Looking for a good monitor

[libertyranger]

Hello,

I was wondering if I could get some input from fellow Canon users about a good photography monitor.  Currently, I am leaning towards Apple's new Thunderbolt Display.  I own a Macbook Air and this would be a good set up.  However, I recently found out about Dell Ultrasharp monitors.  They have a 27" model and a 30" model that look nice. 

So, what do you guys/gals use and what are your thoughts on the Thunderbolt and Ultrasharp displays?  I have about 1200'ish to spend and possible more if I wait a couple more months to save.   I currently own an HP 2310m 1080p monitor but would like something better. 

Also, what would be a good calibration tool for good color accuracy?

Mike

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Monitors are like lenses, the price goes up a lot for a small increase in quality.  There are several good monitor calibration units, you do not need to spend a fortune on one, but plan on a couple of hundred dollars.

Room lighting and location are just as important as the monitor you use, so don't spend a bundle on a monitor and not get the benefit because there is a window behind or to the side of you that creates reflections.

[RC]

Here is a very similar thread I started here on CR a couple of weeks ago.  Some excellent info as always from the CR community.

Monitor recomendations for viewing and editing
http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php/topic,2471.0.html

[handsomerob]

Monitors are like lenses, the price goes up a lot for a small increase in quality.  There are several good monitor calibration units, you do not need to spend a fortune on one, but plan on a couple of hundred dollars.

Room lighting and location are just as important as the monitor you use, so don't spend a bundle on a monitor and not get the benefit because there is a window behind or to the side of you that creates reflections.

+1 well said.

If you want to save up some more, you can get yourself a NEC or maybe an Eizo. If not, Dell Ultrasharp series are great, especially considering their relatively cheap price.

[pete.koehn]

+1 on the Dell Ultrasharp, although I couldn't say I recommend anything else made by Dell! I purchased the lowly U2311h over a year ago, and it's been stellar. Even color, good angle of viewability, solid build, etc. I print at Costco (cheap!) and I use their profiles (available online at Dry Creek Photo), as well as an i1Display 2 for calibration. My screen matches the prints almost spot on. I'm sure I could tweak my profile further, but it already does a fantastic job. $1,200 to spend? You'll be fine. Mine only cost $250!

[dr croubie]

I voted for the 27" Dell Ultrasharp before, and i'll do it again.

Just a tad more expensive than the 24" version, for a lot better colour and more real-estate.

Half the price of the 30" version for an extra 160 pixels along the top and 99% vs 96% adobergb coverage. I'd get 2x 27"ers before i got one 30".

Double to triple the price of the 22" versions, you'd get more screen real-estae with the three smaller versions, but they're not as well calibrated or have as many options.

Just don't buy it now, if you can wait a month or two. Dell always have them on a 3-day sale, I looked first and it was $700, put it off and put it off, then the price rose to $800, put it off more, then the next week it was $540 on sale, I hit the 'buy' button before the page had finished loading.

Eizo especially are also good, but they're like Zeiss glass. Sure you'd probably get an extra 5% on performance, but you're paying for it. Dell are calibrated to <5 which is good enough for me, but you can buy an extra calibrator for less than an Eizo and get fairly similar results...

[JR]

There are several good monitor calibration units, you do not need to spend a fortune on one, but plan on a couple of hundred dollars.

Room lighting and location are just as important as the monitor you use, so don't spend a bundle on a monitor and not get the benefit because there is a window behind or to the side of you that creates reflections.

Which monitor calibration toolkit do you guys use or recommend?  I recently changed my monitor from a Lenovo 24" to the Apple Display 27" and while the Apple is a better display for sure, it feels like the brightness of my pictures are all wrong now (or maybe they were before and I did not realize it!).  All my picture are too dark, but yet when I increase the brightnees of the screen, it is unbarable.  There must be something I did not calibrate with the monitor or the graphic card...

[wopbv4]

Hi,

please check if the graphics card in your macbook air can actually drive the 27" monitors, should be no problem, but it is worth checking.
JR, and for those who own a Mac monitor, go to the display settings, set color to iMac (for a start) and turn down the brightness to something like 20% as the default setting is way to bright. Intially it will look very pale, but it will be a lot closer to what you get on your prints.
Color management is a different story. I have just bought a ColorMunki and calibrated my 27" Imac (latest version) and I do see significant improvement. A tricky thing is that during the calibration the level of background light in the room is measured and you will be asked to turn down the brightness of your monitor.
On an iMac, there is no hardware way to do this, so after changing the slider in the software, the process has to be repeated.
There are some very good articles on

https://www.imagescience.com.au/kb/questions/65/Colour+Control+on+Monitors

Hope this helps

[JR]

I am actually using the Apple display on my PC and I have the latest R6990 graphic which has no problem driving the 27" monitor.  However I may just give up on it and simply plug the monitor back on my Mac Pro and perform the adjustment you suggested.

Colors are ok, it is the brightness that is weird.  That screen is very reflective as well so maybe this is the issue.  Anyway thanks for the advice.

Hi,

please check if the graphics card in your macbook air can actually drive the 27" monitors, should be no problem, but it is worth checking.
JR, and for those who own a Mac monitor, go to the display settings, set color to iMac (for a start) and turn down the brightness to something like 20% as the default setting is way to bright. Intially it will look very pale, but it will be a lot closer to what you get on your prints.
Color management is a different story. I have just bought a ColorMunki and calibrated my 27" Imac (latest version) and I do see significant improvement. A tricky thing is that during the calibration the level of background light in the room is measured and you will be asked to turn down the brightness of your monitor.
On an iMac, there is no hardware way to do this, so after changing the slider in the software, the process has to be repeated.
There are some very good articles on

https://www.imagescience.com.au/kb/questions/65/Colour+Control+on+Monitors

Hope this helps

[Mercer Harris]

Look at the NEC PA series.  They have calibration software that works with their monitors.  They are rated very highly.  There are articles on best monitors at Shootsmarter.com. B&H has the 27" NEC PA for about 1300 and NEC is giving a hood away with it until Dec. 31st.

[alipaulphotography]

I bought a 27 dell ultrasharp over summer at a great price as I needed a good monitor. I also calibrated it with the spyder 3 Elite which seemed to do a great job.

I could not live with the monitor as it has a truly awful antiglare coating resulting in a sparkly effect making it impossible to distinguish between noise and the coating. There was nothing I could do to prevent this

Also, it took time to warm up and the whites did not appear to be completely white with the way the screen was backlit compared to my macbook pro.

I then splashed out and bought a 27 thunderbolt display instead which solved all those problems. I have no issues with the glossy screen, as I simply dont have a window behind it. If you do particularly struggle with the glossy screen, you can remove the front glass quite easily as it is only held on with magnets.

Very happy with the cinema display even though the dell has a wider colour gamut and HDMI input.

[bobthebrick]

Another vote for the ultrasharp. Cheapish and does a fantastic job, provided it's correctly calibrated and in a good position.

Thomas.

[libertyranger]

Thank you everyone for your input.

Calibrating the monitor is something I knew I would have to do regardless of what I bought and it looks like from this thread some of you have some great products to calibrate. 

I'm going to look into some NEC monitors tonight.  So far I've read mix reviews on the Dell Ultrasharp 27".  The anti-coating glare is something many have mentioned could be problematic. 

Also, I should mention that I will be receiving a PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II printer tomorrow.  Ultimately I would like to have a monitor in which the colors match to the prints the new printer is giving me.

[bobthebrick]

Thank you everyone for your input.

Calibrating the monitor is something I knew I would have to do regardless of what I bought and it looks like from this thread some of you have some great products to calibrate. 

I'm going to look into some NEC monitors tonight.  So far I've read mix reviews on the Dell Ultrasharp 27".  The anti-coating glare is something many have mentioned could be problematic. 

Also, I should mention that I will be receiving a PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II printer tomorrow.  Ultimately I would like to have a monitor in which the colors match to the prints the new printer is giving me.

You can match the colours with whatever monitor, so long as its calibrated and using the same colour profile as the printer.

Thomas.

[libertyranger]

Thank you everyone for your input.

Calibrating the monitor is something I knew I would have to do regardless of what I bought and it looks like from this thread some of you have some great products to calibrate. 

I'm going to look into some NEC monitors tonight.  So far I've read mix reviews on the Dell Ultrasharp 27".  The anti-coating glare is something many have mentioned could be problematic. 

Also, I should mention that I will be receiving a PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II printer tomorrow.  Ultimately I would like to have a monitor in which the colors match to the prints the new printer is giving me.

You can match the colours with whatever monitor, so long as its calibrated and using the same colour profile as the printer.

Thomas.

Perfect!  So you're saying that if I calibrate my monitor, I can then send that profile to the printer and my prints will look like what is on my screen?  This is my goal ultimately.

Also, I must say I lean naturally to the Apple display since I am a Mac guy.  However, if a monitor in my price range would be noticeable better, I would go for that one.