Need a monitor for professional photography

Hardware
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if you want to find out, you can create your own /etc/X11/xorg.conf (maybe via nvidia-xconfig). then edit Depth 24 → Depth 30 in the screen section. if your X still comes up after a reboot, you’re good :slight_smile:

if you run nvidia-settings, in the X Screen 0 section, there should be a line ‘Depth: 30’ somewhere if everything went well.

good luck…

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LOL fatal server error no screens found

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@hanatos
It works fine here; but you cannot imagine the odd background The Gimp’s toolbox now has :-))))

I will switch back to Depth 24!

Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden

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haha, yeah, my thoughts exactly. i’ll keep working like this for some more time, but it does come with quite a few restrictions…

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just for completeness and because it looks so funny:

loimpress
loimpress1408×1420 955 KB

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@s7habo can you get a new 27" NEC or EIZO for 1200Euro where you live? From prices in poland I guess that entry is around 1500 Euro.
Do you have or can borrow at least X-Rite i1Display Pro? Alternatively do you have a service which can calibrate the monitor for you? (Spyder’s are to inaccurate for photographic monitors)
Do you have your working place properly lid with light sources that are sufficient for working with colors?
You need to keep your monitor calibrated and check it from time to time and you need to work in defined and established conditions to get predictable results. This is why I asked about calibrator and lighting. The monitor itself is not enough.

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Thank you for replay @maf!

That depends on the model. Prices are from 900 to 1900 €. I’m not so sure what I have to pay attention to with the values in the sense that I don’t buy one that has functionality that I don’t need and at the same time buy the cheap one that doesn’t have the necessary functionality. I’m quite a bit tangled up.

I don’t have it, but I can buy it. Does it work under Linux?

No. I intend to do it myself. I am willing to invest the time to learn how to do it correctly.

Yes.

I’m aware of that. :slight_smile:

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It works with displaycal sw calibration under linux (for this it’s overkill imo).
In windows it also works with e.g. benq hw calibration sw.
But i’m not aware of any true monitor hw calibration (what is the advantage of pro monitor) under linux, as it specific and depends on monitor manufacturer tools provided.

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X-Rite is supported by NEC SpectraViewII, Eizo ColorNavigator (both are true HW calibration SW) and Argyll.

I’ve tested each :slight_smile:

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Your answer is in the question: you need professional monitor :slight_smile:
Such monitors are not cheap, ~1400€ up. For such money demand perfection.

Perhaps it’s not allowed but I suggest you look at the photographylife.com and search for user “ColorConsultant”. He usually comments on color management topics but lately has commented on the two following reviews:
BenQ SW320 Monitor Review
BenQ SW271 Monitor Review
Read his comments and also search luminous-landscape.com forums for PA271Q.

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First of all: define professionally.

You may need a reference Eizo or Nec monitor or for you may need entry level photographic monitor.

How critical is color and display accuracy?

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Aside from all the good advice given until now, I wish to say some thoughts that hasn’t been mentioned yet, or which are my own preferences:

  • as already said, you can’t go wrong with NEC or EIZO, you will pay more for them, but you will for sure get what you pay for. And just to check prices, take a look at this Spanish online store. They send items to Europe, although you will have to add the shipping&handling costs, obviously
  • I wouldn’t be obsessed by embedded hardware profiling solutions, and if I found a display without hardware sensors or software, but with the gamut I need, I would buy it without hesitation (for professional photography, I wouldn’t go for less than 99% AdobeRGB)
  • don’t forget that color management is not just about having a good display: you absolutely need to start with a good profile for your camera, follow it with a good and properly calibrated display, and end up with a good and calibrated printer. In this sense the i1 Display Pro, even though really good for displays, is useless to calibrate a printer, so you will need another device (and professional quality ones may cost you even more than the display)
  • I’ve recently found that creating images for the web is not necessarily an straight conversion between profiles. You will have to check it for yourself, but it’s worth reading that thread to prevent possible surprises. I’m even thinking about having 2 profiles: one that takes into account the capabilities of my display and the ambient lighting, and another one just to work for the web
  • about ambient lighting, if you have a device capable of measuring ambient lighting (like the i1 Display Pro), most probably you will only have to take care about choosing some lighting with a Color Rendering Index (CRI) of 90 at least (95 CRI would be even better). A cheap led lamp with near 6000ºK, may be enough. Then just let the profiling device to measure the color and intensity of your lighting and adjust the display profile for that
  • remember that with professional color, you can’t be in a hurry when cold starting both the display and the ambient lighting (that is, when they have been turned off for several hours): they need to heat and stabilize before being sure that you get the right colors

Well, just a few thoughts :wink:

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Is this limitation Linux only?

It surprises me that NVidia or AMD would not have jumped to get on the "HDR gaming " bandwagon ASAP, but I can see how their thinking might be something along the lines of “Linux = workstation” so “Linux + HDR = workstation card”.

Restricting their gaming cards to 8 bit output when every gaming console except Switch has offered HDR10 at a minimum for 2-3 years seems like a major blunder for anyone trying to sell gaming hardware.

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I don’t think that PC parts for gaming really compete against consoles. PC gamers want PCs, a la /r/pcmasterrace

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The discussion about 10bit support is off topic and should be split into a separate topic.

Personally I use an Eizo FlexScan EV2436W, because I wanted a well known brand. Budget wise and for “compatibility” reasons with the rest of the world sRGB seemed to be enough for me years ago.

Today I would go for 27" 2560 x 1440 and maybe 100% AdobeRGB coverage. An Eizo with that specs would be out of range (or it simply doesn’t make sense to spent that money for hobby). And their hardware calibration software is not supported by Linux as well. So I would maybe chose a Dell UltraSharp UP2716D. I have some DELL monitors at work for office purposes, and they do their job.

For calibration, I have a colorhug1 and 2, but they need a correction matrix to work properly. Without that matrix calibration ended in color shifts. I had the chance to borrow a ColorMunki Photo to create proper correction matrix for my screen. Because of that experience I would maybe invest in a ColorMunki Photo or similar spectrophotometer. I know they are costly, but they can measure colors more precisely and allow printer calibrations as well.

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The ColorMunki seems to be out of production. It has been superseded by the new i1Studio.

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Looks like ColorMunki is still being sold. i1 series is more expensive. I guess they have dropped the lower tiers; however, their website still has those products, which is confusing… I can’t afford this stuff but am often curious what the products are. :stuck_out_tongue:

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@s7habo Seen this?

or this

MfG
Claes in Lund, Schweden

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I’m sure it is, until all the remaining stock is sold out. But according to X-Rite website, the ColorMunki is not listed anymore. And above that, it never was a professional tool, unlike the new model is. And of course I wouldn’t buy an amateur device for a serious professional use.

In spite of this, I would buy a ColorMunki for my own amateur work without a doubt.

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Indeed, they have updated their site since I last checked last month. Modernized it too.