Need a new monitor for stills editing

[Fabian]

Hi all,

I'll soon need a new monitor for editing my pictures. I only shoot stills (well 99.something% of the time tbh), and regularly print pictures / sell prints. If relevant, software is CaptureOne and Adobe Photoshop, all running on Windows.

 

I thought about going to an AdobeRGB monitor, fair or overkill? Size: 27''+, preferably 32''.

Budget: what is necessary? after 1.5k € it starts to hurt, 2k would be the absolute maximum.

 

So far I'm looking at the BenQ SW321C - usually 2k, dropped to 1.45k at Amazon as I've seen while typing this. So I ordered it to save the price (in the worst case I'll return it)...

Regardless of the BenQ - any other recommendations?

 

Thanks!

[Guest]

You can find ASUS and BENQ options below £500 here for 27 inches

I have not considered a 32" so far but that would be ideal for 4K at 2 feet. For 27" you need to sit a bit closer

[Giancarlo M.]

If your budget is 1,500-2000 € then you can consider EIZO monitors. I think they are the best motinor for editing.
I don't know if in Germany you have the possibility to buy Demo monitors, here in italy every now and then Eizo has Demo monitors for sale that have been used for 1 or 2 days for some workshop, with a discount to consider.

This is a link to a dealer in italy https://www.eizostore.it/second-life-monitor-eizo-ex-demo/

[Chris Ross]

I would second an Eizo monitor.  If you are printing having Adobe RGB or a good percentage of that is an advantage as inkjet printers can print pretty much all of Adobe RGB colours and if you are editing on a lesser monitor you won't actually be able to see those colours before you print.  The Eizo inbuilt calibration capabilites together with a good colorimeter puck make an easy job of calibration - quite important if you are printing.

 

My view is that for the vast majority of people the end product of all the $1000's we spend on camera equipment is what we see on our monitor and it is not something to cheap out on.  I have two Eizos on my desk a good quality one and a standard grade one next to it and I keep all of my palettes etc over there so I can use the whole of the 27" monitor for the image.  You could keep your existing monitor for all the palettes you keep open and then a 27" is probably big enough.  

[makar0n]

9 hours ago, Fabian said:

Hi all,

I'll soon need a new monitor for editing my pictures. I only shoot stills (well 99.something% of the time tbh), and regularly print pictures / sell prints. If relevant, software is CaptureOne and Adobe Photoshop, all running on Windows.

 

I thought about going to an AdobeRGB monitor, fair or overkill? Size: 27''+, preferably 32''.

Budget: what is necessary? after 1.5k € it starts to hurt, 2k would be the absolute maximum.

 

So far I'm looking at the BenQ SW321C - usually 2k, dropped to 1.45k at Amazon as I've seen while typing this. So I ordered it to save the price (in the worst case I'll return it)...

Regardless of the BenQ - any other recommendations?

 

Thanks!

 

 

One word - OLED. There is a new crop of monitors released/soon to be released that will well fit into your budget. And boy, those can easily do 95% Adobe RGB, some claiming even more.

Apart from monitors you can also look at LG TV C series in 42 inch size. C4 is about to be released soon. I am personally sporting C2 with a PC and the thing is amazing.

 

Below is a list of latest releases monitor wise (from DisplayNinja):

https://www.displayninja.com/best-oled-monitor/

 

Panel	Monitor	Screen	HDR	USB-C / KVM	Other	Release Date, Price
31.5” 4K 240Hz QD-OLED	Dell Alienware AW3225QF	1700R, Glossy	Dolby Vision, 1000-nits	No	eARC, 3-year warranty	January 11, $1200
	ASUS ROG Swift PG32UCDM	Glossy	Dolby Vision, 1000-nits	Yes	–	Q1 2024
	HP Omen Transcend 32	Glossy	Dolby Vision, 1000-nits	Yes (140W)	HyperX Audio	Q1 2024
	Samsung OLED G80SD	Matte	1000-nits	No	Tizen Smart OS	–
	Gigabyte Aorus FO32U2P	Glossy	1000-nits	No	DP 2.1 UHBR20	H1 2024
	Gigabyte Aorus FO32U2	Glossy	1000-nits	No	–	—
	MSI MPG321URX	Glossy	1000-nits	Yes (90W)	–	February, $1200
	MSI MEG321URX	Glossy	1000-nits	Yes (90W)	RGB / AI Features	N/A
	MSI MAG321UPX	Glossy	1000-nits	No	–	N/A
31.5” 4K 240Hz (1080p 480Hz) W-OLED, RGWB	ASUS PG32UCDP	Matte	1300-nits	Yes	ELMB	August / September 2024
	LG 32GS95UE	Matte	1300-nits	No	Pixel Sound	August / September 2024

[Architeuthis]

I have the BenQ SW270c (QHD resolution). It fully fits my requirements and I can recommend it...

 

 

I find the hardware calibration very useful and easy, also the possibility to switch between sRGB, aRGB and BW via the special "hockeypuck". I am not sure that with software calibration the results would be similarily good. The hood that is delivered along with the monitor is extremely useful and improves IQ a lot in real life (if going for another brand, I would co-order such a hood immediately)...

 

In case I would have to buy a monitor now, I would go with the 32" and 4k option, as you already did (no real need for this, 27" and QHD are great, but just in case). No need to look at a bigger monitor from further distance, in case the size of the photo would be too large (what I doubt will be the case), one can make the window smaller and use the rest of the space for something else...

 

Maybe a look at Eizo, but they are in another league financially (maybe also in quality)...

 

 

Wolfgang

 

[Fabian]

Hi all,

I received the monitor yesterday, and decided to keep it. I do like the size and resolution, and Eizo at 32'' with 4K and AdobeRGB would be significantly more expensive.

Wolfgang, I was considering the 27" as well, but the 32" was cheaper during the Amazon offer (now it's more expensive again), so I took the chance.

But I still need to figure out how the hockeypuck works, but that is what I'll play around with this weekend (well, after diving of course).

 

Thank you all for you input!

[Chris Ross]

One thing to note with monitors is that for imaging and particularly for printing they can easily be way too bright.  The standard brightness is 100-110 cD/m2 and some monitors struggle to get down to that value.  If you edit on a very bright monitor your images will come out too dark for someone viewing on a standard photo monitor and prints will be too dark compared to the screen.

[JonGross]

I don't have quite the budget, and ended up ordering a BenQ as well, the PD3205U.  It doesn't have the gamut coverage or the calibration built-in, but looks like a reasonable cheaper option.

 

It should arrive Saturday, and will be a badly needed upgrade from the old Dell I've been working with (for my day job) for the last couple years.