Two questions, for a start.

[GiannyM]

Hello all.

I am educating myself on color management reading left and right and center and buying proper equipment when I've learn enough to make a choice. In that vein I am looking for an Adobe capable monitor and I am tempted by the BenQ SW2700pt like so many. I am using the i1Studio for my color management with satisfaction. I know that BenQ's Palette Master Element proprietary profiling software is compatible with the i1 Display Pro. Unfortunately I do not find any mention of the i1Studio in BenQ documentation. Could anyone tell me if I can expect such compatibility?

My second question is about the graphic card needs for the BenQ. It is a 10bits display if linked to an adequate card and 3D LUT. Which card(s) would replace my 560Ti which has no Display port but is completely adequate coupled with my i7 2600K and its 32 GB RAM?

Many thanks for your time.

JM

 

[dj_paige]

Hello all.

I am educating myself on color management reading left and right and center and buying proper equipment when I've learn enough to make a choice. In that vein I am looking for an Adobe capable monitor and I am tempted by the BenQ SW2700pt like so many. I am using the i1Studio for my color management with satisfaction. I know that BenQ's Palette Master Element proprietary profiling software is compatible with the i1 Display Pro. Unfortunately I do not find any mention of the i1Studio in BenQ documentation. Could anyone tell me if I can expect such compatibility?

My second question is about the graphic card needs for the BenQ. It is a 10bits display if linked to an adequate card and 3D LUT. Which card(s) would replace my 560Ti which has no Display port but is completely adequate coupled with my i7 2600K and its 32 GB RAM?

"Adobe capable monitor" ... I have not heard that phrase before ... seems to me you can plug in any monitor to your computer and Adobe software will run, so you must mean something else. What?

You also don't say which Adobe (or other) software you will be running, but you should know that if you are going to use Lightroom with this 4K monitor, you will need a powerful CPU and GPU. Also, there is no support in Lightroom for 10bit color, so you know, those details are important.

 

[GiannyM]

Hello all.

I am educating myself on color management reading left and right and center and buying proper equipment when I've learn enough to make a choice. In that vein I am looking for an Adobe capable monitor and I am tempted by the BenQ SW2700pt like so many. I am using the i1Studio for my color management with satisfaction. I know that BenQ's Palette Master Element proprietary profiling software is compatible with the i1 Display Pro. Unfortunately I do not find any mention of the i1Studio in BenQ documentation. Could anyone tell me if I can expect such compatibility?

My second question is about the graphic card needs for the BenQ. It is a 10bits display if linked to an adequate card and 3D LUT. Which card(s) would replace my 560Ti which has no Display port but is completely adequate coupled with my i7 2600K and its 32 GB RAM?

"Adobe capable monitor" ... I have not heard that phrase before

And it is unlikely that you will ever. Sorry, I meant Adobe rgb.

... seems to me you can plug in any monitor to your computer and Adobe software will run, so you must mean something else. What?

You also don't say which Adobe (or other) software you will be running, but you should know that if you are going to use Lightroom

Mostly Photoshop and Lightroom but also some plugins like the Niks and Topaz.

with this 4K monitor,

Actually the BenQ SW2700pt is QHD at 2560x1440 pixels.

you will need a powerful CPU

Got that.

and GPU.

Looking for it.

Also, there is no support in Lightroom for 10bit color

Well doesn't it operates in ProPhoto RGB natively and in 16bits? I may be mistaking also on this but I think that it is the case.

, so you know, those details are important.

Thanks for pointing out where I missed Paige.



JM

 

[dj_paige]

Hello all.

I am educating myself on color management reading left and right and center and buying proper equipment when I've learn enough to make a choice. In that vein I am looking for an Adobe capable monitor and I am tempted by the BenQ SW2700pt like so many. I am using the i1Studio for my color management with satisfaction. I know that BenQ's Palette Master Element proprietary profiling software is compatible with the i1 Display Pro. Unfortunately I do not find any mention of the i1Studio in BenQ documentation. Could anyone tell me if I can expect such compatibility?

My second question is about the graphic card needs for the BenQ. It is a 10bits display if linked to an adequate card and 3D LUT. Which card(s) would replace my 560Ti which has no Display port but is completely adequate coupled with my i7 2600K and its 32 GB RAM?

"Adobe capable monitor" ... I have not heard that phrase before

And it is unlikely that you will ever. Sorry, I meant Adobe rgb.

... seems to me you can plug in any monitor to your computer and Adobe software will run, so you must mean something else. What?

You also don't say which Adobe (or other) software you will be running, but you should know that if you are going to use Lightroom

Mostly Photoshop and Lightroom but also some plugins like the Niks and Topaz.

with this 4K monitor,

Actually the BenQ SW2700pt is QHD at 2560x1440 pixels.

you will need a powerful CPU

Got that.

I have to disagree, your CPU is 7 or 8 years old now, and gets benchmark scores half of what new CPUs get.

and GPU.

Looking for it.

Please read https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/lightroom-gpu-faq.html

Also, there is no support in Lightroom for 10bit color

Well doesn't it operates in ProPhoto RGB natively and in 16bits? I may be mistaking also on this but I think that it is the case.

Yes, Lightroom does all photographic calculations in 16 bits, but it won't sent the results to your monitor in 10 bits, it only sends the results to your monitor in 8 bits. So a monitor that can display 10 bit color will only get 8 bit color from Lightroom. Now you may have other programs that make use of the monitor's ability to display 10 bit color ...

 

[Krav Maga]

Unfortunately I do not find any mention of the i1Studio in BenQ documentation. Could anyone tell me if I can expect such compatibility?

Looking at the manual I downloaded from the BenQ site, supported devices are: i1 Pro, i1 Pro2, i1 Display Pro and Spyder 4 / Spyder 5.

I have the SW2700PT non 4k. I have had very good luck with it.

 

[bmoag]

For your concerns about compatibility you should contact BenQ.

I assume you want to be assured that your calibration hardware/software can access the LUTs in the monitor. That is helpful, particularly if it automates calibration, but not absolutely necessary for accurate calibration but clearly something you should verify if paying for LUTs.

The monitor model you specified is not 4k but 2560 x 1440.I believe the equivalent BenQ 4k model is about double the price as are 4k full Adobe RGB/LUTs monitors from other vendors. There are monitors of equivalent resolution with built in LUTs from other vendors at this price point as well as many good sRGB 4k monitors without LUTs.

Whether full AdobeRGB or any version of 4k is desirable is your call. Based on experience, meaning the monitors I own and use daily, I would opt for a good 4k sRGB monitor (with good calibration controls) if cost constrained as I have found increased resolution to be more valuable than the difference between sRGB and AdobeRGB monitor gamuts. If you could audition the same image side by side on a full RGB and sRGB monitor at the same brightness you might be surprised at what you don't see.

Your nVidia 560 will not drive a monitor of greater than 1080 resolution at its full resolution unless you can get a kludge like dual DVI to to work. If you want to chase the 10bit hardware dragon, to my research of theoretical rather than proven value, you can find an appropriate GPU. Otherwise any recent nVidia or AMD GPU with Display Port output will do what you need. You won't regret connecting your GPU to your monitor via Display Port but you can run into issues with HDMI that is not what it is supposed to be.

Although there is a response above about the age of your 2600k objective research indicates that users do not perceive any difference in throughput between Sandy Bridge CPUs and their descendants except on user unattended tasks like video rendering. So if you are booting and launching programs from an SSD you will not see a huge difference running PS or LR with a more recent generation i7 CPU. There are good reasons to update your computing platform but PS/LR throughput is not likely to be overwhelmingly different.

I use both an overclocked Skylake i7 and an older i7 2600k with PS--the difference in throughput is less than overwhelming as I am a mere simian who works on one image at a time. I also use dual monitors, one 4k sRGB without LUTs and one 2k AdobeRGB with LUTS both calibrated with the same hardware/software to the same brightness. I find the LUTs valuable but not overwhelmingly so and ditto for a wider gamut monitor when evaluating print or sRGB output.

 

[GiannyM]

Hello all.

I am educating myself on color management reading left and right and center and buying proper equipment when I've learn enough to make a choice. In that vein I am looking for an Adobe capable monitor and I am tempted by the BenQ SW2700pt like so many. I am using the i1Studio for my color management with satisfaction. I know that BenQ's Palette Master Element proprietary profiling software is compatible with the i1 Display Pro. Unfortunately I do not find any mention of the i1Studio in BenQ documentation. Could anyone tell me if I can expect such compatibility?

My second question is about the graphic card needs for the BenQ. It is a 10bits display if linked to an adequate card and 3D LUT. Which card(s) would replace my 560Ti which has no Display port but is completely adequate coupled with my i7 2600K and its 32 GB RAM?

"Adobe capable monitor" ... I have not heard that phrase before

And it is unlikely that you will ever. Sorry, I meant Adobe rgb.

... seems to me you can plug in any monitor to your computer and Adobe software will run, so you must mean something else. What?

You also don't say which Adobe (or other) software you will be running, but you should know that if you are going to use Lightroom

Mostly Photoshop and Lightroom but also some plugins like the Niks and Topaz.

with this 4K monitor,

Actually the BenQ SW2700pt is QHD at 2560x1440 pixels.

you will need a powerful CPU

Got that.

I have to disagree, your CPU is 7 or 8 years old now, and gets benchmark scores half of what new CPUs get.

For the moment PS and LR do not lag at all. I run them on two HD monitors, one for the buttons and the image on the better calibrated one, using an old nVidia 560Ti. If I understand what you tell me, once I'll install a new graphic adapter, likely some nVidia Quadro which will offer the possibility to calibrate two monitors individually and deliver 10bits to them (possible in Photoshop it seems), my old CPU with its 32 GB of RAM won't be enough?

and GPU.

Looking for it.

Please read https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/lightroom-gpu-faq.html

Also, there is no support in Lightroom for 10bit color

Well doesn't it operates in ProPhoto RGB natively and in 16bits? I may be mistaking also on this but I think that it is the case.

Yes, Lightroom does all photographic calculations in 16 bits, but it won't sent the results to your monitor in 10 bits, it only sends the results to your monitor in 8 bits. So a monitor that can display 10 bit color will only get 8 bit color from Lightroom. Now you may have other programs that make use of the monitor's ability to display 10 bit color ...

As I said above it seems that Photoshop can output 10bits. I do wonder if it will suffocate though.

 

[GiannyM]

For your concerns about compatibility you should contact BenQ.

I just opened a ticket. Actually I called upon X-Rite at first because the i1Studio being ColorMunki (unsupported by BenQ) hardware animated by i1 Profile (supported) it presents a special case. X-Rite answered that they just made their SDK available.

I assume you want to be assured that your calibration hardware/software can access the LUTs in the monitor. That is helpful, particularly if it automates calibration, but not absolutely necessary for accurate calibration but clearly something you should verify if paying for LUTs.

I guess that it would be nice.

The monitor model you specified is not 4k but 2560 x 1440.

Exact.

I believe the equivalent BenQ 4k model is about double the price as are 4k full Adobe RGB/LUTs monitors from other vendors.

Yup.

There are monitors of equivalent resolution with built in LUTs from other vendors at this price point as well as many good sRGB 4k monitors without LUTs.

Whether full AdobeRGB or any version of 4k is desirable is your call. Based on experience, meaning the monitors I own and use daily, I would opt for a good 4k sRGB monitor (with good calibration controls) if cost constrained as I have found increased resolution to be more valuable than the difference between sRGB and AdobeRGB monitor gamuts. If you could audition the same image side by side on a full RGB and sRGB monitor at the same brightness you might be surprised at what you don't see.

Interesting. The problem I've had was with colors I can't see when working in a larger color space than sRGB which produce unpredictable results when I print.

Your nVidia 560 will not drive a monitor of greater than 1080 resolution at its full resolution unless you can get a kludge like dual DVI to to work. If you want to chase the 10bit hardware dragon, to my research of theoretical rather than proven value, you can find an appropriate GPU. Otherwise any recent nVidia or AMD GPU with Display Port output will do what you need. You won't regret connecting your GPU to your monitor via Display Port but you can run into issues with HDMI that is not what it is supposed to be.

OK. 10bits may very well prove unnecessary. I'll have to buy a new card of all evidence though so it the 10 bits thing will become a side effect of this.

Although there is a response above about the age of your 2600k objective research indicates that users do not perceive any difference in throughput between Sandy Bridge CPUs and their descendants except on user unattended tasks like video rendering.

No video here but batch conversions yes.

So if you are booting and launching programs from an SSD you will not see a huge difference running PS or LR with a more recent generation i7 CPU.

I do, SSD 256 GB.

There are good reasons to update your computing platform but PS/LR throughput is not likely to be overwhelmingly different.

I use both an overclocked Skylake i7 and an older i7 2600k with PS--the difference in throughput is less than overwhelming as I am a mere simian who works on one image at a time. I also use dual monitors, one 4k sRGB without LUTs and one 2k AdobeRGB with LUTS both calibrated with the same hardware/software to the same brightness. I find the LUTs valuable but not overwhelmingly so and ditto for a wider gamut monitor when evaluating print or sRGB output.

I thank you for sharing your experience. I appreciate the company.

Jean

 

[GiannyM]

Unfortunately I do not find any mention of the i1Studio in BenQ documentation. Could anyone tell me if I can expect such compatibility?

Looking at the manual I downloaded from the BenQ site, supported devices are: i1 Pro, i1 Pro2, i1 Display Pro and Spyder 4 / Spyder 5.

Yup, that's what I read also. I contacted X-Rite who told me that the released the SDK for the i1Studio lately. Then I opened a ticket with BenQ to see if they intend to extend compatibility and I wait for an answer.

I have the SW2700PT non 4k. I have had very good luck with it.

Yeah, I worked with one briefly and it is a world above what I use at the present.

Thanks for the feedback.

Jean

 

[GiannyM]

In the case that someone else searches these forums with a similar set of questions here's a complement of information.

I contacted X-Rite first and then BenQ to get more precisions.

From X-Rite, to whom I asked about support of the SW2700pt monitor I got this:

The i1Studio SDK (Software Development Kit) has recently been made available to third party software vendors. It is unlikely that BenQ has been able to add the i1Studio as a supported device in Palette Master Element yet. You will need to contact BenQ to see when they plan to add (or if they plan to add) the i1Studio as a supported measurement device.

So did I asking for this:

"I use the X-Rite i1Studio for my color management and wish to add a
couple of BenQ SW2700pt to our workflow. I contacted X-Rite to see if
third party software was supporting it. They told me that their SDK had
been available only recently and to contact you to learn if you have or
will add support for the X-Rite i1Studio to your Palette Master Software
Element."

. BenQ first answer was:

Thank you for contacting BenQ. As of recently we do not have support for that model colorimeter.

We do release new versions of Palette Master and hopefully soon will support more models in one of those updates.

Please check the website (BenQ.com) for updated versions of Palette Master under update details.

Then, given my ignorance, I further inquired about the consequences of profiling using the iProfile which comes with the i1Studio:

"In that case can you tell me if, when I will use our i1Studio and its
iProfiler program, I will retain the use of 10 bits color and 14 bits 3D
LUT ? These are some of the reasons for us to buy BenQ."

To which they answered:

The monitor is still capable of showing in 10 bits and 14 bits 3D LUT (using Display Port or HDMI 2.0)

You can use the calibration software that came with your i1Studio. That should calibrate the monitor just fine.

The monitor and colorimeter hardware both can reach that goal but the free calibration software that comes with the monitor is not compatible with the i1Studio just yet.

I thanked them. In reply they added this:

Glad to help! Please contact us again if you have any other questions or just want to check if we have made any Palette Master changes/updates.

I am off to search for the necessary upgrades of my computer now, mostly the graphic card.

 

[dj_paige]

Although there is a response above about the age of your 2600k objective research indicates that users do not perceive any difference in throughput between Sandy Bridge CPUs and their descendants except on user unattended tasks like video rendering. So if you are booting and launching programs from an SSD you will not see a huge difference running PS or LR with a more recent generation i7 CPU. There are good reasons to update your computing platform but PS/LR throughput is not likely to be overwhelmingly different.

Objective research?? Please share.

The fact remains that LR is heavily CPU dependent, particularly in rendering images, and a faster CPU will result in more apparent speed in LR in those tasks.

 

[dj_paige]

Although there is a response above about the age of your 2600k objective research indicates that users do not perceive any difference in throughput between Sandy Bridge CPUs and their descendants except on user unattended tasks like video rendering. So if you are booting and launching programs from an SSD you will not see a huge difference running PS or LR with a more recent generation i7 CPU. There are good reasons to update your computing platform but PS/LR throughput is not likely to be overwhelmingly different.

Adding

The reason LR developers implemented GPU acceleration 2.5 years ago was because the CPUs at that time could not effectively do the calculations on large monitors in anything close to "real time". So a 7-year old CPU will also have this drawback, it will not have the horsepower to do the calculations with a large monitor. I would not try to run this CPU with a QHD monitor.

--
Paige Miller

 

[Selene]

Unfortunately I do not find any mention of the i1Studio in BenQ documentation. Could anyone tell me if I can expect such compatibility?

Looking at the manual I downloaded from the BenQ site, supported devices are: i1 Pro, i1 Pro2, i1 Display Pro and Spyder 4 / Spyder 5.

I have the SW2700PT non 4k. I have had very good luck with it.