best monitor calibration for photography

Best Monitor Calibration For Photography Full Color Reproduction
Best Monitor Calibration For Photography Professional Photography Needs

If you can barely see the screen content, you have a TN monitor.

It seems like the market is over-saturated with all kinds of choices, whether you visit a local store or browse through an online catalog.

There are so many monitors for different budgets, and some models might leave you wondering why they are so expensive compared to others.

Since there is no simple answer to this question, I decided to write a detailed article with my personal recommendations.

Currently, there are three main types of monitors that are being offered by manufacturers: CRT the oldest type of monitor that has been almost completely phased out and replaced by newer LCD LED backlit technologies.

LCD currently the most popular and the most widespread monitor type.

I wont talk much about the above, since you can find a lot of useful information on the Internet that explains the differences.

Basically, CRT monitors are dead and we are currently in between LCD and OLED technologies.

Best Monitor Calibration For Photography Professional Photography Needs

OLED is a new technology and although it will eventually replace the current LCD technology, it is still in its early stages of development and there are not many good products out there for professional photography needs.

Therefore, I will concentrate on LCD monitors and talk about different technologies used in LCD panels, after which I will provide some suggestions on what you should consider for potential investment.

Most people do not know the fact that there are at least four different types of LCD technologies that differ substantially in the way they reproduce colors and tones.

Accurate color reproduction is extremely important for every photographer and one needs to have a thorough understanding of these technologies before investing in a monitor, especially if it will be used for professional work.

Table of Contents LCD Monitor Technologies What Are You Using Today Does Brand Matter What to Look for in a Monitor Monitor Size and Resolution Considerations Recommendations High Budget Medium Budget Low Budget 1) LCD Monitor Technologies When it comes to monitors, they are primarily manufactured in four distinct panel types: TN (Twisted Nematic) the most popular and the cheapest type used today by almost all manufacturers.

These monitors are great for watching movies and playing games, because they have fast refresh rates.

But they have very limited viewing angles and in most cases, cannot accurately reproduce colors.

In addition, these monitors can only represent 6-bits of color (they use dithering to display all colors) and therefore they are only capable of displaying a very limited gamut of colors.

Best Monitor Calibration For Photography Full Color Reproduction

IPS (In-Plane Switching) compared to TN, IPS monitors are true 8-bit (full color reproduction with no dithering), have much wider viewing angles and are capable of accurately reproducing a much bigger color gamut.

Some of the older generation IPS monitors suffered from low response times, but most of the latest models offer reasonably good response timesrefresh rates as well.

IPS monitors are expensive and they are primarily used for professional photography and design.

We also have written a separate guide to IPS monitors if you want more information on this panel technology and why it matters for photography.

MVA (Multi-domain Vertical Alignment) sits between TN and IPS, offering good viewing angles and fast refresh rates, better brightness and color reproduction than TN, but definitely worse than IPS.

PVA (Patterned Vertical Alignment) an alternative version of MVA, but with a higher contrast ratio.

The latest S-PVA offers excellent viewing angles, fast response times, 8-bit color gamut and very good color reproduction.

What Are You Using Today So, do you know what type of monitor you are currently using If you bought your monitor for less than 300, you are most likely using a TN panel.

It is very easy to find out if you have one of those just stand up about a foot above the screen and look at your monitor from the top and see how much of the picture is visible.