LeicaBraz Posted May 26, 2014 Share #1 Posted May 26, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) Almost 90 pct of my photography is B&W - either Monochrom or film. I wonder thus if an Eizo monitor would make that big a difference as compared to color. Thanks for your opinions. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted May 26, 2014 Posted May 26, 2014 Hi LeicaBraz, Take a look here Monitor for B&W. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
sanyasi Posted May 26, 2014 Share #2 Posted May 26, 2014 I don't know the answer to your question, but I was curious so I did a quick search of the web. Seems that even fine art B & W photographers in describing their workflow focus on printer calibration, creating ICC profiles, inks, etc., but they don't refer to a monochrome monitor or seem to give it any different thought than those who work in color. Here is a relatively recent post I found: Monitor for Black and White fine art prints - Photo.net Digital Darkroom Forum 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff S Posted May 26, 2014 Share #3 Posted May 26, 2014 (edited) If you make prints, then a disciplined workflow is key regardless of color or b/w. Every step of the chain is important, and the monitor is at the heart of that process to better ensure what you see on screen is what you get on paper. And, naturally, all the other steps…from camera/lens to paper profiles, to inks, to printer settings to display lighting are important in that flow. It really depends how critical you want to be. Many folks ignore the framing (glass effects) and lighting component in that chain, and that can be a difference between a b/w print that 'sings' versus one that goes flat. Toward this end, a viewing booth, calibrated to the same brightness and temp as the monitor and the display lighting can help. Jeff Edited May 26, 2014 by Jeff S 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
esquire53 Posted May 28, 2014 Share #4 Posted May 28, 2014 Almost 90 pct of my photography is B&W - either Monochrom or film. Hi LeicaBraz, same for me. I do calibrate with Spyder4 pro and use apple hires monitor. Even so you calibrate, comparing my previous monitors, the mid tone gray had minor color cast. get yourself a large gray carton and cut a square inside and place it in front of the monitor. If you can, try a few monitors and calibrate, if you have a calibration system and you could be surprised the variation in mid tone gray compared to the carton. Most calibrations aren't that good at mid tone gray. I think there is something about the linearity of the color channels and there aren't sufficient calibration points per channel. I'm waiting for the new range of 4k monitors get cheaper and see how they will display it. Maybe the spider isn't the best for b&w calibration. Best regards 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke_Miller Posted May 28, 2014 Share #5 Posted May 28, 2014 Almost 90 pct of my photography is B&W - either Monochrom or film. I wonder thus if an Eizo monitor would make that big a difference as compared to color.Thanks for your opinions. Don't have the Eizo, but instead use a NEC Multisync in the Professional Series. I find it far better with B&W than a general purpose monitor. When the Monochrom first came out I looked at the posted images from it and was unimpressed. That was using my web-surfing PC. When I downloaded a couple to my photo processing PC with the NEC Multisync I was blown away - the difference was that dramatic. Both monitors are calibrated with my Xrite DTP94. In my opinion a quality monitor is at least as important for B&W work as for color - perhaps more so. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJH Posted May 28, 2014 Share #6 Posted May 28, 2014 You can download from Ilford their test image and then order from them their test print, the idea being to match the print to the image on your screen. I found that on my cheap PC screen there is no way I can get the full grey scale, it stops about 3 steps short going to full black long before the black rectangle. On my Macbook Retina I can just about get the full range matching the gradations on their test print but it took a lot of fiddling. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeicaBraz Posted May 29, 2014 Author Share #7 Posted May 29, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) Many thanks for all your replies. Will go for an Eizo Flex-scan SX 2262W, 22' with a 1920x1200 display. From what I have read and following my poor understanding of technicalities, think this will suffice my B&W needs. In any case, should be much better than my current iMac display. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanyasi Posted May 29, 2014 Share #8 Posted May 29, 2014 You will be very happy with the Eizo. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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