What is the best monitor?

I am thinking about upgrading my monitor and wondered which ones people find good?
There seems to be trend towards "wide screen" monitors, but there aspect ratio does not match landscape photographs, and wastes a large amount of the screen with portrait photographs.
With a mix of landscape and portrait shots presumably a square monitor would be ideal!

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Flickr feedback always appreciated: https://www.flickr.com/photos/robheath/

Pentax K-3/DA 18-135mm WR/DA 18-250mm/DA*50-135/Tamron 70-300/AF360FGZ/Manfrotto 055XPROB/a few other bits and pieces

I have an NEC spectraview. It was expensive but it is very good!
20 inch, 4 to 3 aspect ratio screen.

Paul

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K3ii, DA16-85, DA35mm Limited, FA77mm Limited, 55mm f1.8 K, 135mm f3.5 M, DA300, DA 1.4 HD TC,
DA16-45, Sigma 15mm f2.8. Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro

I got a refurbished Dell 2209WA, which if you search you will find is a popular monitor amongst photographers. The key thing is that it has an IPS panel, which is superior to the more common TN type for photo editing. This Dell represents excellent value - though I recall there were a couple of other mfrs' panels similarly priced I considered (there are smaller and larger Dells too). It has been a revelation using it - but this probably has as much to do with the fact that I made do with a laptop screen prior to this.

I got mine from the following link and can thoroughly recommend them (their service was exemplary): link

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Mhuni

500px

I am very pleased with a Lacie 120
I've found it gives extremely accurate rendition for printing (it is always calibrated of course!)
Matt

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http://www.mattmatic.co.uk
(For gallery, tips and links)

The Dell 2209WA is what we use and it has that excellent relaxed feel to it that is shared by the really expensive IPS monitors. It's better than my CRTs ever were, so that's pretty good.

Many flat screen monitors are far too harsh for using Photoshop.

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Best regards, John

I'm using the Dell 2007FP not wide, this also has a very relaxed feel to it, is there any way of telling if it's IPS?

John

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PPG link

In LBA hiatus.

Oh just found this, I'll have to check now

"shut the monitor down with the Power button, then turn it on again keeping the Menu and “+” buttons pressed. When the monitor wakes up you should release those buttons and, after a second, press the “-“ button. RT803 code denotes an S-IPS matrix whereas an S-PVA matrix would be indicated with the UW473 code"

John

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PPG link

In LBA hiatus.

I use the Dell 2209WA as it has almost perfect sRGB coverage when calibrated. When sending files for print they come back looking like the screen.

Most photographic printers I have seen use sRGB profiled printers.

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Regards,
Dan

https://www.flickr.com/photos/honourabletyr/

Wide screen is now (almost) the default for budget monitors. It's not easy to find non-wide screen and they tend to be more expensive (although I recently picked up a Iiyama ProLite 17" 1280 x 1024 for £ 105.00).

Why not buy a new one, keep the old one, and run dual monitor (if your computer/graphics card supports it)? I have Pentax Digital Camera Utility open on one to browse and Photoshop open on the other. I can drag and drop from one monitor to the other, which speeds things up no end.

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El Dingo - K3-II and K10D

Don't stare to blind on brands, Dell for example don't make the actual panel themselves so no need to buy Dell for the screen since LG makes most of them for Dell.

Best screens for photography for a desktop computer would be MVA or PVA, those have the best contrast and colours (Eizo and NEC use them), IPS is better for bigger screens and laptop because they have a bigger viewing angle.
Avoid TN at all cost!

here is a good read about all the differned screen types.
They also have good reviews and you can search for the panels and not the screen themselves.
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/panel_technologies.htm

The Dell 2209WA for example...
Has this panel: 22"WS LG.Display e-IPS (LM220WE4-SLB1)
And these also have that panel LG W2220P & Fujitsu P22W-5 ECO
There are some things that will effect the quality of the images between the models but the result should get quite close to eachother.

Dell has some good cheap screens and if you look around a bit you will find some very good HP screens as well for a nice price.

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Stefan


K10D, K5
DA* 16-50, DA* 50-135, D-FA 100 Macro, DA 40 Ltd, DA 18-55
AF-540FGZ

I have a Samsung Syncmaster P2250 widescreen monitor. Can't fault it. How I look at it, what Samsung don't know about displays ain't worth knowing. Totally agree with El Dingo. Keep old monitor as a second display. Very useful for Photoshop pallets etc.

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6th Year Apprentice Pensioner

I have a SyncMaster 225BW and no problems with it. However I did see a difference in the colours shown after calibration with a Spyder3, but I suppose that would apply to any monitor.

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Barrie
Too Old To Die Young

http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/barrieforbes
https://www.flickr.com/photos/189482630@N03/

Before investing in the "best" monitor, you should invest in a decent calibrating system. A "so-so" monitor properly calibrated will often outperform a very good monitor that's not calibrated.

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Yves (another one of those crazy Canucks)

Get a monitor that can turn from landscape to portrait position They used to exist, not sure now.

I haven't looked into monitors for a long time, but a HP 30" with 2560x1600 resolution sounds good to me Only US$1200 or so

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Pentax K10D + Vivitar 55/2.8 macro + Super Takumar 55/1.8 + SuperMultiCoated Takumar 85/1.8 + SuperMultiCoated Takumar 135/3.5 + SuperMultiCoated Takumar 200/4 + Super Takumar 300/4
Pentax K100D + DA18-55ALII + DA55-300
Pentax K5 + FA31Ltd + M50/1.7 + DFA100WR + M120/2.8 (+ DA18-55WR at occasion)

problem then becomes the connection from the laptop - you need a decent video card and it starts adding up. We've recently got a 27" wide gamut and it's lovely but demanded another couple of hundred euros on additional hardware.

Bret

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my pics: link
my kit: K3, K5, K-01, DA 18-55, D-FA50 macro, Siggy 30/1.4, 100-300/f4, 70-200/2.8, Samsung 12-24/f4, Tamron 17-50, and lots of other bits.