# sRGB vs Adobe RGB Monitor--BenQ SW320



## reidthaler (Dec 23, 2016)

I currently have an NEC PA271w 27" monitor that is 99% Adobe RGB. The display is accurate, but not stunning. I'm thinking of getting the announced BenQ SW320 which promise Adobe RGB and high resolution. I also shoot the a Nikon D810 so I have big files with lots of detail.

I'm concerned that the monitor will be too expensive. If it's around $1,000 USD, that's fine, but if it's pushing $1,500, I'll need to reconsider.

So, my question is, visually, how much of a difference is there between a high resolution monitor that's 99% Adobe RGB vs only 99% of sRGB (which I heard is around 77% of Adobe RGB)
I print my own work on wide format printers, and make my own printer profiles, some i'm kind of deep into this stuff.

Insights appreciated.


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## reidthaler (Dec 23, 2016)

see the post at sRGB vs Adobe RGB Monitor--BenQ SW320: Retouching Forum: Digital Photography Review


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## Linwood Ferguson (Dec 23, 2016)

One question is whether your photos will ever end up in a medium that permits full wide gamut to display.  If most of your work goes to the web, to printers/labs that only accept sRGB, then having a wide gamut monitor serves little purpose.  I'll take high resolution any day over wide gamut (but my stuff is 99% web and newsprint, most magazines have asked for sRGB, only one, once, long ago wanted Adobe.  So I really don't see that a wide gamut monitor will help me (my PA271W which I really like is calibrated to sRGB to match my other sRGB monitor).


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## Tony Jay (Dec 23, 2016)

Since you are printing images then you want the widest possible gamut monitor that is obtainable.
I own the same NEC models as you do and they are excellent for the purpose and they still represent the current industry standard for high-end image editing and video editing - not only the large gamut and consistency but also a very cost effective option compared to equivalent competitors.

I understand your desire for a higher resolution monitor but I would not compromise in other areas merely to get a higher resolution monitor.
If you have got to the stage of making your own ICC printer profiles then you would probably also have discovered that even with a wide-gamut monitor the printer can print colours that are beyond the gamut of that monitor - that is certainly the case with my Epson 7900. Remember that certainly with Lightroom and raw editing that you are editing in a colourspace far larger than any monitor's gamut or printer's gamut.
Yet the monitor is crucial - it is the hub around which the whole process revolves.
Although one is editing in a colourspace larger than anything that can be displayed for at least the foreseeable future and printing to a printer that may well also have a gamut that is larger than the gamut of one's monitor one still wants a monitor with the largest gamut possible.
A wide gamut monitor gives one as much control over the process as possible.

Tony Jay


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## Linwood Ferguson (Dec 23, 2016)

Tony Jay said:


> Since you are printing images then you want the widest possible gamut monitor that is obtainable.


Are you printing them on a printer that can accept wider than sRGB though?


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## Tony Jay (Dec 23, 2016)

If you read the OP you will see that he states he uses a wide-format printer - almost certainly an Epson or a Canon.
These high-end printers have inksets that on most paper types can potentially produce colours well beyond the gamut of AdobeRGB never mind sRGB.

As I stated in my post the Epson Stylus 7900 that I own produces colours well beyond the gamut of my monitor that has a gamut that pretty much encompasses the AdobeRGB colourspace.

Tony Jay


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## Linwood Ferguson (Dec 24, 2016)

OK, sorry.  I read right by "wide format" as well, wide format not gamut, and did not catch that.  Sorry.


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## LouieSherwin (Dec 24, 2016)

Since as you say "i'm kind of deep into this stuff" you might find looking at color management guru Andrew Rodney's site Digital Dog :: Main. He has a lot of articles and video tutorials on uses and best practices of color management. 

-louie


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