What criteria for a good monitor? Any usable monitor database?

[sjjh (Simon)]

Sorry, I was a little busy the last days. Thanks everybody who posted additional criteria to look out for. I’ll again update the initial post. edit Apparently, I cannot edit anymore, will add the complete criteria list at the bottom of this post.

@Macchiato17

the difference between hardware and software calibration is well explained here (in German)

So I’ll add hardware calibrated to the list. As far as I understood, there are two possibilities to do the hardware calibration:

1. calibration device and software are built-in the monitor
2. external calibration device and software run on the computer

Second solution will probably not work under Linux, as the software most probably is only available for Windows and Mac.

@Soupy

The ideal monitor would have no difference in luminance/brightness across the whole screen, but of course, monitors are not made so perfect. A max deviation of <5% is desirable.

There can also be colour temperature deviation. It is said a difference of <2 delta E is not really perceptible to human eyes.

Thanks, will add that to the list.

@Claes

How strict is the manufacturer’s monitor pixel policy?

I’d hope that for high quality monitors we’re looking at here, this won’t play such a big role, but I’ll add it to the list. What would be a reasonable threshold?

@danny

You may also check if the monitor is using PWM for backlight.

Okay, will add that as well.

@afre

it would be nice if someone makes a wiki-post

If I find the function to change my initial post to a wiki-post, I’ll do so. If not, maybe someone else can help out.

@Soupy

The primary benefit of 10 bit is to know that any banding you see is in the image, not due to monitor limitations. If your camera raw is more than 8 bits (probably all modern cameras are), then there shouldn’t be banding in the image, and if you introduce banding in editing, it should be easy to spot by turning the module on/off.

Sounds logical to me.

@Soupy

So 10 bit monitor is a luxury you probably don’t need.

Okay, will note that down.

I’m still looking for a good searchable/filterable database to input all the relevant criteria and get a list of relevant monitors I can then compare. For example, https://www.newegg.com offers nearly no relevant criteria to filter for, https://www.bhphotovideo.com allows to filter by color gamut, but not by color uniformity, https://www.prad.de/ seems to have no filter function at all.

Any additional relevant information to choose a good monitor is welcome.

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List of criteria (as I cannot edit my initial post anymore)

• screen size / monitor resolution: 24"-27" with 2K or >=32" with 4K
  (27" with 4K needs fractional scaling, that doesn’t work well under Linux yet)
• panel type: IPS panel
• color depth: 8bit is enough, 10bit is luxury
  (if you use a camera >8 bit and can turn image processing modules on/off to inspect reason for banding) (10bits might still cause problems under Linux)
• color gamut: >= 100% sRGB and >= 100% AdobeRGB
• color uniformity: < 2 Delta-E
  (<=1 → not perceptible by the human eye; 1-2 → perceptible through close observation)
• luminance uniformity: <5% max. deviation
• monitor pixel policy: ?
• PMW for backlight: No
• calibration: hardware calibration
  (software running on monitor, or available for Linux)