StarTools

I've yet to start astrophotography thanks to Covid but am about to have a computer built for me. With Ivo's help I've chosen the spec but need some advice please about a monitor.

I was going to use my existing monitor, but a health problem means I'm now very sensitive to flicker and am prone to headaches. This Dell has a refresh rate of only 60Hz as had my old smartphone. Switching to a 120Hz phone has been quite a big improvement.

I've looked at the www.rtings.com web site with it's excellent filters for choosing a monitor. However, I don't know enough to use them sufficiently well, plus there may be specific requirements for astrophotography.

I intend using Star Tools with Sequator and Microsoft ICE, and am especially interested in astro landscapes.

I haven't got a fixed budget but thought £300 (or £500 if necessary to avoid flicker/headaches).


These are the questions I've got but please add anything else that's important:

1) How important is contrast?

2) How important is black and grey uniformity?

3) How important is SDR & HDR gamut?

4) VA or IPS screen?

5) One large screen or 2 smaller ones? I sit about 40 cms/16 ins from my existing screen.


Sorry about all the questions but I'm a complete beginner.

Many thanks.

Steve

I'd add that my existing graphics card supports resolutions up to 2560 x 1600.

My son bought this for gaming https://www.ebuyer.com/436992-asus-vg24 ... gIzR_D_BwE

144htz and images look stunning on it , I tweaked settings on it that I found on the net for colour but there’s probably a better way for calibrating for processing images .

Dave

Second Time Around wrote: ↑Mon May 17, 2021 2:14 pm
1) How important is contrast?

2) How important is black and grey uniformity?

3) How important is SDR & HDR gamut?

4) VA or IPS screen?

5) One large screen or 2 smaller ones? I sit about 40 cms/16 ins from my existing screen.

Hi Steve,

Really, most monitors these days are quite good, and go up to "excellent" at slightly higher price points. All the above tends to be roughly comparable across vendors and technologies.

IPS tends to be the favourite for photowork due to color rendition, but VA is becoming quite competent now too. There is not much in it any more. Avoid TN panels (but they don't make those any more I don't think).

In the specs of any monitor you are thinking of purchasing, look for DCI P3 and Adobe RGB gamut coverage. The higher the better.

If you are roughly 40cm away, something like 27" is a good size. Anything significantly bigger may make more eye and/or head movements necessary to take in the whole panel.

If you are doing pixel-critical work, consider a slightly lower resolution that allows you to see individual pixels more easily.

Investing in a calibration device (such as the X-Rite ColorMunki Smile) will let you calibrate any monitor well.

Be prepared for rather "dull" tones once calibrated. Most consumer-oriented monitors turn up the saturation to 11 to make everything "pop". However for photo-critical work, a much duller palette is needed for accurate representation of colours.

Finally, having two monitors can greatly improve productivity, depending on what you do on your machine. It also allows you to intentionally leave one mis-calibrated so you get a better idea of what your images look like on when viewed on a less-than-ideal calibrated device.

Hope this helps!

Many thanks indeed for a useful reply, Ivo.

I was looking at a 2560x1440 QHD display on a 27 inch monitor. For pixel critical work can the resolution be turned down? Or do I have to zoom in?

Ignore my question about lower resolution as I see that can be done in Windows.

Having used the filters on rtings.com, the monitor at the top of my list is the LG 27GL850-B. It seems to do all I want, is within my budget, and the stand isn't too deep to take up much space on my narrow desk.

Thanks again, Ivo.