Photo Editing Monitor Recommendations

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Abinoone

Abinoone

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This has been asked before but I‘d like to ask again: what do you recommend for a good, Windows-based photo editing monitor?

Currently, I rely upon my 15” laptop monitor for editing, and generally have been pretty satisfied with the overall resolution and color accuracy. It’s a 4K IPS screen, which is quite nice in a small package. However, I think that I’d benefit from a larger fixed workstation at home, and have been looking at 24” and 27” monitors for my small space. From all that I’ve read, Eizo and BenQ seem to be popular choices among photographers, but are quite expensive, and I’d like not to spend $1500+ on a monitor, if possible (reserving my money for new ML lenses!). Are there any more moderately priced monitors that provide good quality, high resolution, and color accuracy, or is this a situation of you get what you pay for? My particular use case is mostly for online accuracy, with occasional print. I’m not a professional photographer so ensuring absolute color accuracy isn’t essential.

Thanks for any advice you may have.
 
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I really like my BenQ 32” IPS displays. They are a few years old and originally sold for design work (e.g., Pantone), but I’ve tweaked them a bit and they (I have two, actually) are pretty spot on for printing to my Canon 1000. I paid $699 originally, but I see on Amazon they are currently at $949. You should be able to find them for lower retail, I would think. (I print for myself, not commercially.)
 
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i struggle with this a lot. i have a nice benq and a general purpose dell and you see a lot more on the benq…. but…. i don’t think it’s representative of what people see on THEIR devices. so i often look at the result on both monitors and second guess myself
 
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That looks like a great price on the Lenovo monitor.

Prices are coming down on both 4k and AdobeRGB monitors. It's nice to see some reasonable pricing.
 
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John Navitsky said:
i struggle with this a lot. i have a nice benq and a general purpose dell and you see a lot more on the benq…. but…. i don’t think it’s representative of what people see on THEIR devices. so i often look at the result on both monitors and second guess myself
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Yeah. I got the BenQ 321c and it’s great to stare at. And 32 is actually much more useful for doing non photography work than 27 was. Much more expensive than others being discussed here.
 
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Take a look at the Asus ProArt monitors. Three good examples:
https://shop.asus.com/us/90lm06r1-b011b0-proart-display-pa328cgv.html - $509 for 32-inch WQHD (2560 x 1440)
https://www.asus.com/us/displays-desktops/monitors/proart/proart-display-pa348cgv/ - $729 for 21:9 ultra wide QHD (3440 x 1440)
https://shop.asus.com/us/90lm03h3-b013b0-proart-display-pa32ucr-k.html - $1299 for 32-inch (3840x2160) and impressive color spaces: (sRGB) : 100%; (Adobe RGB) : 99.5%; (DCI-P3) : 98%; (Rec.2020) : 87%

And others with higher specs (and prices)
 
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As the OP will be printing only “occasionally“, does he really need a display that fully supports Adobe RGB? For his online accuracy, sRGB will be color space he’ll be working with, so there’s not much point in editing such images in Adobe RGB (or ProPhoto RGB). And, you still need a printer profile to soft proof before sending to the printer which may have its own color reproduction limitations. I haven’t printed in a year, so I sense how rusty I am about all of this… and I was never an expert to begin with! (Cue the ‘we could tell’ chorus…)
 
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I have BenQSW 321C. It is not cheap but it is not as expensive as EISO. I could recommend it. I have it 3+ years already and it is still at the top of what is available according to the specs.
27 is not so much different from 32 IMO as it is the diagonal. Just my two cents.
 
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I just recently started using both monitors as my wife was using the other in her home office until she received a new one from work. If I knew I’d be using two simultaneously, I’d probably have ordered smaller ones like the 27”; they literally extend from one end of my desk to the other. As it is, with my macbook toward one side, I have to either sit way back or turn 120º to take it all in haha. Hmmm… just occurred to me that I can rotate each one 90º…
 
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Charles Loy said:
I clicked on 3 or 4 of the links, all wanted to allow cookies. I dislike cookies. But unsure if it actually is a concern.
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I clicked the link then read around the cookie box. Then I copied the model name and pasted it into Google to see a lot more info and reviews.
I also dislike cookies and algorithms 😱
Vinny 😁
 
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MMoretti said:
As the OP will be printing only “occasionally“, does he really need a display that fully supports Adobe RGB? For his online accuracy, sRGB will be color space he’ll be working with, so there’s not much point in editing such images in Adobe RGB (or ProPhoto RGB). And, you still need a printer profile to soft proof before sending to the printer which may have its own color reproduction limitations. I haven’t printed in a year, so I sense how rusty I am about all of this… and I was never an expert to begin with! (Cue the ‘we could tell’ chorus…)
Click to expand...

Short answer is YES. If you want to see accurate colors on your monitor and have them match what is printed then even if you do not print at home, you should download the printer profile from your printer to have an accurate match.
 
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Many paper manufacturers will provide ICC profiles for their products, such as the ones I’m using from Canson and Red River. It’s a great feeling of success to get a print that looks like what I see on the display.
 
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I'm using a BenQ PhotoVue SW240 24.1" WUXGA 60Hz 5MS IPS W-LED Professional Photography Monitor w/ SH240 Shading.
Better than a 27" Dell I had previously.
Colours were perfect out of the box and haven't needed any adjustment in 12 months of use.
 
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flashpixx said:
I'm using a BenQ PhotoVue SW240 24.1" WUXGA 60Hz 5MS IPS W-LED Professional Photography Monitor w/ SH240 Shading.
Better than a 27" Dell I had previously.
Colours were perfect out of the box and haven't needed any adjustment in 12 months of use.
Click to expand...
Looks interesting! Do you find the 1920x1200 screen resolution to be adequate? I’m used to a 4K LED laptop (3840x2160) resolution.
 
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Abinoone said:
Looks interesting! Do you find the 1920x1200 screen resolution to be adequate? I’m used to a 4K LED laptop (3840x2160) resolution.
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Yes, quite adequate. My eyesight actually prefers 1920 x 1200.
My laptop is 1920 x 1080
The most impressive thing with this monitor is the colour accuracy, plus when I got it, it was bundled with the hood.
 
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