Monitor Qualities
So we have got an idea about the technologies behind the panels, let’s have a look at some qualities of monitors and how they are relevant to the best monitors for photography
colour Gamut
Put simply, the color gamut of a monitor is the range of colors|colors} it is able to displaying. A good photographer’s monitor will have a wide color gamut, often measured against the Adobe RGB spectrum. Ideally, a photographic monitor will cover at least the sRGB spectrum and further if possible.
A panel with a wide colour gamut will reproduce greener greens and redder reds, for example. This is often referred to as colour saturation and is obviously a good thing in a monitor for photography. The graph below shows how color gamuts are generally represented.
Colour Depth
Having a wide colour gamut alone is not sufficient to make a monitor good for photography. Colour gamut tells you nothing about the number of colors a monitor for photography can display. The number of colours is often called the colour depth. It’s possible to have a very wide color gamut but only a small colour depth. This would mean the panel could display a few very saturated colors but there would be few, if any, intermediate colors between them.
A good colour depth will result in smoother transitions between colors and less banding on the screen. It will also allow colors to be displayed more accurately, all qualities of panel wanted by photographers.
Color depth is often represented by a number of bits; the higher the number of bits the more colors the screen is capable of reproducing. Twisted Nematic (TN) displays are able to produce 6-bit color, or 18-bit color depth (6 pixels of green, 6 pixels of blue and 6 pixels of red equals 18 bits). These screens can produce 262, 144 colors. TN displays use a colour simulation technique known as dithering to increase the perceived number of colours. If you’re looking for a good monitor for photography you want more colours available to you than this and a panel that doesn’t use colour simulation. IPS and PVA panels are capable for producing 8-bit colour (24-bit colour depth) and can display 16.7million colors. This is known as “true color” and is the minimum colour depth you should look for in a monitor for photography.
Modern IPS and PVA monitors can even produce 10-bit colour (30-bit color depth) allowing the monitor to display over a billion colours. However, in order to display the full colour depth the software and hardware must be compatible with 10-bit colour. If you have compatible kit then 10-bit monitors are the best monitors for photographers.
Colour Calibration
Colour calibration is an essential element of getting your monitor to display accurate colours. Many of the top end monitors for photography are self-calibrating, but for the mid to low end monitors you will need to use a color calibrator (colorimeter) and suitable software. If you plan on printing your photos yourself you will also need to calibrate your printer. These also range in price and quality.
Colour accuracy is measured in delta-E; the smaller the delta-E, the more accurate the color representation. A delta-E of below 1 can’t be seen by human eye. Delta-E’s of 2 to 4 are considered good and require a sensitive eye to spot the difference. A delta-E of above 5 should be avoided if you are looking for a monitor for photographic use.
best monitor for photographers
Contrast Ratio
Contrast ratios are the measurement of the brightest white against the deepest black a monitor is able to produce. High contrast ratios are desirable in a photographer’s monitor because they help to ensure that bright colors look brighter and deep colours look deeper. There are two common types of contrast ratio; static and dynamic. Static contrast ratios are measured with a uniform backlight level whereas dynamic contrast ratios are measured with different backlight levels. In dynamic contrast ratios the white has been measured with the backlight at full and the black with the backlight virtually off. This explains why dynamic contrast ratios are much higher than static contrast ratios.
Response Times
Response times of panels are generally how long it takes for one pixel to change from one shade of grey to another and is measure in milliseconds (ms). IPS screens sacrifice response rate for a larger range, depth and accuracy of colour. TN monitors, on the other hand, have poor color reproduction but fast response times. Response times are more important for gaming and entertainment than for monitors for photography but you may be looking for an all-round monitor capable of both accurate colour reproduction and playing games and watching films. Some modern IPS and PVA screen have reduced their response times to 6ms, which is still quite a way off the super quick speeds of TN monitors (2ms), but is good enough to handle all but the most intense gaming.
