Monitor choice

[jrw]

The last time I went shopping for a monitor I wound up with an Asus ProArt. I did spend a lot of time online checking the colour gamut specs for a wide variety of monitors as the one that came with my latest computer was really pathetic in that department. Blistering fast for gamers but not much use for graphics usage. The Asus was the lowest priced large monitor that covered virtually all of the Adobe RGB gamut. The factory supplied ICC profile was bang on out of the box. I did my own calibration and when reviewing the summary report the gamut was slightly larger than Adobe RGB (101%). Have done regular recalibrations every month since and have not noticed any shifting at all. (Every now and then I have gone back after doing the recalibration to the original calibration profile just to check). The resolution at 1920 x 1200 is not as high as the other monitors recommended above nor is the colour gamut as broad, but this is reflected in the price difference. If you just want a decent monitor for a reasonable outlay it is worth looking at. What colour space is your camera set for?

Edit: One point to keep in mind with the monitor when editing for prints is that the colour gamut will be larger than the printer can reproduce. If you don't already do so it is a very useful feature of PhotoShop, and other editing software, to allow using the printer ICC profiles for onscreen soft proofing and final editing before commiting to paper and ink. I know it has saved me from scrapping a goodly amount of photo paper.