Monitors for Printing Images.
In our next series we are looking at monitors.
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I have 15” laptop which gives me the flexibility to work anywhere. (like the hallway outside of the kids room when they decide going to bed is for the birds and I have a deadline.. not that they would ever do that, ha!)
However, it is not great for editing. So I like to have an additional screen that lets me see my work BIG and edit it more effectively.
I used a discontinued Apple Cinema Display, it is 27” at 2560 x 1440 pixels - that is a Quad HD (QHD) or 2K monitor but the cord broke in 2023 and I was unable to get a replacement. I currently am using a Wacom Cintiq as my secondary monitor but it is unfortunately a 4K monitor so I have to do extra printing tests (however, the ability to edit my image directly on the Cintiq is worth the tradeoff)
I talk about this in my video, the bottom line is if you want to use the monitor to edit images for print, 2K is the best resolution in the 27” size. A 4K, 5K or 8K monitor will look amazing, but will not translate well into print.
What specs?
• 27” (larger you will need to sit back farther from your monitor)
• 2560 x 1440 pixels, which is QHD/2K
You can go bigger with a higher resolution, above is what I have and what I like to work on. You should shoot for a pixel density of 100-110, you can check here: https://www.designcompaniesranked.com/resources/is-this-retina/
• IPS (In-Plane Switching)
• Wide colour gamut (covers at least 90% of sRGB and 70% of Adobe RGB)
• Minimum 10 bit colour depth
• DisplayPort (Windows), Thunderbolt (Mac), HDMI 1.4 (2K) or HDMI 2.0 (4k)
Nice to haves:
• Adjustable Height/Tilt
• I recommend a flat screen, I find curved screens make it difficult to judge distortion
Recommendations:
BenQ SW272Q
Amazon.ca, Amazon.com
Size: 27”
Resolution: 2560x1440 QHD/2K
Colour Gamut: 100% sRGB, 98% P3, 99% Adobe RGB
Bit Depth: 10 bit
Connection: HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4, USB-C
NEC MultiSync EA271Q
Adorama, Amazon.com
Size: 27”
Resolution: 2560x1440 QHD/2K
Colour Gamut: 78.3% Adobe RGB, 100% sRGB
Bit Depth: 8 bit (less than I prefer)
Connection: HDMI, DisplayPort 1.2
EIZO ColorEdge CS2731
B&H Photo, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com
Size: 27”
Resolution: 2560x1440 QHD/2K
Colour Gamut: 99% Adobe RGB
Bit Depth: 10 bit
Connection: HDMI 1.2, DisplayPort 1.3
Eizo ColorEdge CG2700s
https://www.eizoglobal.com/products/coloredge/cg2700s/index.html
Size: 27”
Resolution: 2560x1440 QHD/2K
Colour Gamut: Adobe RGB: 99%, DCI-P3: 98%
Bit Depth: 10 bit
Connection: USB Type-C (DisplayPort Alt Mode, HDCP 2.3), DisplayPort (HDCP 2.3), HDMI (Deep Color, HDCP 2.3)
