Gamut, Features and Limitations

There's a huge choice of inexpensive LCD monitors these days.  Unfortunately, many of these are less than ideal for high quality color photo work because of:

• Color gamut limited to sRGB. I suspect this applies to all monitors under $400 or so. I further suspect most people do not realize this.
• Ragged tonal progression compromising gray-scale accuracy.
• Poor tonal separation in shadows.
• Inadequate controls to support calibration
• Inaccurate presets
• Insufficient resolution.

These units are designed primarily for office and Internet use. As such, they are a fantastic bargain and highly functional in those environments but you might want to consider something else for working with images.

Obviously, some monitors in this category are better than others and some are very good indeed, within the limitations imposed by sRGB. The sRGB color space limitation makes it impossible to view without compromise an image created in any other, larger color space. Of course, you can color manage (more on this option in Implementation and Practice) the monitor to translate (where possible) colors not out-of-gamut to sRGB equivalents but many colors will be subject to rendering intent adjustment, which is always a bit desperate. You can still do fine color work with these units but it's going to be more difficult than if you had a more capable display.

Just about every manufacturer such as Viewsonic, LG, Acer, etc., etc. grind these out but make sure they have "What to Look For" ...

What to Look For in an Imaging Monitor (inexpensive or otherwise)

To support accurate calibration and versatility in a mixed use environment, a monitor should offer the following:

• Easily selectable modes so you can switch amongst various appearances without having to make other adjustments. It makes sense to have gaming/office/Internet (sRGB) preset modes so all you have to do is push a button or click a menu item and you have what you need but there should be a Custom mode ...
• A Custom mode wherein you have individual color sliders for each of R, G, B and can set Brightness, Contrast and possibly Color Temperature. The latter may be redundant as CT can be set with the color sliders. It is essential that you be able to return to Custom mode from any other without losing custom adjustments. If you calibrate your monitor - and you should - it is from within Custom mode that you will want to do it and it is in Custom mode that you will do your imaging work.

Other characteristics:

• Uniform backlight illumination. There's no perfection but strong "hot" or dark areas are undesirable. Some darkening in the corners is almost inevitable but is of little consequence.
• Avoid like the plague any monitor where color balance changes quickly with off-center viewing. There are far too many of these. Check in the store with a pure gray color patch or background. Off-axis change in brightness is far less serious - just beware color shift as it can throw off your assessment of image color balance.
• High resolution monitors offer the best viewing experience. Look for the hi-def standard which is 1920 X 1080 (or more) pixels.
• It's highly desirable having good tonal separation in the highlights and shadows. Shadow separation is more difficult to find in an inexpensive unit and it's difficult to judge in a store. If you can find a unit hooked up to an active Internet machine, try accessing this site and loading the "Monitor Calibration" page. About half-way down is a test chart. The monitor should clearly separate the 3rd and 4th (from the right) dark patches at a moderate setting of the backlight brightness (no more than 80%). At the same time, the leftmost two bright patches should be distinct from each other.
• I really detest the obsession these days with glossy, highly reflective LCD surfaces. Apparently, these improve contrast but the abundant reflections and inevitable smearing are most annoying. It is especially disappointing to see Apple going this route as well. They, at least, ought to know better. This may be entirely a personal thing but I strongly recommend choosing a unit with non-reflective surface. We can only hope this fad will soon die out.

You should be able to find all of the above in an inexpensive LCD sRGB monitor. You can do great work with an sRGB monitor but it is a big help if it is a good sRGB unit.

Built-in speakers and spare USB ports, TV tuners, etc are obviously nice to have but have nothing to do with imaging. These things cost money to provide and suggest corners were cut in the areas that count.

Eye-searing brightness and phenomenal contrast ratios are great for brightly lit offices and stores but are fatal to imaging work. You will find after calibration in Custom mode that these will all have been drastically turned down. 

Wide Gamut Monitors

If you are really serious about images, this is what you need. There are more of these coming available all the time and prices are dropping. You can get a good one for $500 - $1000 although it is possible to pay much more. A wide gamut monitor will be clearly identified as such in the promotional literature whereas sRGB-only units will casually omit any reference to gamut. Look for the color space specification. It should say something like "90% Adobe RGB" or better. If there is no CS specification, it is almost certainly sRGB so caveat emptor.

Wide gamut monitors typically support the Adobe RGB color space, making them suitable for working with images exploiting the larger color space. Of course, the are perfectly compatible with sRGB. Your choice should incorporate everything in "What to Look For" as well.

An example of an excellent wide gamut monitor is the Dell U2411 and it doesn't cost a fortune.