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abeverat

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Hello all

I am searching for a good monitor which I can use for my photo editing. I am not willing to give more than 400E, so I have limited my choices to the following monitors.

Anyone has any good/bad experience with them ? What would be your advise ?

Iiyama Prolite B2712HDS
Samsung SyncMaster F2380M

Thank you

Alex

Photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/abeverat
Retouching blog : http://postshootprocess.blogspot.com
 
abeverat said:
Hello all

I am searching for a good monitor which I can use for my photo editing. I am not willing to give more than 400E, so I have limited my choices to the following monitors.

Anyone has any good/bad experience with them ? What would be your advise ?

Iiyama Prolite B2712HDS
Click to expand...
The Iiyama uses a 6bit TN TFT LCD panel. The viewing angle issue that TN panels have will be exasperated by the large panel size of this monitor unless you sit further than arms length away. There are better choices out there.
abeverat said:
Samsung SyncMaster F2380M
Click to expand...
The Samsung uses an 8bit c-PVA panel - technical reviews have commented that the black crush level with this particular PVA variant makes it a less than desirable panel for use in image editing and viewing. There are better choices out there.

http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2009/review-samsung-f2380.html

.....................

I suggest you focus on monitors using, at the least, 8bit e-IPS, H-IPS, or S-PVA type TFT LCD panels. The advantage is that first, you have an 8bit panel versus the 6bit panel of the inexpensive TN type, and second you get much better image quality at off center viewing angles. TN panels exhibit a fair amount of gamma/colour shift at even slight angles off center.

Read more in my introductory thread for LCD buyers.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1004&message=32608747

If you read back through recent posts here you'll find a number of threads about the following monitors which are all 8bit and all use a variant of the e-IPS TFT LCD panel type.

Dell 2209WA (the bang for buck champion for image editing)
.... 22" 1680x1050 99% sRGB color space coverage

NEC EA231WMi
.... 23" 1920x1080 96% sRGB

HP ZR22w
.... 21.5" 1920x1080 96% sRGB

HP ZR24w
.... 24" 1920x1200 97% sRGB

and just recently we've seen introduced the new Dell U2211H and U2311H. Early reports have the U2311H showing some tinting.

As you can see, all of these monitors cover the sRGB color space adequately. If you work in the AdobeRGB or ProPhotoRGB color spaces then you need a more advanced monitor offering a "wide gamut" and your budget of 400 Euros is not enough for this.

Refer to these sites for good technical reviews:

http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/reviews.html

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/

http://www.flatpanelshd.com/reviews.php

.

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Newsy http://newsy.smugmug.com

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Thank you for all those usefull info, I had in fact already read your introduction to LCD screens

What I do not understand, is that I find contradictory results for these panels, like those

http://www.digitalversus.com/article-357-7265-50.html
http://www.digitalversus.com/article-357-6293-36.html

which rates them quite good. Also from the PRAD site, the samsung performs prety well after proper calibration, and I do have a calibration unit.

Could you please clarify why these screens are not good enough for "non-professional" use. You can check my site if you would like to see my current work, edited on an old Acer screen

Thank you for the feedback

Potos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/abeverat
Retouching blog : http://postshootprocess.blogspot.com
 
abeverat said:
Thank you for all those usefull info, I had in fact already read your introduction to LCD screens

What I do not understand, is that I find contradictory results for these panels, like those

http://www.digitalversus.com/article-357-7265-50.html
Click to expand...
"It has an attractive spec, as long as you're not allergic to TN technology."
abeverat said:
http://www.digitalversus.com/article-357-6293-36.html

which rates them quite good. Also from the PRAD site, the samsung performs prety well after proper calibration, and I do have a calibration unit.
Click to expand...
Prad

"Graphics workers and amateur photographers will be rather unhappy with the results of the F2380. The "Black Crush" causes the Syncmaster to swallow the ten darkest colour and grey gradients in the factory settings and in all other colour profiles. Although the calibration alleviates this problem somewhat, the grey level resolution, which cannot even keep up with modern VA or IPS panels in the factory settings, becomes considerably poorer."

.
I don't endorse the DigitalVersus reviews - too gaming oriented.

.

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Newsy http://newsy.smugmug.com

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NewsyL said:
.
I don't endorse the DigitalVersus reviews - too gaming oriented.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I was rushing out the door when I wrote the last post.

I find the DigitalVersus written reviews too gaming oriented. I like to use their test results comparison pages to show the difference in viewing angles between a TN panel and an IPS or PVA panel.

I also like to use their before and after calibration tests to show that pretty much all LCD monitors require calibration to get them to an optimal viewing state. There are a few exceptions but I can probably count them with one hand.

Back to the F2380 and the issue of black crush. View this next video and look at the wall on the left side of the video behind the actor's right shoulder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOkGjFru4x0&feature=related

As to the Iiyama...

http://www.digitalversus.com/duels.php?ty=6&ma1=52&ma2=50&mo2=715&p2=8127&ph=8

Ignore the darkness of the images on the monitors and instead looks at the change in flesh tones at the different angles.

And... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SjS6VCVAcA&feature=related

Obviously, looking at the Iiyama from below shows a huge shift but even side to side exhibits some change. That is a 27" monitor. When you sit in front of it at a normal distance, the angle of incidence from the center to left or right outside edge is going to be greater than a 22". Hence a larger amount of shift in color/gamma.

.

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Newsy http://newsy.smugmug.com

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