I am looking to purchase an LCD monitor for digital photo editing and cgi work. I have been looking for some time but have seen conflicting reviews and information on many monitors.

Primarily, I have looked at the 20in Apple Cinima Display and the 20in Samsung 205BW but I am interested in feedback on other monitors as well. I would like to buy a widescreen monitor in the 20-22in range with a high contrast ratio. Low response time is not immensly important to me because I don't expect to be doing alot of gaming or watching DVDs on it.

The Samsung is significantly less expensive, and seems to be neerly identical to the stats of the Apple, so I am wondering if I am missing some difference about them.

I would greatly appricate any feedback pointing me in the right dirrection.
-WBuik

For photo editing it"s useless to have an extreme H/W ratio, and preferable to have a monitor that can be rotated. You may get more mileage out of a cheaper monitor that has a smaller "number" eg 19 inch by a third party. People here may advise on some specific model, Eizo has good color while Lacie make mid-range photo-editing monitors.

Edmund

NEC displays are great for photo editing / DTP / prepress / graphic design etc., namely their xx90UX series. Both NEC 2090UX and NEC 2190UX are great displays, and they calibrate really well. Both use S-IPS panel btw.

NEC is about to release new display in that series (this month maybe), 26" NEC 2690WUXi, and that display will have 92% color gamut (opposed to 74% on current xx90UX models). It's 26" widescreen display, with 1920x1200 resolution and 12-bit LUT. In USA they will aslo release 24" model, also S-IPS panel based, but that one will have "only" 74% color gamut.

This is an important issue to right now as I am looking to upgade one of monitors on a secondary workstation. In the past I have always been dispointed with LCDs that were not specifically designed for graphics and costly.





Eronald, Any recomendations?

I've been looking at the pricing of LCD monitors for graphics; they are still very costly, it appears, while the "normal" monitor prices have kept falling ... My Eizo monitor costs more than the PowerMac it's attached to. I guess you need to decide whether or not you will pay the going rate for a specialist device. My suggestion would be to first see if there is anything in the Eizo graphics monitors that you can afford.

I have found that some of the cheaper Samsung prosumer panels are suitable for retouching, and CHEAP. I have a 213T, it cannot go up against my Eizo screen, but calibrates *very* well, has good uniformity, little banding and only cost me 1/3 or the price, the 214T also had good reviews, and there are some much cheaper 20" panels - maybe someone here has one ?
http://www.nextag.com/Samsung-SyncMaster-2...5405A3553F62EC7

Maybe some other members of this forum have some recommendations for cheap and cheerful ? Apple used to be good enough for retouching, but they're overpriced and keep changing the panels in their monitors...

This is exactly the sort of question which a community is good at answering.
Edmund

Ditto on the NEC 2190. I love it. My only complaint would be the aspect ratio (1600 x 1200 pxls). The 24" model would be great! The 26" model with the expanded color gamut sounds perfect but I bet it will be a bit pricey!

Yes, the Nec panels are ok, but pricey. Of course IMHO, the 2180 aspect ratio is exactly right for photo editing - portraits on a wide screen are a waste of real estate. My feeling is that anyone who looks at NEC might as well move straight to Eizo.

Edmund

Hi Edmund,
Could you please comment on the Eizo viewing angle. I am considering the Eizo CE2410 but am concerned with reports of shifts in color / grays with viewing angle. I had a screen that had this issue and if I moved my head a few inches in either direction, the grays would shift significantly. I never knew exactly what I was going to get on the print. Any help would be appreciated, since there is no retailer in my area that carries these.
Best regards,
Jim

I still think the NEC 2090uxi at ~US$1k is the current sweet spot for a very high quality, hardware-calibratable, 1600x1200 display. I've had mine for almost a year and continue to be extremely pleased with it.

Nill
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www.toulme.net

I won't be discourteous, to Nill, I entirely agree with him that the NEC monitors are well suited for retouching and reasonably priced.

Re. the Eizo CE2410 widescreen, as I remember it the manufacturer prudently refuses to rate this panel for color management precisely because of the viewing angle issue - however I've looked these over, and they look perfectly good enough for retouching to me - so I would greenlight it for your use - but please don't sue me if you find otherwise.

My suggestion would be to purchase it from a vendor with a decent return policy and see if it fits the bill. Otherwise locate an old L997 or similar, these have the same panels as the CG series.

Monitors are really an area where you gets what you pay for.

Edmund

I won't be discourteous, to Nill, I agree with him that the NEC monitors are nice.

Re. the Eizo CE2410 widescreen, as I remember it the manufacturer prudently refuses to rate this panel for color management precisely because of the viewing angle issue - however I've seen these, and they look perfectly good enough for retouching to me - so I would greenlight it for your use - but please don't sue me if you find otherwise.

My suggestion would be to purchase it from a vendor with a decent return policy and see if it fits the bill. Otherwise locate an old L997 or similar, these have the same panels as the CG series.

Monitors are really an area where you gets what you pay for.

Edmund

Oh bang away Edmund, I'm hard to offend. ;-)

I should qualify that I have not compared the market, particularly price-point to price-point, since I bought mine last winter. If there are comparable Eizos available now at comparable prices, then that's a good development. And I should also add that $1k was *my* sweet spot. Everyone has a different sweet spot, don't they. ;-)

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

Last time I looked, the hierarchy in the midrange (not the aRGB crowd) was basically

Eizo > Quato > Nec > Lacie > Apple > Random objects.

Things may have changed since then.

Edmund

Thanks Edmund... Really appreciate your comments. I will keep this monitor on my short list.

I wouldn't agree. NEC is cheaper than Eizo, and IMHO better. 24" CE Eizo for example uses S-PVA panel, while all NECs are S-IPS, and I also read about some problems with Eizo displays, so I'd still recommend 2090UX, since its reasonably priced and provides superb quality.

Gorosh,I was talking about the 21" CG series Eizo monitors here, or those that happen to use the same panels. The 24" CE Eizo does indeed use a panel which has some viewing angle issues, as I noted, although I believe them to be minor. What you pay for in the expensive monitors is stuff such as panel quality control and selection, the servos that ensure the luminosity is right from the moment you start it up, the area compensation, the hardware rotation etc etc - not only the panel itself.

In the end a monitor is a very personal decision - there are some top-range screens which I really don't like.

Edmund

Hello,

I just joined the forums, so I'm a little late to this discussion. I, too, am looking to buy a monitor, and have a couple of questions.
I'm in the USA, and was wondering if the Eizo CE2410 widescreen is the same as the CE240W. I can't afford the 24" Eizo, but was considering the 21" CE210W. The other way I thought I might go is a 23" Apple Cinema Display (more screen real estate). However, nobody mentioned them above, so maybe the Cinema display isn't a good choice for photo editing. I'd rather pop for the Eizo if it is a better display. Any thoughts appreciated.
Anyone know anything about the NEC LCD2690WUXi? I'm sure I can't afford one, just curious.

Michael

The 2690wuxi (and its little brother the 2490wuxi) should have shipped by now; something seems to be holding them up. The 26 is said to be spec'd to cover something like 92% of the Adobe RGB color space. The 2490wuxi is apparently simply a widescreen version of the 2190uxi, but that should still make it a very nice monitor indeed. You might be able to be afford one after all (if they ever ship) — they're supposed to come in at street prices well below $2k.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

I'm in the market for a new monitor as my LaCie CRT seems to be on its last legs. So I'm holding out for this 2690, but the delay has me thinking, "are the technical problems with this new monitor?" I was pretty much ready to get one ASAP based on the specs, but now I think I'm going to have to wait longer, not only for it to come out, but also to hear back from some early adopters for fear of getting stuck with a lemon.

Kind of reminds me of the Kodak DCS 14n... Yikes! Let's hope not.

See first review linked in this thread. Looks like it's going to be everything we have hoped it would be.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net