Which monitor for color management retouching in product photography?

[jbench]

Hi everyone - I've been using a LaCie CRT screen for many years and now have to replace it. I shoot with a mac book pro laptop. What is a quality monitor for color retouching/management? In the past I know it has been known to not be a good idea to use the laptop screen. So, then, what monitor would be best to use with my mac book pro? Do any of the Mac monitors have color, contrast and brightness controls? Are there other monitors just as good or better for less money? thanks for your input....

 

[Big Mike]

There should be a few older threads that lay out the pros & cons of different monitors. I think that one of the key factors, is the type of technology. For example, the most common (and cheapest) type of flat panel monitor is a TN (twisted nematic). They are OK for gaming, movies & general computing, but not so great for photo editing. They can't display a large color gamut and they don't necessarily calibrate all that well.

A better type is IPS (in-plane switching). They used to be quite expensive but some are reasonably priced these days.

There is much more to it, but I'm no expert...so hopefully someone with more knowledge (Garbz) will come around.

 

[Helen B]

I do product photography, and I use four different monitors at the moment:

Eizo ColorEdge CG223W for tethered shooting, image assessment in the studio (Mac Mini): This is a good monitor, with very little color error across the width of the screen. The hardware settings are controlled by the calibration software (we use ColorEyes Pro for all the monitors, profiling every 14 days with an Eye One Pro spectro for our monitors and a Spyder 3 for the printing company's monitor - that's their system, not ours). The downside of the CG223W is that the color changes with viewing angle more than with the other monitors, but it is very accurate when viewed straight on or close to straight on. The more expensive ColorEdges are generally better for constancy over wide viewing angles.

Eizo Flexscan S2243W for softproofing (Mac Mini): The whole softproofing system is owned and set up by the printing company although it sits in our office. The Flexscan isn't a bad monitor, and the fact that the printing company (a well-known large international company) trusts it to replace hard proofs says something. Remember that it is being used for files that originate in Adobe RGB (after conversion from Raw), then get converted to CMYK SWOP 2 (or something very close) for soft proofing. Product color match fine tuning is done on this monitor.

Dell U2410 for general use at my desk (PC): This is remarkably good for the price. The only real problems I have with it are slight color errors across the width of the screen compared to the CG223W (but better constancy over larger viewing angles), difficulty in getting an accurate calibration at white points any higher than 5000 K (though it is very accurate at D50), and problems with hardware control of the monitor settings by the calibration software. (It's very useful to have that control - it means that you can switch between white point and brightness combinations for different purposes in seconds just by selecting a different profile - it takes your eyes a little while to adjust, of course)

Cintiq tablet for some editing jobs (Macbook Pro): Surprisingly good color accuracy and very handy. I love it. I find it easier and faster to use than a separate monitor and tablet (we also have an Intuos).

Best,
Helen