Best monitor for photo editing and viewing - suggestions wanted

[Kirk Gittings]

I have heard good things (value and performance) about this monitor-no personal experience.

http://www.amazon.com/PA248Q-24-Inch...=asus+monitors

[Bill, 70's military B&W]

Bodyslam,
I am reading and learning, it was not easy to uncover that Mac Pro does not support Thunderbolt. Found that bit on info on a video card site. For a Mac Pro I'd need to use an Apple Cinema, reconditioned for $829.
The NEC 2012 requires Spectraview, that brings the price up to around $725 for a 22" monitor, do not know if I can find a used one.
My friend is suggesting a 2 monitor set up, we looked on line today and a strong possibility is 2 ASUS PA 248Q 24" monitors,new for $280 each.
Does anyone have any comments about that possibility?
Thanks,
Bill

[Bill, 70's military B&W]

Kirk, I can't believe it, I was just answering the thread one at a time and I just asked for comments about the ASUS PA 246Q, using it in a double monitor set up.
Someone else suggested the ASUS PA 248Q. I'd like to know how well they do on color reproduction for photography and printing on an Epson 3880. How easy/well they calibrate.
Thanks for your suggestion.
Bill

[kgm]

I got the ASUS PA248Q monitor earlier this year along with a new computer. I've been very pleased with it. I calibrate with an X-Rite i1 setup, which is very simple to use. I find that scanning is the major hurdle for good color reproduction, and if I do that right, the ASUS monitor gives a good sense of the final color. I use an Epson 3800 (as well as a 4000, but only for black and white), and the ASUS gives me a good preview of what the Epson will produce. I had used various monitors in the past, mostly Dell, and the ASUS is a big improvement in terms of color representation.

[Bill, 70's military B&W]

I am looking at the PA248Q and the PA246Q, i really do not know what the additional $160 is for. I have found them for $280 and $440.
Many have recom the NEC P221W, but they always say you 'must' get the Spectraview to go with the monitor. I wonder how the P221W would calibrate using something like a color monkey. Someone said the NEC would make a profile but would not change the hardware like Spectraview would. I do not understand the difference, isn't it all turning up R-G-B or Brightness or Contrast? I have never calibrated a monitor, except by 'that looks good to me'.

[Bill, 70's military B&W]

I just discovered that NEC has on their website, refurbished monitors for very good prices.
P221W BK-R (WHAT IS THE BK-R???) FOR $199

An interesting one was:
https://www.necdisplay.com/p/desktop.../ea232wmi-bk-r
NEC EA 232WMI-BK-R 23" Widescreen monitor with IPS panel for $219 and you get 10% off of that.
Any thoughts?
Bill

[Preston]

Someone said the NEC would make a profile but would not change the hardware like Spectraview would. I do not understand the difference, isn't it all turning up R-G-B or Brightness or Contrast?

Bill,

I found a definition of 'hardware calibration' on the Eizo website: "Hardware calibration is the method of adjusting color directly by adjusting the settings inside the monitor. With hardware calibration, the target color is not reproduced through the graphic card output where all or a certain combination of white point, gamma, and brightness are reduced. A monitor that is equipped with a look-up table (LUT) of 10- bits or larger for each color is required for hardware calibration.

Basically, the white point, gamma, contrast range, color primaries, and luminance are set within the monitor based upon the settings one prescribes in the software. Also, the values for each color are stored in the monitor's LUT, along with the other values, which the software uses to create the profile. Basically, using your monitor's hardware-based calibration bypasses the video card.

One could, of course, use the monitor's OSD controls to set these values and/or set them in the graphics driver, and that's the way it was done before all the nice calibration systems were developed, but these systems do a much better job for color-critical work.

There's a nice tutorial on calibration at Cambridge In Color that's worth a look-see.

Edit: Bill, the "BK" stands for Black. The monitor is black with a black stand. I think the "R" stands for "Refurbished". I'm not familiar with the EA 232WMI-BK-R monitor.

--P

[Bill, 70's military B&W]

Preston,
Thanks for the info, I just ordered 2 refurbished NEC EA 232 WMI IPS monitors. I do not see on the published specs that it has a LUT or what number it would be.
They also had the P221 but the resolution was lower and it had a PVA screen.
Got them off NEC's website about $200 each, including the 10% off.

Someone suggested getting 2 different monitors because you can never get the 2 to match. Get a large very good quality monitor for the main screen, and use a cheaper one for putting the controls for PS or LR on.

I read the Cambridge in Color link you sent, it was very informative, a lot of it is still over my head at this time, but it's getting better.
The monitors have been shipped but I do not have them yet. Does anyone have any comments about the EA 232??? Being refurbished is there anything I should be looking for? I've read that some of these units have problems with light bleed thru at the corners, and there is always the possibility of a dead pixel.
Do I just return them if I see any evidence of either?

Thanks, Bill

[sanking]

I am currently using a 24" Dell U 2410 with my Mac Mini and find the image looks more natural than on my 24" iMac. The 2410 has a bunch of out ports, there are adjustments for contrast, brightness on the side of the monitor, and it calibrates nicely with Spyder.

Originally my plan was to buy NEC for the Mac MIni, but a friend convinced me that the Dell 2410 was in the same league in terms of quality, and less expensive.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...n&sku=320-8277

Sandy

[Leszek Vogt]

I've looked all over Amazon page to find response milliseconds on the Asus....and it does not exist. It must be pretty high. One of the reasons I like newegg, you can find the tech specs. Anyway, maybe it's there ?

Les