Today’s Question: What monitor do you recommend for photographers?
Tim’s Quick Answer: I recommend a monitor display with 4K resolution and ideally with full coverage of the Adobe RGB color space, along with specifications that are otherwise good. One of my current favorite displays is the ViewSonic VP2785-4K 27-inch monitor (https://bhpho.to/3j9po4e).
More Detail: In my mind one of the first things to decide when choosing a monitor display is what size you prefer. I personally prefer a 27-inch display, but other photographers prefer larger or smaller displays. Part of this decision depends upon how close you tend to be to your display. If you tend to be a little farther from the display, you’ll likely prefer a larger size, and vice versa.
The next decision in my mind relates to resolution. A high-resolution display can help provide greater detail and higher image quality on the display, with the flexibility of being able to set the display to a lower resolution to help make text and interface objects larger and therefore easier to see. If you know you’ll always set the display to a relatively low resolution, there’s no real benefit to opting for a display with a much higher resolution.
In general, I recommend a display with 4K resolution, which has approximately (but not exactly) 4,000 pixels across. Most 4K displays will have a resolution that features about 3,800 pixels across by around 2,000 down.
Next, I recommend finding a display that covers the full Adobe RGB color space, to help ensure the best results in the context of a color-managed workflow. Many displays are still closer to only supporting sRGB, which means you’re not seeing all the colors that could potentially be contained within an image. The benefits of the Adobe RGB color space support primarily relates to printing, so if you rarely print your photos this is less of an issue.
Naturally you’ll want to make sure that the display has a good contrast ratio, a good refresh rate, a wide viewing angle, and possibly other convenient features such as built-in USB ports and speakers. In terms of the basic specifications most good displays will provide great results. The “accessory” options are a matter of preference and are not included with many displays.
I’ve found great displays from a variety of companies including ViewSonic, BenQ, Dell, LG, EIZO, and others. My personal preference in terms of great quality at a reasonable price tends to be ViewSonic. One of my top recent picks for monitor displays is the ViewSonic VP2785-4K display, which you can find here: