A shop where I can actually view Monitors

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Axe_meisterAxe_meister Frets: 4613
Well my wife needs to buy a new monitor for photoshop.
Now for laptops and the like I don't mind buying from specs alone, but monitors are what you stare at all day so in general I'd like to actually look at them first maybe even plug a laptop in and view my pictures but all the usual places (PC World, John Lewis), generally only stock a limited number of Monitors which are fairly generic and likely not suitable for the kind of work my wife does.
Does anybody know of a good shop in the SE that actually has loads of different models on display?
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Comments

  • Forget that. Just get an eizo with the colour range you absolutely require, a suitable hood and a calibration device.

    I use a dell ultrasharp display which is high res and close to Adobe colour spectrum, but is much harder to calibrate compared to eizo. If you're a pro, an eizo is best every time.

    Failing that, might be worth trying WEX photographic - they have monitors but not sure if on display... 
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  • shrinkwrapshrinkwrap Frets: 512
    Just make sure it's a good IPS monitor - IPS is one of the three main technologies for making screens. Do NOT buy a TFT monitor. PC Pro mag and website will have useful reviews for professional users. Next step is to buy a calibration system. Be careful in a shop - the surrounding lighting will influence what you see.
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  • RaymondLinRaymondLin Frets: 11814
    The problem with monitors that you can see in person, the question is are they even calibrated properly.  Which is self-explanatory really as you have no time to calibrate it and you can't calibrate it…so all you are then looking at is the aesthetics. 
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  • LodiousLodious Frets: 1942
    If you did compare them in a shop, unless you calibrate each one, you will be looking at the differences in settings, not the quality of the monitor. Read reviews, buy one, calibrate it and send it back if it's no good after calibration.
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  • I should add, I regret getting an Adobe colour screen.

    Why? 

    Well, the reason I got it was for print proofing for large prints - it was absolutely fantastic for this, loading an image into photoshop, duplicating and applying a printer's profile to one so I could re-edit to correct anything that went weird (typically reds in skins, clipping in greens). You can *never* match as far as I could tell, but you could get the image closer. 

    However, it's harder to calibrate as it's an "affordable" wide range colour. Also, what colour space do you export to? Srgb? Most people do. I did use some cymk printers but even that is pretty well covered by an Srgb monitor as far as I could see. 

    So what did I gain through Adobe rgb? Well, I could make images look stunning on *my* monitor. Once exported to Srgb it would have a colour profile applied in the metadata to get it looking good - however, you need to use a colour managed programme to view (such as Adobe Bridge). If not, you'll get a horribly skewed, oversaturated image (such as Windows photos). 

    Basically, I have a wide colour gamut screen that I now use in rgb mode all the time because it works for every scenario and I know exactly how my image will look on, say, a mobile phone. 

    If you print professionally a lot, it's worthwhile going wider but if it's online and screen based, I wouldn't waste your money. 
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  • Axe_meisterAxe_meister Frets: 4613
    She is printing to a CMYK printer via Tiff file (ok her print studio is doing the printing)
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