Looking for a guid for "Screens" (standalone or laptop)

alaios

Hi there,
I am at the phase of thinking to upgrade all my gear and one of the thinks I might change are my "screens". I just wonder though which are the parameters that are really important for monitors and screens (in general) for photography?

Should a monitor cover the srgb the argb or both? Is the resolution the most important parameter? What about color calibration? How well auto color calibration screens work? How good an external calibrator machine should be ?

Where can I find reviews about monitors and screens (but in terms of photography not for other uses).

Where can I put all these questions in priorities? Where should I try to focus my search?

I would like to thank you for your reply

Regards
Alex

Newsy

Germany! Then all your answers can be found here for external monitors....

http://www.prad.de/new/monitore/testberichte.html



Another good web site with excellent monitor reviews and technical articles is http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/


For photography/image editing it is best to have a monitor that offers:

• LCD panel type = AH-IPS or S-PLS, maybe the new A-HVA; these provide the most consistent color with least shift in gamma/contrast when viewed at angles other than straight on. With large monitors such as 27" 2560x1440 models, if you sit close the color at either side of the monitor can be seen to shift slightly with monitors using TN or older PVA/MVA panels. View the screenshots in Prad or TFT Central and you will see how the color shifts are various angles.
• Gamut coverage = sRGB is fine for most people, AdobeRGB for advanced users who do their own printing or shoot very colorful subjects; almost all monitors now use LED back lights that will provide 95% to 98% coverage of the sRGB gamut or where a monitor offers a "wide gamut" a more advanced LED back light offering 100% coverage of sRGB and 100% of AdobeRGB.
• Ensure the monitor can have brightness reduced at least as low as 60 cd/m2 (see charts on Prad and TFT Central). Most newer models will reach to 45 cd/m2. This is necessary for people who like to edit in very dark rooms.
• Check for PWM issues - flickering at low brightness settings; most people are not prone to seeing this but if you are one then you will be miserable.
• Connectivity - older PC's may not have the Displayport or Dual Link DVI port necessary to drive the high bandwidth requirements of monitors with resolutions higher than 1920x1200; some (older) laptops with HDMI ports have been reported to restrict the resolution to 1920x1080/1200.

I think that if Prad gives a monitor a "Very Good" (Sehr Gut) rating you will likely be happy with it. They have sometimes given models with TN panels a high rating like Good or Very Good so you should avoid these.


As to laptops.... a big problem for laptops is the back light. Most laptops do not offer more than 80% coverage of the sRGB gamut, 58 to 65% is perhaps typical. Even models with the premium IPS or PLS LCD panels often have no more than 65% sRGB coverage.

You can check laptop screens gamut coverage in the reviews on these two web sites:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/

http://www.digitaltrends.com/laptop-reviews/

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alaios

Hi thanks.. It does not look that expensive to have a monitor screen that would cover the sRGB and high percentage of aRGB. First though I need to understand when really I need to have those two palettes.
What is the purpose on working on the aRGB when all people have crappy sRGB monitors? Where I can learn about the two systems and then make decisions which one to follow on my workflow?
After that is better understood I guess it would be easier to buy a monitor.

Regards
A

alaios

Hi
I am giving also this link
http://pcmonitors.info/articles/correcting-hdmi-colour-on-nvidia-and-amd-gpus#!prettyPhoto
that explain problems with interfaces and connections with monitors.

To be honest I got even more confused..
Alex