NEC LCD gamut coverage

[jonboring]

As you saw from my earlier post, I need a new monitor. Based on some of the feedback here, I did some research on the NEC monitors and received from NEC a table of the gamut coverage of each of their monitors (included).

Question - If you mainly shoot black and white, how much difference does the higher gamut make? The P221W-BK-SV is a bargain at $700 list and $625 street but the gamut coverage / size is (slightly?) less than the most expensive NEC's. How much real difference will this make for a B&W photographer?

 

[Lars]

Probably not much? However wider gamut can be useful for color purposes.

What seems to be more important is linearity - the less profiling has to correct for unlinearities the better grayscale results you will get. An ideal monitor is perfectly linear with perfect grayscale out of the box. For such an ideal panel, gamut is completely irrelevant for grayscale fidelity. IPS panels are often close to linear - NEC uses IPS?

 

[Corlan F.]

NEC uses IPS?

H-IPS on Spectraview 2690 3090
S-IPS on smaller models.

The model referenced by the OP above is a S-PVA as per NEC specs.
(Samsung used to have pretty good large S-PVA screens in the T series - discontinued? And of course Eizo rules the category...)

 

[donbga]

As you saw from my earlier post, I need a new monitor. Based on some of the feedback here, I did some research on the NEC monitors and received from NEC a table of the gamut coverage of each of their monitors (included).

Question - If you mainly shoot black and white, how much difference does the higher gamut make? The P221W-BK-SV is a bargain at $700 list and $625 street but the gamut coverage / size is (slightly?) less than the most expensive NEC's. How much real difference will this make for a B&W photographer?

FWIW, I own 2 of the 2090uix monitors which are small gamut (not wide gamut) and use Spectraview II software to calibrate and profile with. These are driven with an nVidia 9800 GTX 1GB (hopefully I've remembered that correctly).

These LCDs are very sharp and give me almost WYSIWYG results with B&W and color editing, combined with proper soft proofing in PS and good printer profiles, the results are excellent

So I strongly recommend the NECs when used with the Spectraview software.

I paid $250 for each display, NIB BTW.

Don Bryant

 

[iiiNelson]

I use NEC 2190/2690 at work. They are very good IMO (most people who use them seem to think they are 90-95% of Eizo performance at 20% the cost.)

 

[Lars]

Looking at replacing my monitor over the next few weeks, NEC 2490 looks pretty good as a moderately priced display with some color accuracy. Exact name is "MultiSync® LCD2490WUXi²". Curious about the difference compared to Spectraview 2490.

 

[Corlan F.]

Looking at replacing my monitor over the next few weeks, NEC 2490 looks pretty good as a moderately priced display with some color accuracy. Exact name is "MultiSync® LCD2490WUXi²". Curious about the difference compared to Spectraview 2490.

From what NEC representative told us they're the same, just different references country to country. Then the Spectraview "Reference" is supposed to embark some advanced features.

Don't have anything to back this up, side by side though (but not test in-house) the 2690 Reference looked better than the supposedly older version (2690 Xi²).

 

[Lars]

From what NEC representative told us they're the same, just different references country to country. Then the Spectraview "Reference" is supposed to embark some advanced features.

Don't have anything to back this up, side by side though (but not test in-house) the 2690 Reference looked better than the supposedly older version (2690 Xi²).

Thanks that certainly correlates with what I could deduce from specs on the Swedish NEC site. Spectraview 2490 is hard to find now, and 2490 WXi2 is attractively priced here just below the Apple LED Cinema and far less than half of any ColorEdge.

 

[Lars]

Fairly thorough review of the 2490 WUXi here:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/nec_2490wuxi.htm

I'm not sure how the current WUXi2 model differs from the WUXi - presumably NEC replaced the backlighting with wider gamut CCFL? Anyways I placed an order for a 2490WUXi2 yesterday.

 

[Dale Allyn]

Lars, I'd like to hear what you think of the 2490WUXi2 when you get it set up and calibrated. Do you plan to use Spectraview II to calibrate?

I have a 2690 WuXi2 (Spectraview II) and intend to add the 2490 for better sRGB control. I print in wide gamut and the 2690 is great for it, but it's not a great web display (or for any required sRGB work).

 

[Lars]

Lars, I'd like to hear what you think of the 2490WUXi2 when you get it set up and calibrated. Do you plan to use Spectraview II to calibrate?

I have a 2690 WuXi2 (Spectraview II) and intend to add the 2490 for better sRGB control. I print in wide gamut and the 2690 is great for it, but it's not a great web display (or for any required sRGB work).

Sure, I'll look into it. Not sure if the 2490 ships with the Spectraview software or not here in Europe, or if it's even available. I have an EyeOne and an EyeOne Display 2, will try both, with the EyeOne Match software at the very least.

I wish I had a large budget as sRGB is a bit limiting, but I have to draw the line somewhere. This purchase is partly about using up a tax shield before the end of the year.

I read up some more on WUXi2 vs WUXi, and it seems that the older version has a slight edge when it comes to blackpoint and light leakage due to its polarizer layer. Oh well. The HP, Dell and Apple offerings were less tempting.

Update: I cannot find any mentioning of Spectraview software on the Swedish site.

Update again: The Spectraview line in Sweden ships with a software and colorimeter but it might not be the same as the one sold in the US. More in this thread:
http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=34515

 

[Dale Allyn]

I've read several times that SV II is not offered in Europe, but wasn't sure if the review you linked was suggesting that it is now available there. I like SV II very much.

Currently, I'm using a dying Apple Cinema Display for the sRGB "proofing" and it's a bit of a challenge. I have a couple of other Macs here that I can use as well (wife's iMac, etc.) but it's a bit of a hassle as it's in another room. And my laptop is something I don't like for the purpose.

 

[Lars]

Yep there seems to be a "Spectraview II" sold in the US whereas in Europe/Australia Spectraview monitors ship with a "Spectraview Profiler" solution which is not sold separately. However the SVII software seems to be compatible with the Multisync 2490WUXi2 available here, so perhaps I should look into importing a copy.

 

[Lars]

For those on a tight budget, the NEC EA231WMi is getting good reviews:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/nec_ea231wmi.htm

It doesn't have hardware LUTs, but being a 23" full HD IPS panel with around 800:1 blackpoint it is an interesting budget alternative for photo editing. Native gamut is somewhere around sRGB.