Next to your camera and glass, a good quality monitor is a critical tool in your kit. If you’re like most photographers, you spend more time looking at images on a monitor than through a lens.
If you haven’t priced monitors lately, there is both good and bad news. The good news is that top-end flat screen monitors are capable of showing you virtually the entire color gamut available in a print. With a little tweaking, you can move to a complete soft proofing solution to insure what you see on the monitor will closely match the final print. The bad news is that setups like this take time to calibrate, and can easily set you back over a thousand dollars.
So how do you balance price and quality?
While it is difficult to recommend anything specific since models change so rapidly, here are a minimum list of requirements for a professional monitor, and 3 suggestions depending on what kind of shopper you are.
Monitors – Pro Requirements
If your were searching for a bookkeeping monitor, you’d simply purchase the biggest one you could afford. But for professional monitors, the “sweet spot” for price/performance (in the summer of 2013) is a 27″ monitor, minimum 1920×1080 resolution, IPS screen, 8-bit color, and at least a DVI, HDMI or display port connector.
- 8-bit screens will best allow you to match color gamut (at least sRGB) between computer video card, screen, camera and software.
- Apple’s glossy screen design is fairly unique in the industry. You’ll either love it or hate it, but you should definitely try it out before you purchase one. Remember, virtually any major brand manufacturer’s screen can also work with a Mac.
- Make sure your monitor has the same input as your computer’s output, and that it is at least DVI, HDMI or display port. For professional color, avoid VGA input and output.
- For soft proofing, you’re going to want to use a hardware calibration puck like a Spyder or X-Rite’s ColorMunki.
Price is No Object – $800+
At this price point, there are several manufacturers who offer monitors you’ll be happy to own. In my experience, the NEC MultiSync, Eizo ColorEdge, Samsung SyncMaster and Apple Thunderbolt line would all be great choices. The trick is to make sure you’re getting the pro series model, and not the cheaper “office” line every manufacturer offers.
We get asked here at the lab about LaCie monitors. Yes, they are great, yes, we owned several at one time, and yes, they are very expensive. Today you can get virtually the same results with any of the major brand models above, and spend hundreds less.
Best Price/Performance – $400-800
Here it gets more tricky. Instead of looking at manufacturer’s model lines, you’re going to have to narrow your search down to a 3-5 specific models, then wait for one of them to go on sale. This means you’re going to have to do some homework.
When I say by model, here’s what I mean: While looking through B&H Photo, I can see the Dell UltraSharp model U2713H is $150 cheaper than the U2713HM, but it has a better user rating!
To review monitors, I like starting with a few websites like DPReview.com, DigitalCameraWorld.com, or B&HPhotoVideo.com since the reviews are written by and for pro photographers. I may visit a site like PCMag.com or TFTCentral.co.uk to compare features, but I don’t trust them to give me “real world” reviews from a photographer’s point of view.
Once you have a list of specific model numbers written down, every 2-3 days you will need to Google the model number and wait for the best price online. With all the competition for your dollars, eventually every monitor goes on sale.
Here’s another tip: the best times to buy a monitor according to the experts are: the back-to-school period, post-Thanksgiving holiday sales, and January-February inventory clearance time. In addition, throughout the year, vendors bundle monitors with desktop systems. If you buy a monitor with a PC, you’re likely to get a better deal.
Price is Critical – Under $400
For some photographers, price is everything, especially if you are purchasing more than 1 monitor. Here you have a couple of options – although it will still take some research:
- Buy last year’s model. Watch for close-outs on older models as new ones come on board. The savings can be especially large if you’re willing to go down a size, say from a 27″ to a 23″ diagonal model with the same specifications.
- Buy “off brands”. Ever heard of Asus or Qnix? While not top-tier manufacturers, you can get some good monitors for large savings. For example, the site Overclock.net has a discussion group about off-brand monitors used primarily for gaming that have most of the specifications a pro photographer would need. Just make sure to do your homework before you purchase – returning these monitors under warranty may be very difficult.