Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Hi Everyone,

Would you please recommend what is in your opinion the best monitor to use?
I am planning to upgrade to a "big" monitor (21" or maybe even 23") and I would certainly welcome your expert opinions.
I will do a lot of "work" work on it (comparing documents on screen), as well as editing my pictures.
What I am trying to say is that I will be looking at this screen at least 9 to 10 hours a day.

Thank you,
So

What's your budget?

I stare at two of these all day:

http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/office/monitors/lcd/LS24MYKRBQA/ZC/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail&returnurl=

I would highly recommend them!

The Dell IPS panels are pretty good and affordable. Also rotate vertically

250 or less
LCD or LED?

LCD 250 or less

If you can find a quality LED for less than $250, let me know where to get it.
A proper LCD will still run you $300 in most cases. Especially so if you are looking at 23 or 24".

capping at $250 with this kind of workload you might just as well gouge out your eyes today, be done with it and keep the change. if your eyes mean anything to you, no caps

HP ZR24w here, no complaints (and if i stare at it only 9 to 10 hours a day i call it a holiday! )

I saw IPS236V-PN, 23" IPS LED Monitor, at Canada Computers for $214.99

+1... x2!

Dell Ultrasharp IPS monitors for photography work are moving towards COLD florescent (at least the 30" is), which is better than LED. LED is better than the older type florescent - simply referred to as LCD.

My gf bought a ZR24w from Greytech after doing alot of googling on IPS monitors. I compared it side by side (after calibrating w/ an i1) with my HP LP2475w -- I could hardly spot the difference btw the 2. It's a fantastic monitor.

+1 to that. I know a few people with those screens too.
But absolutely correct.
If you are going to spend that much time working, spend real money on a good proper chair and proper screens.

23” Dell UltraSharp U2312HM monitor

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/product ... u=320-2807

$200 23" IPS Panel screen - sounds good to me. If I didn't already have a 24" panel, I would get one.

For a really big screen - try out the Dell UltraSharpTM U2711 27”W for $729

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/product ... u=224-8284

This is still cheap compared to the Ezio and NEC monitors for the truly dedicated folks.

what about Apple's 27" Cinema Display? No one likes that one?
(sorry, I don't mean to hijack your thread)

Great For Video editing but really annoying for stills with the Glossy screen. If they had a matte option then sure (still very pricey though) but as it stands the glossy isnt great for editing images or doing much of anything in my opinion as you always have annoying reflections. I am currently typing this on an iMac and it kinda sucks.... still stylish looking though

It is superbly overpriced.
You can get superior monitors for photo editing, for far less cost.

I recently purchased the Dell U2412 and haven't been dissapointed! Getting into more LR and photo editing in general, the monitor is a real gem to work with!

Only if I saw this thread earlier, the U2412 was on sale for about $279 yesterday,

Just a heads up...the 23" version is on sale today for $199

http://ecomm.dell.com/dellstore/basket. ... beca50a2ad

I am not at all affiliated with the company...just passing on a good deal!

23.6" ASUS VE247H Widescreen LED LCD Monitor for only $159.99

Samsung S24A300B 24" LCD Monitor with LED for $300

Which one is a better deal and which would you buy?

Neither the Samsung S24A300B nor the ASUS VE247H are IPS monitors, which are considered the best LCDs for photography. If that does not matter to you, then I would go with the one that is the lowest price. The specs for both are really close, so unless you go and see them, they may not be all that meaningful. The ASUS has a 2ms response rate, good for games, but the Samsung claims better angle viewing, good for photography, although the viewing angle specs for both are the same. If you really want a photography monitor, you should get an IPS type. The prices have dropped so much that they are now the same as regular monitors. Search for Dell Ultrasharp, or some of the other IPS monitors mentioned above.

My vote goes for this one too. Got one for $699 few months back, and I am totally happy with the choice. Keep in mind that this is a 16:9 aspect ratio monitor, and is much wider than normal wide monitors.

In general, though, one thing you probably should know about is the colour gamut of the monitor you are considering - more specifically, you should know about the implications of wide-gamut monitors (such as dell U2711 or any monitor that can cover aRGB colour space).
Because a wide-gamut monitor is able to display much purer or more saturated colours than 'regular' monitors, it is imperative that you install correct colour profile of the monitor. Otherwise, colour-managed software will not be able to reproduce accurate colours on the monitor.

For example, using standard 'plugNplay' profile that windows provides, the colours will be rendered over saturated on the wide-gamut monitor (on both colourmanaged and non-colourmanaged software). On the other hand, using the profile that dell provides with the monitor (monitor's native gamut reaches further into red area compared to aRGB colour space), and putting the monitor in aRGB mode results in undersaturated red colour in colour-managed software.

If you are seriously considering a monitor that has wide-gamut, I recommend you read this article:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/monito ... html#sect0

Thanks for response! I will look into other IPS monitor that's not too expensive. I did look at Dell during boxing day sale but it was very expensive then. Hopefully I'll bump into a good deal soon!

Thanks! Will take a look at the link you share here.

Dell puts their monitors on sale regularly. So you should check once a month.

What do you want the monitor for...

Are you a serious photographer?

Are you a serious gamer?

Regular cheap monitors are good for gamers, but not for seriour colours (doesn't show the entire sRGB colour gamut).

On the other hand IPS and better monitors are good for photographers but not for gamers (shows ghosting in action games and DVD movies where there's quick movement).

I don't play video game. The monitor will be used mainly for photo process. So IPS is what I need.

I have a NEC EA231WMI-BK for 250.00 that I got from canada computers but I see that they don't have it anymore. If you can find one than it is a pretty good monitor for 249.00 and it is an ips panel.

I also have a NEC PA241W-BK with a free hood and specrtaview for color critical work. This is one awesome monitor but pricey.