24" LCD monitors

[nemophoto]

I was in B&H a few days ago looking at 24" monitors. They had an Eizo 24" for around $1300 or 1400. They also had an HP 24" for about $650. Honestly, the HP put the Eizo to shame. I was surprised. Obviously, all the monitors were not calibrated. However, the HP was far sharper and clearer and cleaner displaying the same image. I fiddled with th adjustments on both trying to bring them somewhat closer, but no matter what the HP had the better picture. About the only area where the Eizo was slightly better was apparent angle of view. Made me re-evaluate what I might buy. Since then, I've also considered a Dell and an Acer -- all with 1900x1200 displays. While I'd love one of the new AdobeRGB monitors, I don't love the price.

Any other suggestions? (Needless to say, I'm on a PC and also don't love the price of an Apple Cinema display.)

[Samotano]

I actually have an Eizo CE240W, a Mitsubishi DP900U CRT and a cheap viewsonic lcd.  It's hard to compare monitors in a store.  What you may perceive clarity and sharpness may well be the factory settings that manufacturers use to entice buyers.  For example, many manufacturers tend to set their monitors at D75 because our eyes perceive a blue dominant as "brighter" hence better.  Similarly, one HDTV manufacturer set a new model of hdtv to its highest, albeit interpolated, resolution, thus the image looks (wrongly) sharper. One of the areas where Eizo (and other high end manufacturers such as lacie, barco etc) excel is the ability to accurately reproduce color.  The difference between a $600 monitor and a, say, $2,000 monitor may not be obvious on an average image, but starts becoming noticeable when one works with images that span the range of a wide color space.  Another difference I notice everyday between my cheap Viewsonic and my Eizo is the light source. I can see where the light source comes from in my viewsonic, especially when I am displaying dark images.  I cannot tell where the light comes from in my Eizo.  I have heard reports that many consumer based monitors have a few dead pixels.  Apparently, this is considered acceptable in the industry.  However, the consumer is hardly ever informed.  Another difference is that I can fully calibrate my Eizo via hardware calibration (not software) which is something a $600 monitor liekly won't have. At the end of the day you have got to figure out your needs first and buy the best monitor you can afford for your needs.

[nemophoto]

I know what you mean about how the displays look in stores. That's why I set the monitors to 6500/2.2. I have an older 20" Viewsonic VX2000 and a newer Planar 20". The Viewsonic, though a little dimmer, is ten times more accurate, color-wise. No matter how often I calibrate, the Planar never matches the accuracy of the Viewsonic. It's always slightly biased to the green. So I only use it for pallets or email, the net -- basically non-critical. The Viewsonic matches my output -- both RGB and CMYK, so it's for my images.

[Gabe]

I have read very good things about the Dell UltraSharp 2407FPW, and am seriously considering picking one up for myself. (The 27" unit is also quite nice by the sound of things, but just a bit big for my taste, and given that they're the same native resolution, I'm guessing the 24" would appear just ever-so-slightly sharper at the same viewing distance.)

Both were highly recommended by Kleber Stephenson at NAPP in last month's newsletter.

Would love to hear first hand reports from anyone here who has used either one

[John.Murray]

Interesting to hear that about the Dell 2407WP -  I have one and find it intolerably bright; maybe I'll get it sorted when I actually have a spare evening to profile it

[Alaska]

I have one and find it intolerably bright; maybe I'll get it sorted when I actually have a spare evening to profile it ;)
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Have been using the 24 inch Dell with the following settings.

R 87
G 90
B 86
Brightness 36 (Dim room setting)
6500K
gamma 2.2
Black Luminance .25cd/m2
White Luminance 165.19 cd/m2

Let me know what your settings are once it is setup.  Using the Monaco Optix XR Pro for calibration.

Jim