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sRGB color monitor

reedweinstock
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reedweinstock polycounter lvl 8
Is having a monitor that is 100% sRGB color reproduction for true color definition worth having or is it just a gimmick?

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/PB278Q-27-Inch-LED-lit-Professional-Graphics/dp/B009C3M7H0/ref=sr_1_8?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1436378167&sr=1-8&keywords=asus+monitor"]Amazon.com: ASUS PB278Q 27-Inch WQHD LED-lit Professional Graphics Monitor: Computers & Accessories[/ame]
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  • EarthQuake
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    EarthQuake mod
    Generally, yes, but it needs to be calibrated as well. A monitor speced at 100% sRGB is *capable* of displaying the full sRGB spectrum, but that doesn't mean the colors are accurate. So its worth buying or borrowing a color calibrator as well.
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  • Kitty|Owl
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    Kitty|Owl polycounter lvl 3
    Avoid advertising buzzwords surrounding monitors (super high contrast 1:100000 is completely false as are most other claims, generally they get away with it from the fact a backlight does allow the monitor to display in that range but only at 1:800-1000 at a time on a good backlit monitor, most I've ever seen out of one is 1:1200 however certain technologies can split that contrast between darks and lights (so a screen that can turn off in quadrants to display deeper tones in those areas)).
    as earthquake said, look at reviews where the reviewers have compared calibration accuracy before and after calibration (if you can afford a decent calibrator like spyder then go for it, otherwise choose a monitor that in general is pretty accurate in srgb mode out of the box).

    the end goal of calibration is a self calibrating monitor or one of the 10k reference monitors specifically designed for colour. but in terms of asset creation you dont actually need calibration, as long as you have a decent understanding of material you should be fine for the most part (IE you have reference colour specs to work from).

    calibration is mainly important for when you have multiple artists on a project or are working specifically with colour. most of the time if it is an art asset for your portfolio no one is going to know what colour you intend it to be.

    I generally check my work across several monitors (I aim saving for a self calibrating monitor but I have a decent setup already) so my main, secondary, Ipad and Iphone (the latest ipad is pretty good at colour repro in general).

    best advice for getting the most out of your current monitor is to set it to the inbuilt SRGB mode if it has one (most do however are normally set to 'gaming', 'natural' or 'film' depending on the manufacturer) and turn off the backlight/set it so it doesnt change. normally when you set it to srgb mode a bunch of the 'features' are disabled anyway.

    when it comes to contrast dolby vision should help a bit but not as significantly as they suggest for the next few years. colourwise you should be expecting SRGB to die out in the next 5 years and move onto Wide-Gamut as most newer monitors support it. SRGB is like 20+ years old now anyway, about time it died and let us have more range in saturation.

    EDIT: basically SRGB calibration is only useful for when you are releasing a product, asides form that supporting wider gamuts in your work is a boon for those that can see it (and most of the time if that gamut covers SRGB then the conversion wont cause many issues to those viewing it in SRGB). frankly I calibrate to wide-gamut as my monitor supports it when doing personal work (wide-gamut since that covers the SRGB space).
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  • carmona87
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    carmona87
    Yep, a color managed workflow is beyond having a monitor that is just capable of showing sRGB.

    Maybe this eBook helps you out, as it was a good crash course for me:
    http://spyder.datacolor.com/scripts/ebook-en/Spyder_eBook_EN_final.pdf
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  • reedweinstock
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    reedweinstock polycounter lvl 8
    Thanks Guys

    If it doesn't make a huge difference when it comes to working on personal projects at home ill pass on $400+ monitors. I just need some decent 24-27" monitors for my machine at home. That sRGB calibration caught my eye because its kinda related to PBR.
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  • gnoop
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    gnoop sublime tool
    I would buy X-rite colorimeter first and then spend the rest of your initial budget on any cheapest 6bit+FRC IPS monitor. One LG sells probably.

    One more note is that in regards of PBR you can believe your eyes or just a few references much more than any "calibration".

    And otherwise that rule not always works in regards of monitor calibration where your eyes may easily deceive you.
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