Cheaper but Capable Monitor for Photo Work?

Soldato
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Hello experts!

A friend asked me to spec him a monitor for photo editing, but I'm not really au fait with anything outside of gaming panels, so I'm asking here on his behalf. There'll be no gaming done on it at all, so the only consideration is PS/Lightroom etc, as well as general browsing etc... He wants "as good and as big a screen/resolution" as he can get for ~£300.

Thanks for all suggestions!
 
Man of Honour
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at that kind of price range you're going to rule out any higher end colour professional range monitors, and wide gamut support. maybe worth double checking in case he actually needs wide gamut support for his content. if not (and he needs to stick to his budget) you'll want to look for an IPS-type screen. That tech will give you the most stable image and widest viewing angles which are important for colour critical work, photo work etc.

The Dell U2515H would be a a solid choice i think, also giving a nice high res and small pixel pitch for sharp and crisp images (and a decent 2560 x 1440 desktop real estate).

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/dell...reen-led-monitor-midnight-grey-mo-082-de.html

good all rounder for sure and within budget: http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2515h.htm
 
Soldato
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Thanks Baddass, I appreciate your time.

I'll have a word with him this evening and pass on the recommendation. I'm not sure how seriously he wants to take his photography - at the moment, it's just a hobby to him, but he's still willing to spend thousands on lenses etc, so investing in a better monitor might be a good idea. Anyway, I'll get back to you if he ups the budget! Thanks again!
 
Man of Honour
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My advice with wide gamut would be to avoid it unless he specifically needs to work with wide gamut content. It's only good if he has supporting content and images and a colour managed workflow. If not, you will actually find a wide gamut screen to be more complicated to work with and probably make matters worse. Not to mention paying a lot more for the privilege of it as a feature. Only reason I asked was in case that was a specific requirement but it doesn't sound like it is.

Another feature common in high end screens that you pay a premium for is 10-bit colour depth support. But to take advantage of that you need a full 10-bit end to end workflow which is expensive and tricky to achieve, and rare in fact. So again, if he specifically had all the necessary components and wanted it, that would have been something to look for, but I don't think that will be a requirement.

Another feature of higher end screens would be support for hardware calibration. You'd need an additional hardware calibration device for that, and those screens with support of that feature are the ones that tend to be high end professional grade screens. He might want to consider a calibration tool anyway, no matter what screen he goes for. Some screens will allow high levels of control and calibration of the monitor themselves, but if not, even normal screens benefit from calibration done at the graphics card level using those tools

To give you an idea, some semi pro type screens would be something like the Dell U2413 or U2713H. Those are the more lower cost range but with those high end features. More serious pro grade screens are available from Eizo and NEC as two key manufacturers so maybe have a look at this range

I expect those features are not needed from what you've said so far, and actually he'd be just as well off with a decent mainstream model like the U2515H.
 
Associate
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He may also want to look into AMVA+ panels. Viewing angles are very wide and colour saturation accuracy is much better across a wider luminance range than any other panels currently available due to their very high native contrast ratio. The much poorer native contrast ratio of IPS leads to colour desaturation/washout in darker areas.

I know this flies in the face of the usual "IPS is best" mantra, but being able to accurately reproduce colour saturation over a luminance range 3 to 4 times wider than IPS makes for vastly improved colour accuracy if the panel is well calibrated.
 
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The contrast ratio of VA panels is definitely useful as you've said, although the off centre viewing angle gamma shift / black crush is the main drawback for colour critical work
 
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You can buy a Dell UP3216Q for not much more than £300 if you look around. I just bought three of them, brand new, for the price of one (£1300). Have a look on Gumtree.
 
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The contrast ratio of VA panels is definitely useful as you've said, although the off centre viewing angle gamma shift / black crush is the main drawback for colour critical work
The off-centre viewing angle gamma shift is improved with AMVA+ to the point where sitting directly in front of one at the recommended viewing distance vs diagonal size makes it barely noticeable except in the extreme corners in a darkened room. It's certainly far less destructive to image quality than a 1000:1 contrast ratio. There is also zero black-crushing on the three I've checked out so far.

I wouldn't touch a conventional VA panel with a bargepole. AMVA+ panels and VA panels are very different animals.
 
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Soldato
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Another vote for the Dell U2515H. Though if monitor is for work call Dell and buy it direct with the extended warranty as they usually offer a decent discount. OcUK customer service on monitors is very poor.
 
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The Dell U2515H would be a a solid choice i think, also giving a nice high res and small pixel pitch for sharp and crisp images (and a decent 2560 x 1440 desktop real estate).

I can highly recommend this too, recently bought one mainly for gaming but also Autodesk CAD and Revit + web browsing. Colours, lighting and sharpness are fantastic, it is the best monitor I have ever used. I think your friend would be pleased with the price/performance.
 
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UP3216Q are cheap used because its quite disappointing quality wise - unlike other Dells and lot of professionals who bought it getting rid of them.

It suffers from almost exactly same problems with dead pixel and light bleed as its non-Dell siblings - probably because its same panel.

Just look at reviews at amazon.com, it will show you the overall picture.
Very strange for Dell to market such as "professional" monitor. Personally I'd stay away of it.

U2515H is a little gem of the screen on the other hand - get it, you won't regret it.
 
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