Best monitor for photo editing?

Question

I'm a photographer and looking to purchase a new monitor for photo editing to plug into my laptop. What do you recommend?

Answer 1

Due in part to Adobe, and their Photoshop software, digital photography has grown with tremendous celerity over the past decade. Computer monitor technology for editing and viewing photos is constantly advancing. CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors are the relic of the industry, while LCD (liquid crystal display) monitors make up the bulk of products used world-wide today. There are four main types of LCD panels, though IPS (in-plane switching) monitors are likely used in most photography schools.



Twisted Nematic



These products are typically cheaper to make, and are widely used by most manufacturers. TN monitors represent 6-bits of color, which is among the lowest color accuracy of LCD products. The angles of view are limited; the picture clarity diminishes when looking from side or top angles. The refresh rate of TN LCD monitors, which refers to the number of frames drawn of a given image per second, is under six miliseconds, fast enough to warrant popularity in the tech fields, gaming more than photography.



Multi-Domain Vertical Alignment



MVA monitors are a mid-range product that offer 8-bit color range, and brightness of a higher grade than TN models. MVA technology tilts the crystals in the display at different positions, creating viewing angles that are wider than TN, though not as wide as those found in IPS models. The refresh rate of a MVA product is fast and similar to that of a TN model. MVA panels are versatile and fast, suitable for photography, or animation and programming.



Patterned Vertical Alignment



PVA technology is in the same class of MVA, offering wide viewing angles and



8-bit color reproduction. The contrast ratio in PVA monitors is higher than that of TN or MVA products. Some manufacturers offer Super Patterned Vertical Alignment Technology (S-PVA), with upgraded 10-bit and 16-bit color displays. This level of color reproduction ability makes an S-PVA monitor more suitable for photography and design.



In-Plane Switching



IPS monitors are of the more expensive, professional class of photography monitors. The range of colors represented in IPS products is greater and fuller due to a true 8-bit color display. Some models are limited by slower refresh rates. The angles of view in IPS monitors are unparalleled by any other LCD panel in their wideness, making them the standard for photography and graphic design. Apple is one company that uses IPS technology in their high-performance machines.

Answer 2

Best Monitor For Photo Editing

Answer 3

The job of a monitor is to accurately show you the contents of an image file. Bit depth matters. You can see the difference.



Beware of some 'enhanced' monitors especially some sold by Apple, they alter the image to give you a stunning image, fine for viewing a film, but that's not what you want when editing images, stills or video, you want accuracy then.



The higher the bit depth the more accurately the data is reproduced. Every bit you add doubles the amount of data you can see. It's important because dark shadows block out to black and bright pixels burn out to white more readily the lower the bit depth.



Jpegs only require an 8bit monitor, but every photographer I know shoots Raw, the difference is visible and you can edit drastically without destroying the image.



Most DSLR cameras are 12 or 14bit when shooting Raw, the cheapest 12bit monitor, which is good in other respects too, is the Dell U2140, you would have to double the price to get a decent 14bit monitor, and sell your car to get a 16bit monitor.



That's not the end of the story though, to get a really accurate view of your image files so the view on your monitor is actually what is in the file data, you have to calibrate your monitor too using a colourimeter such as ColorMunki or Spyder. The ColorMunki has the advantage of it can calibrate your printer and projector too.



Only when all this is in place can you send your images off to be printed and they will closely match what you see on screen, it's never perfect as screens are additive colour and prints are reflective colour, print are usually slightly dimmer than the screen. Even that can be allowed for if you view the image with the colour profile the print house uses, all the Pro print shops make their colour profile available and programs such as Photoshop can show you the image viewed through it.



I bet you thought it was a simple question LOL.



Addition:- you only need a 10bit monitor to show Adobe RGB colour space, 8bit to show sRGB (the same colour space that Jpeg uses) and 16bit to show all the colours available in Pro Colour Space.



Chris

Answer 4

Here are top monitors I recommend for photo editing; Dell UltraSharp U2412M, ASUS PA248Q, ViewSonic VX2770SMH-LED, ASUS PB278Q, ViewSonic VP2365-LED, Dell U2713HM, Apple Thunderbolt display MC914LL/B, ViewSonic VP2770-LED, Samsung SyncMaster S27B970D, Dell UltraSharp UP2414Q, Eizo CG246, NEC MultiSync PA301W-BK, Dell UltraSharp U2711

Answer 5

As mentioned above Eizo are market leaders (http://www.eizo.com/global/)



I work with an Eizo monitor at work and they are really the best there is. If you're on a tighter budget though, the apple one's do remarkably well for the price. The important thing though is that whichever monitor you get, you calibrate it regularly. When I say calibrate I don't mean go on a website and check it by eye, I mean go and get a Spyder (http://spyder.datacolor.com/) and calibrate it properly or pay somebody who is a professional to do it for you on a regular basis. This is what will make the biggest difference to the quality and consistency of your work.

Answer 6

A calibrated desktop monitor. In Mac OS X it's easy: go to System Preferences, click on Displays, then click on Color and then click the Calibrate... button. On Windows I'm sure it can be done but I don't know how. You can calibrate a laptop monitor but if you take that laptop lots of different places it's kind of pointless. You could create various calibration profiles: one for your laptop at the coffee shop, another one for your laptop at home, another one for your laptop at the beach at sunset, etc.