Best 27" for photo work? NEC PA271W?

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Whitebread

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 28, 2002
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I'm looking for the best 27" screen for photo work. I'm specifically concerned with color accuracy as, I'd like the photos that I print to best match what I see on screen. Past research has shown that NEC makes the best monitors for this purpose and so, I've got my eye on the PA271W. Before I make my decision final, I'd like to know if there are any other displays I should take a look at and/or if I should wait a bit, until new tech becomes available.

Just a quick rundown of what I'm looking for:
2560x1440 res
IPS screen
No glossy/AG screen coating, whatsoever. The coatings hurt my eyes.
No more than 1500 US dollars
Must be available for purchase and service in the US
I'm looking to move to a 10 bit work flow, from beginning to end.

Thanks for whatever help you can provide.
 
Whitebread said:
2560x1440 IPS screen
No glossy/AG screen coating, whatsoever. The coatings hurt my eyes.
Click to expand...

These requirements eliminate all 1440p IPS.

The Apple Cinema Display is glass/glossy while the rest of the matte IPS use LG's super grainy matte coating (LG makes IPS).

The Samsung S27A850D comes in the middle with semi-glossy coating but it requires calibration and a decent colorimeter.
 
NCX said:
These requirements eliminate all 1440p IPS.

The Apple Cinema Display is glass/glossy while the rest of the matte IPS use LG's super grainy matte coating (LG makes IPS).

The Samsung S27A850D comes in the middle with semi-glossy coating but it requires calibration and a decent colorimeter.
Click to expand...

Hold on. Isn't a matte coating the opposite of a glossy anti-glare coating?

I have a decent colorimeter already so, if that Samsung S27A850D is a good screen, I can make good use of it.
 
Whitebread said:
Hold on. Isn't a matte coating the opposite of a glossy anti-glare coating?

I have a decent colorimeter already so, if that Samsung S27A850D is a good screen, I can make good use of it.
Click to expand...

Yes, but it is the matte coating that is antiglare, not the glossy ones.
 
Perhaps I'm using the incorrect terminology here.

I'd like to buy a screen that has the same coating as my Dell 2007WFP. I assumed that this has a matte coating and that the glossy monitors I've used are the glossy/AG kind. Am I wrong?
 
NEC PA271W
HP ZR2740
Dell U2711
Eizo FlexScan SX2762W 27"
Apple Cinema display 27

All use the same LG IPS panel. NEC, HP and Dell all have the heavy, grainy, uneven antiglare coating that drives many of us nuts - I returned my U2711 because of it. No experience or reports on the Eizo. The ACD is glossy, and you've ruled that out. HP has no scaler, so has the best response/lag times from what I understand, and is the cheapest. But it also has no OSD, so you've gotta use your card to calibrate.

The Samsung, as stated previously, is better color than TN but not as good as IPS, and the best matte finish out there (Again, from reports).

There are no perfect 27" monitors under 2K.

BB
 
BB Gun said:
NEC PA271W
HP ZR2740
Dell U2711
Eizo FlexScan SX2762W 27"
Apple Cinema display 27

All use the same LG IPS panel. NEC, HP and Dell all have the heavy, grainy, uneven antiglare coating that drives many of us nuts - I returned my U2711 because of it. No experience or reports on the Eizo. The ACD is glossy, and you've ruled that out. HP has no scaler, so has the best response/lag times from what I understand, and is the cheapest. But it also has no OSD, so you've gotta use your card to calibrate.

The Samsung, as stated previously, is better color than TN but not as good as IPS, and the best matte finish out there (Again, from reports).

There are no perfect 27" monitors under 2K.

BB
Click to expand...

I guess I will be $1500 dollars richer then.

But, out of curiosity, what 27 incher would you recommend that is over 2K?
 
Eizo has a model over 2k (SX2762) but you will be paying a huge premium for the name vs the NEC model. They are pretty much the same performance wise and like all the other matte IPS it uses the grainy coating. If you are printing photos you will wonder why your photos look so grainy on your display compared to prints. It will seem as if you shot everything with a high ISO.

You should wait for the Samsung series 9 27" PLS displays to come out which are aimed at professionals.
 
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i'm a pro photog, i use the apple 27" and it's amazing. I decided it over the dell 27 and made the right choice.
 
Actually, if you like the finish on your Dell monitor, the PA271 should make you very happy.

I doubt the antiglare will cause you any consternation. Some think it's too heavy/grainy, but you rarely hear that comment from professionals working with media. There may be some exceptions with manufacturing defects, but the AG coating is not generally "uneven."

The NEC is best for color accuracy, the u2711 is more versatile with inputs, and the HP is cheapest.
 
I should also note my budget was ~$900 so a few higher end models weren't within my price range, but I honestly don't believe there is a better screen under 2k.

this is assuming you have lighting control, otherwise it's a bust. but for me, i have ZERO glare with it.
 
NEC PA271W-SV from B&H is on sale for $1439 shipped, with a free hood to boot, my replacement will be here tomorrow. it is super easy to calibrate with the proprietary calibration Spectraview II, it's hardware level calibration to the LUT with the SVII and the profile is very easy to change between AdobeRGB or sRGB. The color is superb, and the AG coating is the least distracting i have seen in comparison to other similar offering from Dell, HP, and Asus, no tinting or light bleeding issue, excellent contrast, this is the best wide gamut IPS panel you can get for under $1500. B&H return policy is great so for whatever reason you don't like it you can return it for full refund.
 
I work as a web designer/developer and own the NEC PA271W for over a year now.

It's been really great. I admit that the anti-glare coating was strong when I first got it, but that was mainly because I was purposely trying to find things wrong with it and actually looking for the anti-glare coating.

But then eventually I just concentrated on the actual image and the anti-glare issue was gone.

It's pretty good for gaming too, but it does blur everything a little because of the slower IPS technology.

Bought mine for $1180 without the color calibrator or hood.
 
I don't play game with mine but it is great for bluray movies for sure, the PA271W is quite thick and heavy compare to other 27" IPS panel out there, not sure what the hell they put in inside this thing... :D :D
 
BB Gun said:
NEC PA271W
HP ZR2740
Dell U2711
Eizo FlexScan SX2762W 27"
Apple Cinema display 27

All use the same LG IPS panel. NEC, HP and Dell all have the heavy, grainy, uneven antiglare coating that drives many of us nuts - I returned my U2711 because of it. No experience or reports on the Eizo. The ACD is glossy, and you've ruled that out. HP has no scaler, so has the best response/lag times from what I understand, and is the cheapest. But it also has no OSD, so you've gotta use your card to calibrate.

The Samsung, as stated previously, is better color than TN but not as good as IPS, and the best matte finish out there (Again, from reports).

There are no perfect 27" monitors under 2K.

BB
Click to expand...

The NEC, Eizo and Dell use the same CCFL back-lit panel LM270WQ2, and the ACD 27" and HP ZR2740W use a W-LED panel, so they're not all the same BTW. The Apple uses LM270WQ1 and the HP uses LM270WQ1-SDDA. All this information comes from TFTcentral's panel database.

I don't think LG does any custom coatings on any these panels so two monitors with the same panel should have the same coating, but I could be wrong.

They are all different. The HP and Apple have the lowest input lag but will have the slowest response times because neither is over-driven/RTC panel. The U2711 and NEC should be the fastest response panels, but have the highest lag because they have functional dual-link scaling chips.

@OP/Whitebread: Until the Samsung S27B970 arrives and can actually demonstrate a functional hardware/internal color calibration capability, the PA series and Eizo are the best for this purpose, but the PA271W is usually much cheaper and gives equal, or even better functionality. I'd generally recommend the PA271W-BK-SV (quoted by ben805 above) which adds the Spectraview II kit. This calibrates the screen, not the video card's output and it works exceedingly well.
 
NCX said:
Eizo has a model over 2k (SX2762) but you will be paying a huge premium for the name vs the NEC model. They are pretty much the same performance wise and like all the other matte IPS it uses the grainy coating. If you are printing photos you will wonder why your photos look so grainy on your display compared to prints. It will seem as if you shot everything with an ISO of 800 on your display when in fact you used <400 and your photo should be noise free.

You should wait for the Samsung series 9 27" PLS displays to come out which are meant for photo editing.
Click to expand...

Current reviews for the PLS display aren't too encouraging.
 
js09 said:
i'm a pro photog, i use the apple 27" and it's amazing. I decided it over the dell 27 and made the right choice.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the post but, glossy screens hurt my eyes. It's not an issue of image quality.
 
cvgd said:
Actually, if you like the finish on your Dell monitor, the PA271 should make you very happy.

I doubt the antiglare will cause you any consternation. Some think it's too heavy/grainy, but you rarely hear that comment from professionals working with media. There may be some exceptions with manufacturing defects, but the AG coating is not generally "uneven."

The NEC is best for color accuracy, the u2711 is more versatile with inputs, and the HP is cheapest.
Click to expand...

I'll have to check it out in store, somewhere. Maybe J&R will have it.
 
ben805 said:
NEC PA271W-SV from B&H is on sale for $1439 shipped, with a free hood to boot, my replacement will be here tomorrow. it is super easy to calibrate with the proprietary calibration Spectraview II, it's hardware level calibration to the LUT with the SVII and the profile is very easy to change between AdobeRGB or sRGB. The color is superb, and the AG coating is the least distracting i have seen in comparison to other similar offering from Dell, HP, and Asus, no tinting or light bleeding issue, excellent contrast, this is the best wide gamut IPS panel you can get for under $1500. B&H return policy is great so for whatever reason you don't like it you can return it for full refund.
Click to expand...

Do you know if they have one to look at in the store?
 
tzhu07 said:
I work as a web designer/developer and own the NEC PA271W for over a year now.

It's been really great. I admit that the anti-glare coating was strong when I first got it, but that was mainly because I was purposely trying to find things wrong with it and actually looking for the anti-glare coating.

But then eventually I just concentrated on the actual image and the anti-glare issue was gone.

It's pretty good for gaming too, but it does blur everything a little because of the slower IPS technology.

Bought mine for $1180 without the color calibrator or hood.
Click to expand...

Have you watched any movies on it? I don't game but, I would watch movies/TV shows.
 
ben805 said:
I don't play game with mine but it is great for bluray movies for sure, the PA271W is quite thick and heavy compare to other 27" IPS panel out there, not sure what the hell they put in inside this thing... :D :D
Click to expand...

Size isn't a problem, at all.
 
10e said:
The NEC, Eizo and Dell use the same CCFL back-lit panel LM270WQ2, and the ACD 27" and HP ZR2740W use a W-LED panel, so they're not all the same BTW. The Apple uses LM270WQ1 and the HP uses LM270WQ1-SDDA. All this information comes from TFTcentral's panel database.

I don't think LG does any custom coatings on any these panels so two monitors with the same panel should have the same coating, but I could be wrong.

They are all different. The HP and Apple have the lowest input lag but will have the slowest response times because neither is over-driven/RTC panel. The U2711 and NEC should be the fastest response panels, but have the highest lag because they have functional dual-link scaling chips.

@OP/Whitebread: Until the Samsung S27B970 arrives and can actually demonstrate a functional hardware/internal color calibration capability, the PA series and Eizo are the best for this purpose, but the PA271W is usually much cheaper and gives equal, or even better functionality. I'd generally recommend the PA271W-BK-SV (quoted by ben805 above) which adds the Spectraview II kit. This calibrates the screen, not the video card's output and it works exceedingly well.
Click to expand...

Is it worth waiting for an LED based IPS monitor? And, do you think the Apple and HP monitors have an advantage because of their LED backlight? I would assume that the NEC is still better but, what about in comparison to the other options?
 
From everything I've seen LED is an affront to color accuracy and perhaps panel uniformity. Certainly Apple monitors do nothing to disprove that. Furthermore it seems like, at least with the cinema display something isn't quite right about it on anything short of full brightness. I'm not sure if it's pulse width modulation or whatever, but it's weird to look at for some people including myself. It's hard to say how many people notice as compared to CRTs' and CFLs' own unique ways of bombarding our senses. Certainly the S27B970 is poised to be one of this year's top displays of interest, but it and the NEC exist for decidedly different reasons. For example the Samsung will be emphasizing 3D viewing. It will be impressive at any rate if the glass really does anything to bridge the gap between matte and gloss.

Edit: What was I thinking, this Samsung looks like some kind of mirror. You can check your email and your face simultaneously.
 
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Pixel Eater said:
From everything I've seen LED is an affront to color accuracy and perhaps panel uniformity. Certainly Apple monitors do nothing to disprove that. Furthermore it seems like, at least with the cinema display something isn't quite right about it on anything short of full brightness. I'm not sure if it's pulse width modulation or whatever, but it's weird to look at for some people including myself. It's hard to say how many people notice as compared to CRTs' and CFLs' own unique ways of bombarding our senses. Certainly the S27B970 is poised to be one of this year's top displays of interest, but it and the NEC exist for decidedly different reasons. For example the Samsung will be emphasizing 3D viewing. It will be impressive at any rate if the glass really does anything to bridge the gap between matte and gloss.

Edit: What was I thinking, this Samsung looks like some kind of mirror. You can check your email and your face simultaneously.
Click to expand...

Ha. Ok, CCFL it is then. And, since the Samsung is so damn reflective, I'll just spring for the NEC.
 
very interesting thread to read, thanks to all the pro's here and forum members who've contributed.

As far as I can understand the general consensus is that all panels use the same lg ag coating, which is a shame, I was hoping eizo would be different, as I was reading elsewhere that it was...

Any eizo owners?
 
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