I'm very late catching up to this development—I hadn't been paying attention. But it looks very much like NEC has fled the field, in that it is no longer making wide-gamut color-corrected monitors for photography.
Mine is an NEC PA272W-SV. That model is now discontinued, and when I tried to recommend its replacement a couple of days ago after I mentioned it, I found that...there isn't one. There is no proper large-gamut replacement in the NEC lineup. The rep I spoke to when I called the company sounded resigned and fatalistic when I asked him about monitors for photography. He tried gamely to find a current NEC monitor that matched the specs of mine "most closely," but the one he found wasn't very close—it covers only 73% of AdobeRGB. Mine covers 99%. (See below.)
Alas. Even the formidable NEC PA311D that PetaPixel reviewed so favorably just last year is already gone.
Withdrawn
NEC—Nippon Electric Company before 1983—used to be the largest maker of PCs in Japan. "Once Japan's major electronics company," Wikipedia says, "NEC has largely withdrawn from manufacturing since the beginning of the 21st century." The division that makes monitors is now owned by Sharp. As recently as when I bought my PA272 back in this month six years ago, NEC seemed to be a clear go-to for wide-gamut monitors. No longer.
The "SV" in the model name of my monitor stands for "SpectraView," meaning that a hardware calibrator (called a colorimeter) and native software for it comes with the monitor. It's easy as pie to use—just turn the lights down low, drop it through the top hatch (really, there's a hatch in the hood for it), position it, and tell the app to go. It does everything itself. Takes less than 10 minutes and Bob's your uncle—completely calibrated.
Colorimeter doing its thang on Tuesday night
I admit I like having the colorimeter built in, but it's a luxury—all you really need is this $129 accessory, a DataColor SpyderX. Datacolor makes a full range of color management tools, all the way up to screen-to-print profiling with custom color patches (which include a fade indicator!). Color management is a strange subject—you can get by with almost any amount of sloppiness if you're a slacker, but if you want real precision, you can get very far into the weeds with it.
If you want to see something very nifty, check out this extremely short video showing the way the built-in calibrating sensor on the EIZO monitors works. Don't blink or you'll miss it!
Here's part of the report of Tuesday's calibration—the colored area is what the monitor will show; the faint orange triangle shows AdobeRGB, the color space I use to edit color photographs. (I convert to sRGB for posting on the Web.) There's a wee slice of colors down at the lower left hand corner—you can barely resolve it here—that is out of gamut in Adobe RGB on this monitor.
So what is the real replacement for my NEC? As you've gathered by now, it's not an NEC. Keith B., in the comments to the "Worst Lighting" post, said that based on specs it's the 27-inch EIZO ColorEdge CS2731. (Here it is on Amazon.) Two others that get mentioned often are some of the new upscale photography-centric models from longtime downmarket monitor providers; these include the Dell UP2720Q (B&H Photo) and the BenQ SW321C (B&H Photo). Of course the Leica of monitors is the Apple 32-inch Pro Display XDR, but you don't need that.
At the other end of the price scale—well, not all the way to the end, but as far as you want to go—something like the 25-inch Dell U2520DR would work well. Those get recommendations from respectable sources around the Web.
What are you doing?
The real trick in choosing a monitor is deciding what level of precision you actually need. It's up to you to decide what that is. To me, if you're a color photographer, you need a monitor that supports the color space you typically work in. If all you ever work in is sRGB, then buying a monitor is easy. And you need a way to calibrate the monitor, so what you create stands a chance of looking the way you want it to look to other devices. Glare resistance and consistency at different viewing angles were issues that were important to me. And you have to keep in mind what you want to do with it—you do not want a gaming monitor for photography, for instance. Those are TN monitors with poor color accuracy.
A good IPS/LED monitor stands an excellent chance of lasting for ten years, so maybe the best way to look at price is to take what it costs and divide it by ten to get a yearly cost. Then decide if it's worth it to you to sit in front of something worse every day of your life. I guess I'll keep my "old" NEC for as long as I can. So far so good. I'm sorry the go-to is gone, but we'll adapt.
Mike
Featured Comments:
Brian Stewart (partial comment): "Earlier this year I also discovered the exit of NEC from the serious monitor field, when my 12+ year old EIZO CG222 died. I struggled justifying another EIZO, and the pain was prolonged when there were supply issues with the models I was considering. I eventually bit the bullet and bought another EIZO that, if I was really honest with myself, I couldn't justify given my current usage. But it's comforting to have a monitor that self-calibrates and that I can trust."
Jeff: "For me, the ‘Leica of monitors’ is one of the EIZOs (with built-in calibration). Each prioritizes optimal viewing for photographers, albeit at a premium cost. My 2009 NEC, with SV, is due for an upgrade, and it’s EIZO I’ll soon be buying."
Ronny A Nilsen: "I have the EIZO CS2740 that I love. Having a display with more resolution (4K) is important for me (in addition to calibrated colors and light intensity) when editing photos and getting a feel for the sharpness of the image. The added resolution is also very good when surfing the net and reading as well, higher resolution renders the fonts more accurate and makes reading more pleasant."
Mike replies: I would also get a higher resolution model if I had it to do over again. The higher-res model of the EIZO Keith recommended is the CS2740. Text at that resolution is kinda tiny, but you can scale it to a lower resolution in the "Displays" pane of the System Prefs for larger text, and at least you can see images in high res when you want to.
Ger Lawlor: "My NEC Spectraview Reference 2690 has been retired. The illumination got quite uneven across the screen. I calibrated it with a Colormunki using the spectraview software, which, following an update, wouldn’t see the Munki, so I had to use an old version. I’ve been losing confidence in them for a while. Couldn’t find another NEC monitor for replacement. I’ve upgraded to an EIZO CS 2740 27" and Calibrite Display Plus. Holy smoke! The results are phenomenal. 4k means no zooming in on most jobs and the acutance means no oversharpening. (I’m on Windows 10. Upscaling text apps to 150%). Customers have commented already on an improvement in images. Better ‘pop’ and easier to fine tune skin tones, highlights and deep shadows. My second monitor is a Dell U2713hm. No comparison."
TT: "Oh yeah, I remember when I got my PA272 years ago. Was blown away how gray...? the grays were. Never seen a monitor so neutral and accurate before. Now times have progressed and I've settled on a BenQ and a SpyderX. But you still remember your first kiss/quality monitor most fondly."
Earlier this year I also discovered the exit of NEC from the serious monitor field, when my 12+ year old Eizo CG222 died. I struggled justifying another Eizo, and the pain was prolonged when there were supply issues with the models I was considering. I eventually bit the bullet and bought another Eizo that, if I was really honest with myself, I couldn't justify given my current usage. But it's comforting to have a monitor that self-calibrates and that I can trust. For monitor recommendations, I pay a lot of attention to Imagescience's recommendations (note that the prices are in AUD, USD prices would be a lot lower). BenQ seems to be the only budget alternative that they offer.
Posted by: Brian Stewart | Thursday, 10 November 2022 at 05:57 PM
I have used NEC multisync monitors for at least 10 years now and love my present monitor which I've owned for 3 years. I think the time limiting factor for my monitor will be the lack of updating of the profiling software rather than failure of the physical monitor. I will be checking whether Mac Ventura OS supports the software before considering an upgrade.
Posted by: Steve Rosenblum | Thursday, 10 November 2022 at 08:35 PM
I replaced my last Eizo with a Viewsonic 27 inch monitor that has high pixel density and 99pc Adobe RGB coverage. It's a lower price than an equivalent Eizo and I've been very happy with it. Calibrated with a Datacolor thing. Model is VP2785-4K I think.
Posted by: James | Thursday, 10 November 2022 at 10:04 PM
I'll have to be extra careful with my NEC (also a PA272W), though I can never get it upwards of 91 percent of AdobeRGB.
Posted by: Chuck Albertson | Thursday, 10 November 2022 at 10:42 PM
I've had a BenQ SW271 4k display for the last 4 years, and I'm generally very happy with it. It has the hatch in the hood like your NEC, and it works with the same calibrator (the NEC is just a rebadged X-Rite calibrator), which I already had - you can also buy a bundle at B&H with the calibrator included.
The SW271C has replaced the SW271, and the price has also increased - it runs $1599, where I got my SW271 for less than $1k - but it's still ~$200 less than the comparable Eizo. The BenQ displays have a dedicated B&W mode, as well, that might be of interest to you.
Eizo also has a new model arriving in the next couple weeks - the CG2700X - that ups the contrast ratio and brightness, and covers 98% of DCI-P3 (vs 90%) along with the typical 99% AdobeRGB coverage, along with HLG support for video. It really seems like more of a video-focused display, and carries the commensurate $3500 price tag.
Posted by: Rick Baumhauer | Friday, 11 November 2022 at 12:10 AM
You gamut plot is mislabeled. Either that or you’re the only person I know who owns a monitor that exceeds Adobe RGB! And while I’m being critical, using Adobe RGB as your color working space is sub-optimal. Lightroom is Mellissa RGB (a flavor of ProPhotoRGB), so if one is ingesting raw into LR, you’re putting it in a ProPhoto color space. If you “round trip” to Photoshop from LR, you’re potentially tossing out color data in your raw file (depends on scene reference color at the time of capture, of course).
[As I understand it--and, again, I am not an expert on color management, nor do I use Lightroom--MelissaRGB is just the internal color space in Lightroom, and when you export anything you have to select a standard color space to convert it to. --Mike]
Posted by: Rand Scott Adams | Friday, 11 November 2022 at 12:39 AM
One of the side benefits of pa272w is a kvm switch that worked with zero issues for many years. I don't think they make monitors with this feature anymore. There are still Eizo, Benq, Viewsonic, Asus making high quality monitors for color sensitive work.
Posted by: Oleg Shpak | Friday, 11 November 2022 at 01:03 AM
Thanks for that. I also have a NEC display which still works but is from ~2009.
I was planning to get a new NEC at some point but after reading this post decided to go for a ColorEdge CS2731 as I found a like new display model for under the equivalent of $800 USD. I look forward to having both on my desk.
The only future monitor I'd like would be a more videocentric one- perhaps once standards for HDR get settled.
Posted by: RogerS | Friday, 11 November 2022 at 01:30 AM
The Apple monitor is not even close to the Leica.
How then should you asses the capabilities of a monitor for image work?
First, uniformity, the monitor needs to display a uniform color and luminance so if you display a single colour it is the same in every part of the screen. Most monitors fail at this stang, including the Apple monitor.
Second, Tone, is the transformation of a number into the luminance level for red, green and blue. There are two approaches to this, 1D LUT (look up table) and 3D LUT. The 3D version is better as it compensates for the balance between the three primaries. You will hear this called gamma or EOTF electronic to optical transfer function.
If you are doing fine art printing you would notice the difference between the image on the screen and how well it displays what the printer produces using the same ICC profile.
Third, color gamut, the larger the gamut the better, especially if you are using a smaller gamut as this allows better control matching the primaries and ensuring you see the full gamut.
Finally, the white-point is the neutral color your image is balanced to. The monitor needs to offer adjustment so you can keep it at the photography default of D65 6503 Kelvin.
Two types of meters, a colorimeter measures luminance and the balance of Red Green and Blue. A photo spectrometer that measures the color, to be really accurate you need both, but the Colorimeter is good for most of us.
If you are considering a new monitor ask for reports on the uniformity, tone curve and gamut. The target is to have an accuracy of below 1 DeltaE 2000 - that is a measure of the color difference between what was measured and what the color value should be.
Finally, review the monitor with some images you know well, don't forget to view some monochrome images they are very revealing of flaws in reproduction. Also be sure that the monitor is configured correctly and that Photoshop is displaying with the right ICC profile. You know your work so TRUST your eyes to tell you the monitor is presenting your work. accurately.
Posted by: ie | Friday, 11 November 2022 at 04:05 AM
There is a argument to be made that sRGB is 99% of what you will see on the web. Unless you share RAW or wide gamut files with people who also have wide gamut screens, you will probably be the only one appreciating it. A print will not be reproducing 99% of Adobe either. Giving pleasure to yourself is no bad thing, but it is worth bearing this in mind when buying a monitor. Of course this is no argument about calibration as this needs to be done whatever kind of monitor you have.
Posted by: Chris | Friday, 11 November 2022 at 10:32 AM
My experience is that 4k monitors are fantastic for *displaying* pictures, but make it difficult to judge sharpness and other image quality features as opposed to using lower resolution ( ~100 ppi) monitors.
For what it’s worth I think Lloyd Chambers has a similar view.
Posted by: John ((Pascoe) | Friday, 11 November 2022 at 11:29 AM
My NEC PA301W is 10 years old in December. It's still working well, but I assume it's going to need replacing in the next few years. As such I've stopped using it on a daily basis and just use a wide screen 5K LG (40WP95C-W) for my day to day programming work. I turn on the NEC for photowork and do my adjustments on that screen. In side by side comparisons it's really hard for me to find differences between the P3 gamut of the LG vs the AdobeRGB of the NEC with normal color photos. The NEC spectraview software is miles ahead of the LG calibration software when it comes to supporting different uses of the monitor (text, photo viewing, photo printing, and video).
Posted by: Larry Gebhardt | Friday, 11 November 2022 at 11:49 AM
Here's a vote for BenQ...best bang for buck imo. Using it professionally. I had a Samsung that was also good.
It's simple these days to calibrate the monitor if the monitor is a good one. What's tougher is calibrating the printer to the monitor---tougher and much more expensive.
Posted by: Tex Andrews | Friday, 11 November 2022 at 11:55 AM
I'll stick with black and white, and my BenQ monitor.
Posted by: Herman Krieger | Friday, 11 November 2022 at 12:36 PM
I am confused by this because I just got off the phone with NEC regarding a new monitor. They are still in business (same phone number) selling monitors and Spectraview software. They have merged with Sharp and I assume that products will be renamed as the businesses integate. I'm confident that an NEC monitor by any other name will work as well.
[That's not really the point...the problem is that they aren't replacing the old wide-gamut monitors that are most useful for graphic arts and photography. NEC monitors still exist, but the ones you want don't. --Mike]
Posted by: Jim | Friday, 11 November 2022 at 01:21 PM
As a working photographer with picky clients if had to do it all over again I'd buy one of the iMac Pros that come with a glorious 5K, 27 inch Retina screen. Oh...wait...that's exactly what I did. Beautiful, accurate and trouble free.
Posted by: Kirk | Friday, 11 November 2022 at 03:46 PM