Post Processing - EIZO, NEC and Wide Gamut

OAK3x2

• January 26, 2010 23:37

Having just purchased Capture One 5 Pro...and the understanding that many members of this support forum are knowledgeable or professional photographers...I wanted to reach out with a general question.

I am in the process of purchasing a new Monitor for Post Processing and General Web Browsing. The two Monitors I am considering are the:

Eizo CG241W (96% of Adobe RGB)
NEC LCD2490 (75% of Adobe RGB)

My output printer is a Canon Pixma Pro 9500 MKII. From my reading in regard to the specifications of this printer, it outputs 65% of aRGB. I shoot in RAW

Question 1 - With my Canon 9500 Printer only outputting 65% of Adobe RGB, would there still be an advantage to purchase the Eizo (96%)?

Question 2 - How does a Wide Gamut Monitor (Eizo) look for general Internet Web Browsing.

Both monitors have good reviews, but I am trying to justify the additional $500 for the Eizo...based on my equipment.

Please share your thoughts and expertise.

Thanks

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  Drew Altdo

  • January 27, 2010 02:30

  Oak,
  My opinion may not be the one your looking for, regardless, here it is.
  The Eizo is the way to go. Why? It's been my experience that as technology improves or workflow's change equipment is often replaced. Unless you move away from using Adobe RGB (what are the odds of that?) then you can't do much better than a monitor that provides 96% of the visual representation. I would think your Printer will see replacement before your Monitor and when you are ready to replace that printer, who's to say what the output capabilities will be?
  Beyond that, the basic workflow of Digital Photography is to funnel your data from capture to output. Capturing the most data possible and then outputting in the same manner. With that said, working on a monitor that provides less visual color space is limiting you sooner rather than later.
  
  And then... just to play devils advocate... there are some monitors out there for far less than the NEC and claim similar specs. 😉

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  Henry1

  • January 27, 2010 09:16

  On the other hand the better your monitor is, the more disappointed you'll be when you see the prints :>))

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  Paul Steunebrink

  • January 27, 2010 10:17

  I basically go with Drew on this on. Wide gamut monitors are the way to go. You edit your images in a much more realistic fashion than on sRGB gamut based monitors. And if you can afford one of course.
  Regarding the monitor - printer debate, you can not compare them in terms of percentages when talking covering a particular color space because their shapes are different. Note that the whole idea behind the AdobeRGB color space was to cover the wider not-triangular gamut shape of printers (which are CYMK devices) into a triangular R-G-B space. The sRGB surface does not cover that area but until recently we had only monitors that could not go beyond that.
  
  That said, you face with your wide-gamut monitor purchase at least two challenges. First, you need a good calibration device and software (Eizo software is good). I use not an average colorimeter for my Eizo CG221 because it does not cover the color space. I use the more expensive Eye-One Pro photospectrometer. Second, because prints might disappoint you as Henry said, you find yourself digging into all the color management related settings of your printsoftware and even considering creating your own profiles or let some body do it for you.
  
  Buying great gear is just a start. Mastering them comes next. Good luck!
  
  Note: when considering the Eizo CG241W, you might want to look to the CG242W which has a Display Port

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