Opinions on ASUS monitor

NikonMike wrote:

Is anyone using the new ASUS PA248Q monitor? I'm looking seriously at it to replace my current Dell TN monitor. I realize it's not a "wide gamut" monitor, but is it still good enough to use it for editing photos in Adobe RGB mode and then save a version in sRGB for output to printing, or is it necessary to have a wide-gamut display for that? Any opinions on this monitor say vs. the Dell 2412M? From what I've read about the ASUS it is already calibrated, which would save me from having to purchase a colorimeter, at least right away. Thanks for any thoughts you have on this monitor, good or bad.

Mike,

I have an Asus PA238Q so just one inch smaller but otherwise probably pretty much identical. I've been very pleased with it so far. The factory calibration gives you a good foundation on which to build but I found after a few days it was still necessary to make a few adjustments. In particular it was too bright but then I think many monitors are going to come from the factory set too bright. After turning down the brightness to a more reasonable level I used Calibrize to fine tune the brightness, contrast and gammas and am now very happy with the monitor. I usually take a few photos in my room here to test new monitors or cameras and with this this one what I see on the screen matches what I see in the room around me and what comes out of my printer to a much greater extent than with any monitor I've previously owned. Highly recommended. My final monitor settings were Brightness 50, Contrast 50, Color Temp 6500, Gamma 1.8. Calibrize fine tunes the RG and B gammas from that starting point.

If you're not familiar with Calibrize you can read more here:
http://www.calibrize.com/index.html
Obviously it's not going to be as good as a hardware calibration tool but it's a lot cheaper and easier plus for me the result is plenty good enough.

Regards,
JB