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LCD Monitor options

arashm

Member
Hello everyone,
I've searched for info but didn't get anything concrete.
we're looking to purchase new LCD monitors, up to now it's been the standard issue Apple cinema display.
These monitors will be used in general production, photoshop and capture stations.
Apple is only offering the old 30 and the new glossy 24"
is anyone using one of these new 24's with success?
how about NEC/Lacie or Dell?? (EIZO is out of our budget)
Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
I have also posted this on LL, so you maybe seeing it twice :)
Thank you in advance.
am
 

gogopix

Subscriber
I use the HP 3065. 30" and 2650x1600. I use them in a quad configuration and the color and brightness is really good. narry a dead pixel in the four (im VERRRY fussy)
calibration was easy as the profile seems quite close to natural colors. Not the best for critical print work, but mates well with my 8660 dye sub Kodak. End to end, I am happy with the profiles (i am looking at an HP printer, but I understand pigments are trickier than dye sub.)

good luck-LCDs have come a long way, and the HP is a lot cheaper than the Apple 30" I think I paid 1200.

Victor
 

Paratom

Well-known member
Its only 22 inch and not so high resolution but for me I felt the Eizo CG222W to be a very good compromise between price and still having nice hardware calibration. But probably its to small for your purpose? and the larger Eizos get expensive.
Tom
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
There are no real options to Eizo :cool: UNFORTUNATELY!

I have used an Apple 23" Cinema for years, was good, but since I have my Eizo CG242W I know now what I missed all the time!

If you want do serious editing work, there are no other monitors :thumbup:
 

arashm

Member
Thank you everyone for your feedback, I do appreciate it.
Ptomsu, do you really find that much difference between the apple and the Eizo?
is it something you can verbalize a bit more please?
pretty much everyone I know locally and studio's I know of uses the silver or (few) older apple cinema displays...
Anyone else?
I'm curious what people use in general
thank you again.
am
 

charlesphoto

New member
There are no real options to Eizo :cool: UNFORTUNATELY!

I have used an Apple 23" Cinema for years, was good, but since I have my Eizo CG242W I know now what I missed all the time!

If you want do serious editing work, there are no other monitors :thumbup:
Yes, there is an option - the NEC LCD2690 Spectraview. I looked at both the 22" Eizo and the NEC (the 24" Eizo out of my price range) and the NEC is very similar if not better. I wanted the extra real estate as well without breaking the bank.

I too came from an Apple 23" and boy, in retrospect, did it suck. Uneven, magenta fringing, and mine started flickering towards the end. The NEC (and Eizo) are smooth, run at lower brightness levels, and just overall give a better looking image and less eyestrain. And of course are much better calibrated due to their internal LUTs.
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
Thank you everyone for your feedback, I do appreciate it.
Ptomsu, do you really find that much difference between the apple and the Eizo?
is it something you can verbalize a bit more please?
pretty much everyone I know locally and studio's I know of uses the silver or (few) older apple cinema displays...
Anyone else?
I'm curious what people use in general
thank you again.
am
I should disclose up front that our company sells a lot of Eizo monitors. So I am clearly biased.

Apple has the dominant marketshare. For most people it is "good enough" quality and they have good brand cache and good design. The difference in Eizo to Apple is remarkable, but remember that the goal of Eizo is to be accurate and consistent, not "stunning" so at first glance the image is often less contrasty, less saturated, and less bright than an Apple monitor even after calibrating both. This is another major reason why many people choose Apple ("it's how much more $$ and it doesnt look as 'good'???).

Also most images do not push the limits of the monitor very hard. Images with subtle shadow detail, long smooth gradations (e.g. open sky), or strongly saturated colors, especially saturated dark red, really test the quality of the monitor.

Two examples:
1) I once spent hours trying to eliminate the posterization/stepping-pattern in the smooth gradiants in one of my bodyscapes only to realize that the monitor was showing stepping patterns that weren't in the file. Now anytime I retouch such a file I can only do so on an Eizo because stepping patterns CAN appear in these images (I am boosting contrast a lot from the original raw and even in 16 bit that can result in stepping patterns) so I NEED to know whether they are in the file, or only on the monitor. Is this a normal situation? NO! But smooth gradients are not all that uncommon.

2) Another image I have seen monitor issues with was Walter Borchenko's picture of a red boat on a sulky-bland-overcast day; the raw file contained sharp detail on the paint, but it did not show when viewed on an Apple monitor because both the entire section was out-of-gamut for the monitor and therefore had to, by definition, be represented by the same in-gamut color. When viewed on an Eizo you could see every individual stroke of paint. There is no way to print the detail I was seeing AS-IS, but because I knew from the Eizo that it was there I was able to work in soft-proof-mode to increase the contrast and reduce the saturation of the image until the colors came in-gamut for the printer and therefore the paint was printed with detail. If I was preparing that image for print with the Apple I would not have known the detail was there and my workflow would not have included a step to bring the detail in-gamut for the printer.

Finally the easiest way to explain the difference is that I've apart from a set of Eizos I have NEVER seen two monitors connected to the same machine and displaying the same image match each other, no matter what profiling method/hardware is used. They get kinda close, but never match. If you calibrate two Eizos (even if comparing two different models/sizes) using the Eizo software (so that the calibration is changing the monitor response rather than the video card output) they will match perfectly every time.

Doug Peterson (e-mail Me)
__________________
Head of Technical Services, Capture Integration
Phase One, Canon, Apple, Profoto, Eizo & More
National: 877.217.9870 | Cell: 740.707.2183
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Bob

Administrator
Staff member
Doug,
(even if comparing two different models/sizes)
Are you saying that if I hire two different models at different sizes (say a size 2 and a 4) I can make them match on an Ezio?
THAT is amazing :ROTFL:
-bob
 

arashm

Member
Doug
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this...
I'm going to go peek at Eizo monitors at my local dealer.
it's just that billing and cash flow is a bit challenged right now....
thanks again
am
 
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