another, which in turn makes it unclear which one would be ideal for me.

What's the difference between the 22" @ £1400 and this 27" at £1350
http://shop.colourconfidence.com/product.php/4589/eizo-coloredge-cg276
Click to expand...

The CG276 is by far the better screen. The CG221 is actually quite an old model now. It's just Wex being stupid with pricing. The CG276 has a built in colorimeter too, that can be auto scheduled to self calibrate at hardware level. Even when switched off, it will wake itself up... run a warm up period, calibrate, then shut down. The LG IPS panel is superb, and it's beautifully built and styled.


You mention Apple screens being a benchmark.... well.. their just not in the same league as the CG276. Apple screens, actually, aren't that great. With the CG276 you're talking high resolution programmable LUT for proper hardware level profiling, excellent colour gamut, 5 year swap out warranty, and the knowledge that you're getting pretty much the best you can get.

The Spectraview Reference 271 is also utterly superb, and perhaps represents better value for money if I'm honest. It's been around a while now, but again has a true 12bit programmable LUT for proper hardware calibration if used with the software that comes with it, but you will have to budget for a colorimeter to take advantage of that as none is bundled with it (unless the dealer throws one in). NEC have their own which is based on a an old X-rite i1 Display 2 unit, so perhaps give that a miss and get a i1 Display Pro... but still use NEC's software.

I'll admit I'm biased to Eizo.. but for good reason. I've had this CG303W for a few months now and I still sometimes just sit in awe of it's brilliance. Prior to this I had a Eizo SX3031W, which was the older S-PVA model and that was equally as brilliant. The only reason I will not replace this with another Eizo when the time comes, is that Eizo no longer make 16:10 high end screens... This CG303W being the last of it's kind. I'll be going down the NEC Reference series route when I replace this. If you're not bothered about 16:9 though, then the CG276 is pretty much as good as it gets at the moment.

Hardware calibration is well worth it over software calibration. The biggest advantage is tonal gradation. Any monitor calibrated at software level will suffer when it comes to tonal graduations, as you're calibrating at a 8 bit level, but a genuine 10bit or higher programmable LUT gives utterly perfect gradients even after profiling.

The Dell screens are fantastic... but when you're talking about the Eizo ColorEdge series or the NEC reference series.... they are just not in the same league... incredibly good, and amazing value for money, but are a different screen for a different market. It's like comparing a D7000 against a D4. Both superb.. but for those that need to the D4, there's no comparison. Those that don't need the D4 will just scratch their heads and wonder why it's so expensive.
 
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I have the Dell 2713h and have been very happy with it. I used the suggested settings from another monitor site as I have yet to get a screen calibrator. The dell is locked to use only one type of calibrator as well, so be warned.
 
Fortunately, they've opted for the i1 Display Pro... which is probably one of the best. Shame though as the Color Munki Display is essentially the same hardware.

You also need the Dell software... but nothing new there... Eizo make it difficult to use anything other than Color Navigator.

The Dell software may not be available for Mac OS yet as well... so you need to check.

Still... it can be software profiled with anything, but kind of defeats the object of it in the first place.
 
Thanks David, blasted.

I think I'm swaying more towards the Dell 2713H to be honest. I need a new bathroom, I'm not a pro photographer so I can't justify £1650 on a monitor - as much as I would like to.

The other option of course is to get a higher spec 22" for roughly the same price as the 2713H. Any ideas?

The profiling thing is a little lost on me I'm afraid, there's some reading up to do there. My Samsung 22" SyncMaster is uncalibrated and as far as I know I've disabled its profile.
 
The Dell U2713H is really the first Dell that can be classed as a proper high end screen, as this, and the U3014 are the only Dells so far that can be hardware profiled. It looks like a very interesting screen, and TFT central seemed to give it a good write up. The U2713H and the U3014 are the only Dell screens that can be discussed in the same conversation as the Eizo CG and NEC reference screens.

Dell are indeed upping their game at last.

TFT central did discover that panel uniformity on the U2713H was a concern though... something that both Eizo and NEC seem to have worked a lot harder resolving... and panel uniformity is always a tough one to crack because it relies on very precise manufacture, machining and fitting... all of which adds significantly to the price.
 
Pookeyhead said:
The Dell U2713H is really the first Dell that can be classed as a proper high end screen
Click to expand...

+1 for this screen. Had mine since just after launch. Very happy with it and the factory calibration has served me well so far. No dead pixels and no light bleed either. I know what you mean about the Apple screens too - they can look fantastic with that glossy shine but I'd stick to the dell unless I was sat in a dark room playing games all day :p
 
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Thanks for the ebay link the 23inch for £120.. Like sound of that
 
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