EIZO seems like the Barco of yesteryear...HUGE plusses and minuses to the niche brand that no longer is with us...

LaCie, Apple + some others seem to do a very good job for a reasonable price...

Apple 30inch. Best monitor I have ever owned. Im pretty sure there price has gone down as well.

Mike

Dancing pixels are pixels which flicker different colors. They are not dead pixel, just ones that twinkle. Search "dancing pixels" on the apple discussion forums and it should return some hits from early to mid 2006. The issue is the DVI bandwidth. The 2560x1600 resolution is saturating buss; the data pipe is filled. There's a clocking parameter TDM, or TDMI, something like that which can be scaled back and eases the load. There was a utility available (3rd party) for tweaking this on ATI cards. Time has marched on and the problem is gone with Apple monitors. People suspected the that Apple slowed something down in the monitor rather than video card. Who knows... that's all speculation.

The video card must be dual link DVI and all modern cards will be 256 MB anyway. If you have an existing card, it'll need dual link and maybe 128 MB is sufficient, but it'll be slow. 2560x1600 (30") is alot more pixels than 1920x1200 (typical 24"). I'm using a ATI 9650 256 MB card in a G5 mac and a Nvidia 7300 GT (256 MB) card in the other Mac (new Quad 3.0 GHz w/ PCI express). It's hard to compare the two systems because the new Quad has about 4-8x more raw horsepower than the old machine. If you plan to use 30" on a PC, I have no experience there.

On the whole I highly recommend a 30" monitor. It's first monitor size where I feel like a get the overall feel for the image - and I'm just shooting a 1Ds2. I can't imagine how guys with the 39 MP backs can manage with smaller monitors. With 30" @ 2560 x 1600 I can see 98% of the 1Ds2 image at 50% - which is pretty close to how it will look in print.

The 3-year extended warranty on my 30" cinema display just ran out and it remains the best monitor I've ever used. I'm also still using the very first cinema display that ever came out - a 22" model that I paid five grand for - worth every cent. I'll buy a their next 30" or larger model as well. Shopping for a cheap monitor is like using a wal mart polarizing filter...

Hi Andrew

I have a quick question for you.
When we use our CRT monitors, we can adjust the contrast ratio.
How big of a issue, is it that LCD monitors have a fixed contrast ratio?
Would it be a better choice, to choose a LCD display with a low contrast ratio such as 500:1?

Best,
Esben

FOLLOW UP

As a follow up to my earlier posted question, I wanted to let everyone know that at last I have made a decision about my monitor. In defense of my tardy pace of decision making it is not all that easy to get actionable information. After speaking to lots of folks, I confess that I relied most upon user information in making my decision: Folks who are fine art reproduction guys. So, this might not be a suitable match for other photographers' pursuits.

I am ordering a EIZO 211 with hood from CHROMIX today. Thanks again for all the exceptional feedback and shared experiences and advice -- as usual.

By the way the Sinarcam 2 works great in the 16-shot mode. My theory is that the Mamiya 645's mirror movement was creating the loss of clarity in the shots.

Thanks again for all your excellent help,

Jerry Reed

I'll be ordering a Eizo ColorEdge CG301W monitor,
It will be available in Sydney in about 4 weeks at a price of $4K AUS.
I can't wait.
Cheers.
WR.

Yes, if the software allows you to do this via calibration. But yes, there is independent control over black and white.

good monitor, as long as your happy with the smallish 1600x1200 size.
personally I'd wait for the 30" model, unless you dont have a machine with dual link video capabiity.

I was told that the contrast ratio on the awaited 30 inch model would be closer to the current (newly released in the USA) CG 241, which is 800 to 1. For my work, a contrast ratio closer to what is achievable on canvas as the output medium is preferable. The CG 211 has a contrast ratio of 400:1.

Like you, my interest was being able to use a larger monitor in my application, but the contrast ratio turned out to be the primary consideratiion, with the secondary consideration being the percentage of the ADOBE 1998 color space that might be displayed.

Jerry Reed

You do realize that at least for soft proofing an image, both are way, way too high, there's no printed output that gets close to that contrast ratio.

I didn't read every reply in this thread, but Eizo has a 30" display.

http://www.eizo.com/press/releases/pdf/CG301W_pr.pdf

I've not used it so I can't provide any feedback from personal experience, but if it lives up to its promise, it could be the display that lets you go large as well as have high resolution and good color accuracy.

-Brad

Rodney:

Wow! This looks like help. What monitor provides a native contrast ratio less than 400:1? I would consider it a great favor to have that information.

Jerry Reed

The point is, contrast ratio is kind of a useless spec for the work we do. 400:1 isn't worse or better than 800:1. These are spec's that are supposed to impress us until we understand the usefulness (or lack thereof) of such specs.

Depending on the software and design of the display, you can alter the ratio. On my NEC 2690, due to its OSD software (SpectraView II), I can calibrate various contrast ratio's by controlling the luminance to black ratio in the software.

I just want to chime in on the "Best monitor I have ever owned" comments. This really means nothing unless you have used very, very high end monitors in the past. Saying it only means that most likely you have had crappy ones in the past. The models and makes of the monitors owned by the commenters are not super.

I do highly critical color work and manipulation for ads worldwide and cmyk proofing in-house. Across the board, for sheer technical-ness, Eizo is the winner. NEC also makes excellent monitors but their widespread use in the professional (commercial) world in the United States is limited.

In the end, it's up to what you find most important given the specs, size and your personal budget but some of the recommendations here are just "I have this and it's awesome!"......worthless. I'd recommend a lot of things I don't have but really are worth recommending. I don't OWN an Eizo, but I will at my next system upgrade. Stay on the professional level monitors if you really care. Just because monitors by X are very nice, doesn't mean they are all on the same level.

some new stuff - 30" by gateway with HD connectors, so you can double it as a blu-ray disc player, if you want your big screen to do double duty as a high quality playback monitor

http://www.dailytech.com/Gateway+Reveals+H...article9166.htm

and it seems the first 30" panels that DON'T need dula link connectors, but work from the new Display Port standard are appearing too:

http://www.dailytech.com/Samsung+Readies+3...article8188.htm

Take a look at this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05Y6z3pc-I8

We got the CG241W last month. It has a min. black point of 0.11cd/m2
We have compared the CG241W to the Adobe 98 color-space and it does have a closer match than the CG211. The CG is considerably brighter as well, and we need the extra brightness because of our work environment (daylight photo-studios). If you are working in a dark room, I think you will be fine with the CG211.

Best,
Esben

In the US the price difference for the spectraview option is 200 USD. In Germany it is 700 EUR and you don´t get the messuring instrument, only the hood and the software.

So what´s the difference with the spectraview software? Can I buy a Basic Color licence for EUR 100,- or use the free EyeOneDisplay software with my EyeOneDisplay and get the same results? Or does spectraview some hardware tuning I otherwise couldn`t do?

I have to weigh in for the HP 3065 as well. I just replaced dual 24" samsungs with dual 30" HP 3065's (about $3K for the two with a 8800 Ultra card).
Bright, good contrast 5000x1600.
first time you can do real side-side or 100% and see the sceen. Great for some composites and just enjoyable viewing.
I use dye sub and lab, and this is the first time I can see something as satisfying as a 20x30 lab print.

Victor

NEC 2690WUXi: Best price in Germany should be from www.tftshop.net, you need also the Gretag Macbeth EyeOne. And you need the US version of Spectraview to calibrate the monitor.

This NEC is not a handpicked pro-monitor, but it has the best value for the money.
Test (in german) http://www.prad.de/new/monitore/test/2007/...cd2690wuxi.html

There are also two loooong threads in the forum about profiling the monitor.

NM-Select.com seems not to exist anymore ...

but I found a direct link:

http://store.necdisplay.com/searchresults.asp?search_id=12

... which has some difficulties either ...

Promotion from Lacie:

LaCie 526 Monitor + LaCie blue eye pro colorimeter

http://www.lacie.com/more/?id=10046

1920x1200 is just not enough for MFDB files, in my opinion. The situation is improved for portrait orientations if the screen can be rotated 90 degrees but it doesn't seem that this one can.

Here's a thought about "portrait" orientation: Many (nearly all?) monitors have a standard VESA 100mm mounting for the panel. That is, you can remove the panel from the base, and attach it to a different monitor support that conforms to the VESA standard. Might there be some third-party monitor arm that supports pivoting the panel, that one of the preferred panels discussed in this thread could be mounted to?

I was thinking of buying in the USA this NEC monitor, but this thread got my attention.

Do I really need to buy the EyeOne in order to calibrate this monitor? Or the Spectraview?
I have the Monaco X-Rite and it does a great job profiling my 2 LCD monitors. A Samsung 204T and a 19" Dell Ultrasharp.
That would be a real bummer! No go.

Thanks

Eduardo

---------

SpectraView II supports the following color sensors:

* NEC iOne Display V2
* NEC iOne Display V2 WG
* GretagMacbeth iOne Pro and iOne Monitor
* GretagMacbeth iOne Display V1 and V2
* Gretag Spectrolino (via RS232)
* X-Rite DTP94 / MonacoOPTIX-XR

I have a dual arm Ergotron monitor solution that I really like. The only bummer is I can't mount my 30" to it because it's too heavy.

It does a great job on 20 & 23/24" monitors though.

-Jason

I got this one too, its fantastic.

I read this thread with interest, as I'm looking to purchase my first LCD display in the near future (currently running a 21" CRT). I'm not considering 30" displays though, too big for my desk. I hadn't read about the NEC 2690; it looks tempting, especially for the price. However I think I'm probably going to go with the Eizo CG241W, even though it will stretch my budget a bit more than I was planning. The main reason is that I think the 24" model will be a better fit for the 1900x1200 resolution, given my workspace and viewing distance. I'm worried the NEC might be a little too big for its resolution. The Eizo also looks to have a slightly larger gamut and slightly better blacks according to the specs. I'm sure the upcoming 30" Eizo will be really nice, but probably well beyond my budget.

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