rhote

Ended up going for the Dell U2515H. The right balance of all my considerations to get by for now and then to use as a second screen or studio display screen when I can afford to upgrade to a proper one ;-)

Cheers mate :)

* a PA spectraview that is

Oh how I would like a Spectraview - but right now I just can't - and I can't live with this monitor a moment more!

There's also the wide gamut Dell UP2516D (£350) and UP2716D (£420) - but most people seem to advise against wide gamut at this end of the market.

OK. Close to a decision. Sort of. 24 Dell U24XXX - 200-300 (a few different models) Dell U2515H - 300 (2560x1440, bad idea on this size screen?) NEC EA245WMi - 320 27 Dell U2717D - 430 (2560x1440) NEC EA273WMi - 310 (1920x1080, bad idea on this size screen?) NEC EA275WMi - 420 (2560x1440) I've decided on staying down this end of the market for now, financially it has to be done. £500 would be the maximum, but it seems to jump from these prices to around £700-800 for the next step up. I've never used a 27" screen before, but I like the idea of more real estate, so I'm thinking it could be a good idea to try it with a cheaper screen while I'm in this situation, then when it comes to upgrading to a proper screen and spending serious money, I can be confident in my choice of size. Especially as at this end of the market, there's less of a gap between 24 and 27. Dell vs NEC - as good as equal price wise and I can guess which ones you would recommend, but why? I generally get the impression, 1080 is best for 24 and 1440 is best for 27 and I imagine it would keep the scaling of items on the screen to a more similar ratio. Would you agree?

Yes. Definitely need a new screen. Any recommendations? Trying to balance a tight budget right now while building the studio (that's well over budget already). I'm considering whether to go for something more like the Dell UltraSharp U2717D around £350 - with the hope that I'll be able to upgrade to something like the PA272W in a years time. Or, whether to go for something like the BenQ SW2700PT for £700 where I'd probably be more likely to wait a couple of years to upgrade. In a situation where I'm trying to build a photography business and I don't really want to be spending money on a new screen right now, but I have to, what would you say is the cheapest screen that you would be happy to rely on?

It's been a long day, my eyes are half asleep but I've just got home and checked this thread so have taken another look. I've done some more side by comparisons and I seem to have noticed the problems, yes, plural. Which I want to double check again tomorrow with fresh eyes, but I'm pretty certain. 1. Images look different on either side of my screen. However I view the file, in PS/LR as PSD or in Windows Photo Viewer/Safari as JPG. Whichever file is on the right hand side of my screen, looks much more pale and washed out. Whichever file is on the left, looks more vibrant and colourful. And now I've seen this, even this page looks a warmer white on the left and a much cooler white on the right - I assume it's equal on both sides for you guys and there's not a subtle gradient?! I'm shocked I didn't notice this before, I must've been opening LR on the left every time and everything else on the right when doing my previous testing. I'm even more shocked at how much of a difference there is between the two sides. I wonder how much of this is to do with a physical problem with my screen, or if it's my ambient lighting. I'll test it somewhere with more even lighting. 2. Rather than side by side I've just had each document full screen and switched between the windows. - PSD in PS vs same PSD in LR - Slightly more contrast/darker in PS. - PSD in PS converted to sRGB, but not saved vs original PSD in LR - Slightly more contrast/darker in LR. - PSD in PS converted to sRGB, and saved vs same PSD in LR - Slightly more contrast/darker in LR. - JPG exported from PS vs JPG exported for LR - very subtle increase in vibrance on PS copy Still some digging to do but the cause of the biggest difference is definitely the change in left to right of my screen. As you could be curious of my setup after the first point. Three screens. Main editing one and two rubbish square screens. I've always found the ambience from these slightly affects to the look of images but only between everything equally so not a factor in this equation. Creamy/yellowy wallpaper (not decorated since moving in, and new office almost built, will be painted grey) Window to my right with creamy/yellowy curtain. West facing so has a dark purple rug hanging over to block out sun. White built in cupboards behind. One of those horrible yellowy energy saving bulbs in the light with a pale papery globe translucent globe type lampshade. Yes, I know it's a bad combination for editing but will be moving out of it soon and never thought it would affect images this greatly from one side to the other. Assuming that is the case once I've tested the screen. I'll report back. Thanks for all your help.

Thanks for confirming. I'll continue investigating!

Odd. For me, PS and safari are a good match, but it's LR that is slightly off. Do they both compare on your end? A bit more vibrance and slightly brighter in LR for me. I've checked that no adjustments are being applied.

Win10. I've exported a JPG, 100% quality. Ticked embed profile but unticked convert to sRGB. Hope that's correct for this scenario. Let me know if not. Thanks. Dropbox - DSC_3908-2048.jpg

Just downloaded Safari and it has the same problem...

How strange. To the me the right one looks darker and less vibrant.

Not sure if it makes a difference, but this is a PSD being viewed through LR, although it does have a stamped layer at the top.

Even with LR at 1:1 and PS at 100% side by sidee, I still notice a fair difference.

Images look slightly different tone/colour wise in LR vs PS when viewed side by side. Exported they both look the same, which matches the PS version. Monitor is calibrated with Spyder and both LR/PS are running in ProPhoto RGB. All articles I can find seem to mention differences between v2/v4 profiles which are dated 2012ish - mine appear to be v2.4.0 - or not having PS running in ProPhoto. Any other suggestions what could be causing this?