60" monitor!

[Stephen Best]

Actually 3 x 20".

For the last few years I've been using an Apple Cinema Display 20" and NEC LCD2090UXi (SpectraView calibrated), both sRGB-ish in gamut. I was feeling left out with seemingly everybody getting wide gamut monitors and I found a Samsung XL20 LED monitor (with bundled colorimeter and hood) going cheap (less than either the Apple or NEC). I can see why as the chances of anybody getting the Samsung hardware-calibrated with the software they provide is pretty low. After a lot of hair tearing and an unproductive conversion with Samsung support, I pulled out an old PowerBook G4 to do the calibration and this worked! Then back to my MacPro for profiling and I'm up and running. The colours on the XL20 are positively fluoro ... though the difference in display with real world images is marginal. The idea is to use it for soft-proofing. Grays across all three are dead neutral. As a treat you get to see my desk completely clear of clutter (first time in years). I've also attached a gamut plot ... that's Adobe RGB (1998) on the inside!

I'm not sure my neck will survive but it will sure impress the clients.

[Stephen Best]

Dark gamut.

[Stephen Best]

More on the Samsung XL20, for anybody that's interested.

As a modestly priced monitor for extending screen space (eg. dedicating to Bridge) and soft-proofing in a larger gamut it's ideal. I'm not sure you'd want to edit on this, but it does have controls that enable you to drop down to sRGB (but you'd have to manually switch profiles). The screen is also a bit reflective and text isn't as crisp as on my Apple or NEC. It does however have a remarkable image stability (less sensed flicker) compared to CCFL displays. Another benefit is significantly reduced warm-up time.

A note about the gamut plots. I've calibrated mine to 5500K and 90 cd/m2 (something I worked out over a long time to be the best match for my prints and illumination levels) but dropping monitor luminance generally reduces gamut (and contrast). The XL20 seems to hold up well at this reduced level and gamut coverage is still more than adequate.

Four stars.