Originally posted by: dowhopdedodo
Hey threesixty, thanks for the wacom info.
It sounds like we do similar work, wacom intensive and often (mostly for me) work for screen. I've already bitten on the iOne Display 2 although I suppose I could cancel. Still, having a colorimeter has been on my list for years.
I'm really writing here because we seem to work for screen display and I see you're looking to upgrade your LCD. Now the NEC I mention is at MacMall and $150 below everyone else whether you get the Spectreview color control or not ($1169 versus $1009).
I notice, however, that you're going for something closer to a Dell 2408WFP panel, or it seems so. On the Dell forums, where there've been complaints, but I've seen too graphics enterprises counter-posting positives about color fidelity after calibration and talking about purchasing multiple units more.
The new rev A01 addresses the lag and sharpening issues on the 2408WFP. So, it was a done deal for me until the NEC came to my attention, but it's approaching twice the price. Now I see you with a similar wacom workflow and screen output talking about something akin to the 2408WFP. Care to venture your reasoning/perspective?
Thanks,
DoWhop
Hi Dowhop
We actually do lots of both screen and print work.
For screen work, I just want to be in the ballpark of my general audience. When I see what some people view our web sites and video on, I just about have a heart attack, but that's the world of the general public. Hitting reasonably close to a typical sRGB appearance is about the best we can do and the rest is up to the end users. So we turn calibration off and check our output on various awful monitors.
It's for print that I have an interest in Adobe RGB gamut coverage and calibration, because we use it to accurately predict what a job will look like when it gets printed at a commercial print shop (or on our own printer). I also do digital paintings that I will print to watercolour paper on a new Epson 3880 (when it comes out). Since large prints cost between $5-$10 each to run, having good screen accuracy is a bit of a necessity.
Hence my interest in accurate monitors. I want a 30" for productivity, and I like the Apple monitors for gamut and accuracy. But the Apple monitor is expensive and I was hoping that there were cheaper large monitors with the same panel and Adobe RGB gamut to do print work with. The Apple monitor is also due to be updated this January:
http://www.electronista.com/ar...inema.display.at.mwsf/
So I'm even less eager to drop $1800 ($2100 in Canada, dammit!) on the current model.
xtknight had mentioned the Dell Ultrasharp as an alternative, but I noticed that the $1400 "3007WFP-HC" variant does not claim Adobe RGB gamut coverage. Only the $2000 3008WFP does. *sigh* NEC has a 25.5" model that offers good gamut coverage, but I'd prefer to go 30".
So I might drive from Toronto to Buffalo, spend $1800, and then resell next year if the new Apple models are a big improvement. In Apple's favour, I got my current 20" Cinema display two systems ago with my G4 PowerMac. I use it for everything from gaming to colour critical work and it's still working like a champ as I'm about to retire my G5 and move to a new MacPro.
(
For those interested in how monitor calibration for print works: My hardware calibrator tells the system how the monitor's actual output differs from the perfect ICC colour standard. The system can then adjust so that what I'm seeing and what it thinks I'm seeing are pretty close to the same thing. I also have an ICC profile of our Epson printer installed which gives the same kind of info about the printer's output. So now the system can adjust colours and standardize how all the devices (the monitor, the printer, and me) see things. That way we're all talking apples to apples, so to speak. This lets me know by looking at the monitor what my print output will look like.
There's another step where I tell the system what the final output device for the job will be - such as a commercial printing press. The system then applies the ICC profile for the commercial press to allow my Epson printer to mimic the press output and predict what my job will look like when it prints at the print shop. Surprisingly, as digital print becomes cheaper, more and more print shops are appearing that do not have ICC profiles installed for their own printers! So we send them a target print and they seem to do ok.)
Cheers
360