[noelpolar]

all this print talk takes me back to the A4 size hard proofs we would do for the Australia postage stamps......

[biz-engineer]

all this print talk takes me back to the A4 size hard proofs we would do for the Australia postage stamps......

Yeah, paper is backwards. Somehow, the generalization of mobile phone photography and ubiquitous social media makes me enjoy prints more. Print talk is boring until we realize how enjoyable is reflected light (light reflected off a paper print) as opposed to backlit display (LCD, OLED displays). Worse are all those ultra bright VA panel gaming monitors optimized for refresh speed, brightness intensity, with overly saturated colors. When I look at a paper print, it doesn't jump at me, it doesn't shout at me, it just looks natural, and I find it more relaxing and enjoyable then looking at a gamer's display.

[Serkevan]

Yeah, paper is backwards. Somehow, the generalization of mobile phone photography and ubiquitous social media makes me enjoy prints more. Print talk is boring until we realize how enjoyable is reflected light (light reflected off a paper print) as opposed to backlit display (LCD, OLED displays). Worse are all those ultra bright VA panel gaming monitors optimized for refresh speed, brightness intensity, with overly saturated colors. When I look at a paper print, it doesn't jump at me, it doesn't shout at me, it just looks natural, and I find it more relaxing and enjoyable then looking at a gamer's display.

Oi, I'll have you know that my gaming laptop can be perfectly suited for photo editing ... and 75 Hz is nice!
(Although the first thing I did was chuck the Asus "monitor control" software out a window and go with a reasonable profile that doesn't look like the entirety of Instagram is living in my desktop ).

Jokes aside, good quality prints are a thing of beauty. I haven't even gone to the realms of really, REALLY expensive stuff but my A3-A2 Ilfochrome and baryta paper prints already look downright gorgeous. You can spend ten minutes just looking at every little detail from all angles.
Now that the shops are properly open I have to go to the lab and get a couple more to bring to my parents...

[BigMackCam]

Oi, I'll have you know that my gaming laptop can be perfectly suited for photo editing ... and 75 Hz is nice!
(Although the first thing I did was chuck the Asus "monitor control" software out a window and go with a reasonable profile that doesn't look like the entirety of Instagram is living in my desktop ).

I don't have any issues editing on my Lenovo 17" "gaming" laptop... The matte screen is only HD resolution, but it reproduces almost %100 of the sRGB gamut, has a 120Hz refresh and uses voltage rather than PWM to control backlighting, so there's zero perceptable flickering. I have it calibrated to 100cd/m2 which is enough for general use and photo work, and profiled using Argyll CMS. It looks almost identical to my 24" BenQ monitor in terms of brightness, colour and contrast...

[Serkevan]

I don't have any issues editing on my Lenovo 17" "gaming" laptop... The matte screen is only HD resolution, but it reproduces almost %100 of the sRGB gamut, has a 120Hz refresh and uses voltage rather than PWM to control backlighting, so there's zero perceptable flickering. I have it calibrated to 100cd/m2 which is enough for general use and photo work, and profiled using Argyll CMS. It looks almost identical to my 24" BenQ monitor in terms of brightness, colour and contrast...

Yup! Mine's also 17", 100% (or almost, not sure right now but I think it's 100%) sRGB and I'm rather happy with it... I should do a proper calibration beyond what Windows offers, though. Thanks for mentioning Argyll, I should dive into it.

[biz-engineer]

It looks almost identical to my 24" BenQ monitor in terms of brightness, colour and contrast...

Being curious about that. I noticed VA panels are significantly cheaper than IPS and, on paper, VA can also have a nice color gamut (DCI-P3). 32" VA display can be purchased new for 350 euros or less (if I remember correctly), 32" IPS is at least double the price. I've seen some cases of black levels being crushed in VA panels, and bad color/lighting homogeneity with large displays (32"). My datacolor color calibration will only make a calibration profile from measurements done only in one area of the display. The reason why I avoided to buy a VA display.

[BigMackCam]

I should do a proper calibration beyond what Windows offers, though. Thanks for mentioning Argyll, I should dive into it.

I've been using Argyll and dispcalGUI for years, but when Python 2 was deprecated, compatibility for dispcalGUI became spotty across my various machines. I now use just Argyll itself and calibrate / profile from the command line, whether on linux or Windows. It's actually very straightforward.

There's a great tutorial here:

Display calibration and profiling with Argyll

It's worth reading all the pre-amble, but if you want to skip straight to the calibration and profiling process, scroll down to "Display calibration and profiling Argyll workflow". For step 4, which deals with brightness and balancing the R, G and B controls for colour temperature, you only need to perform the brightness setting if using the laptop's built-in display. The R, G, B adjustments are only relevant for external monitors that support these adjustments.

I use my six-year-old Colormunki Display colorimeter with Argyll, and I'm always happy with the results. I keep wondering if I should buy a newer model, but for my modest hobbyist purposes I think it's good enough...

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Last edited by BigMackCam; 06-16-2021 at 11:58 AM.

[BigMackCam]

Being curious about that. I noticed VA panels are significantly cheaper than IPS and, on paper, VA can also have a nice color gamut (DCI-P3). 32" VA display can be purchased new for 350 euros or less (if I remember correctly), 32" IPS is at least double the price. I've seen some cases of black levels being crushed in VA panels, and bad color/lighting homogeneity with large displays (32"). My datacolor color calibration will only make a calibration profile from measurements done only in one area of the display. The reason why I avoided to buy a VA display.

Bizarrely, I'd never heard of VA LCD panels until your post. I only knew of TN and IPS. Interesting. Iiyama appears to do some very nice, low-cost VA monitors.

For me, 100% sRGB is enough, since I don't print much. As such, my laptop's own display and the BenQ BL2420PT 24" QHD monitor I use externally are perfectly satisfactory for my purposes, both photography-related and more general usage. If I was in your situation - processing mainly for print - I guess I'd go for a ~100% AdobeRGB / DCI-P3 gamut monitor with higher pixel density. The VA displays do sound tempting at those lower prices, but I think I'd hold out for a good IPS model. My previous posts about that 32" 8K Dell were kind of tongue-in-cheek, but something like their U2720Q UltraSharp 4K 27" monitor sounds great, with 95% DCI-P3 gamut and 10-bit internal LUT. It costs around GBP £620, which isn't too bad for something so capable. A fair bit more expensive than the VA panels you mention, but still... pretty good value for money.

[biz-engineer]

If I was in your situation - processing mainly for print - I guess I'd go for a ~100% AdobeRGB / DCI-P3 gamut monitor with higher pixel density.

I've looked at upgrading my displays that during our "stay at home" covid lock-downs, but have decided to postpone my purchase to a later time. My last year's prints have all been black & white, color gamut wasn't a concern. Also, I noticed the appearance of the new (relatively new) c-type Fuji maxima photo paper, with enhanced color gamut and fine detail reproduction to match or exceed inkjet tech. (https://www.fujifilm.com/us/en/business/photofinishing/paper-lab-products/pr...-paper-maxima#). So, yeah in the future I'll go back to color prints, my color calibrated monitor is almost 10 years old (only slightly better than sRGB), and I'll need a wide gamut monitor for editing, something like the DELL PremierColor series.

[biz-engineer]

I've looked at upgrading my displays that during our "stay at home" covid lock-downs, but have decided to postpone my purchase to a later time.

Finally made the purchase, and will give away my old monitor.

My previous posts about that 32" 8K Dell were kind of tongue-in-cheek, but something like their U2720Q UltraSharp 4K 27" monitor sounds great, with 95% DCI-P3

Well, that's almost my choice, I went for an LG Ergo U880 32" 4K that covers 95% DCI-P3 color space. DCI-P3 isn't quite aRGB but not far, advantage being a 32" 100% aRGB is a lot more expensive than a 32" DCI-P3.


After a few tweaks + color calibration, I have to say wow, it was definitely money well spent.