A question about standard and wide gamut lcd's...

[Morris Taub]

I was wondering what my old crt would have been considered, if it's possible to think of crt monitors this way, wide gamut or standard...showing say 72 percent of argb or more into the 90 percent area?

Can I think of it this way?...

I'm about to order a new monitor, a NEC 2490 or 2690 wuxi...will use it attached to my macbook pro...

work is basically graphic design, 4/5/6 color press work, cmyk with pms spot colors sometimes specified...use of photos and illustration for book covers, brochures, an occasional poster...

Photos are sent out to a lab for high quality prints when needed,...at home on less expensive printers for trial and error stuff...not sure I'd ever buy a printer for home use that was necessarily wide gamut...I'm actually beginning to search for a new place here in town to help with my needs...

in the past, using a crt, I'd do photoshop work in adobe rgb 1998 for US web coated swop...color matching was always excellent, easy...

These days, with lcds, wide color gamuts, it seems more complicated...

so, one last time before I lay my money down...do I need the wide gamut of the 2690 wuxi2 or will the 2490 suffice...I'm leaning toward the 2490...24" is enough for me...and I've read it might be slightly more 'crisp' 'sharp' than the 2690 because it's native 1920x1200 resolution is the same as the bigger screen...

hope this isn't too confusing...thanks for your insights again, in advance...

M

[digitaldog]

With the rare exception of one CRT that was very limited in release, all the old CRT's are basically sRGB like devices. In fact, sRGB is based on a theoretical CRT with P22 Phosphors in a well defined reference environment. IOW, the only real sRGB device is one of those old CRTs!

Do you need a wide gamut display? Depends on the type of images you edit. It is useful to see colors that fall outside sRGB that your documents contain.

[Morris Taub]

With the rare exception of one CRT that was very limited in release, all the old CRT's are basically sRGB like devices. In fact, sRGB is based on a theoretical CRT with P22 Phosphors in a well defined reference environment. IOW, the only real sRGB device is one of those old CRTs!

Do you need a wide gamut display? Depends on the type of images you edit. It is useful to see colors that fall outside sRGB that your documents contain.

Hi Andrew...thanks for this info...

Would I be right in thinking that a wide gamut display like the 2690 would give me a better, more complete color representation of artwork in a photoshop file if my color space is Adobe rgb 1998? I guess along those lines it would be better for the prophoto rgb color space as well?...

and that as well, it would not be as good a representation for the srgb color space I use to upload images for web use?...

thanks again...I appreciate your expertise...I'm just a designer and this gets a bit confusing...also, I read something you wrote someplace here on the LL forums, that placed next to each other the standard and wide gamut monitors aren't a huge difference, i think i mean that i'd be happy with either...

M

[digitaldog]

Would I be right in thinking that a wide gamut display like the 2690 would give me a better, more complete color representation of artwork in a photoshop file if my color space is Adobe rgb 1998? I guess along those lines it would be better for the prophoto rgb color space as well?...

yes, assuming colors fall outside sRGB gamut. You can have a document in ProPhoto RGB that's a solid gray, its gamut is tiny even if the container is super large.

Using a web browser that's ICC aware will be important for web viewing on such a display.

[Morris Taub]

yes, assuming colors fall outside sRGB gamut. You can have a document in ProPhoto RGB that's a solid gray, its gamut is tiny even if the container is super large.

Using a web browser that's ICC aware will be important for web viewing on such a display.

Ok, thanks Andrew...& please excuse me if I oversimplified all this...just trying to bring it down to a practical level that I understand and that makes sense for my work...

I use a mix of Safari and Firefox so I should be fine for browser use...

hmmm, but I guess I might have to invest in a new calibration puck if I go the 2690 route which is tempting me now...I have an i1 display 2 with its software...I think I read somewhere that there's a newer puck from NEC, more sensitive or something, to calibrate the wide gamut monitor...

alright...thanks very much for your help...

M

[Dale Allyn]

hmmm, but I guess I might have to invest in a new calibration puck if I go the 2690 route which is tempting me now...I have an i1 display 2 with its software...I think I read somewhere that there's a newer puck from NEC, more sensitive or something, to calibrate the wide gamut monitor...

I have not checked recently (a few months), but previously NEC said (in an e-mail to me) that the i1 Display 2 is supported, and in fact their default colorimeter. Again, I'm not sure if they changed they're spec., but might be worth confirmation before buying a new one.

[digitaldog]

I have not checked recently (a few months), but previously NEC said (in an e-mail to me) that the i1 Display 2 is supported, and in fact their default colorimeter. Again, I'm not sure if they changed they're spec., but might be worth confirmation before buying a new one.

That colorimeter will work and is supported. If you have one, I'd use it. However, they did OEM a special version with filters that are more appropriately mated with the wide gamut unit. If you don't have a Colorimeter, go that route.

The original will work, its white point "accuracy" will not be as good (my testing resulted in a difference of about CCT 500K). So it doesn't suck, anything like that, but there is a better mousetrap so to speak.

[Dale Allyn]

That colorimeter will work and is supported. If you have one, I'd use it. However, they did OEM a special version with filters that are more appropriately mated with the wide gamut unit. If you don't have a Colorimeter, go that route.

The original will work, its white point "accuracy" will not be as good (my testing resulted in a difference of about CCT 500K). So it doesn't suck, anything like that, but there is a better mousetrap so to speak.

Great info, Andrew. Thanks.