For a long time we used the Sony Artisan monitor for our imaging work (read our review). We liked the fact that this monitor corrected the monitor itself for calibration and not only the graphics card LUT. It had become a trusted soft proofing monitor. But there are two main issues with CRT monitors:

• Images look less sharp
• CRT monitor are less pleasant for the work (and my eyes are already hurt by many years of working with older monitors)

Switching to LCD monitors was not that easy. While they all are sharper and easier on our eyes they are had the following shortcomings:

• Harder to profile
• Uneven illumination
• the best are very expensive (although the prices clearly go down)

Then Eizo started to offer monitors (ColorEdge CG* monitor line) that also have a similar hardware calibration as the Sony Artisan monitor. But at a price point for over $2500 for a 1900x1200 22/23" they were a bit out of reach for many photographers.

Eizo ColorEdge CE240W

(link the Eizo's CE240W product page)

Eizo ColorEdge CE249W monitor

Finally Eizo launched in North America a new model line ColorEdge CE* monitors that also offer the same close loop monitor calibration as the CG models. The ColorEdge CE240W (24" and 1920x1200 resolution) cannot be called cheap at $1700 but is now way more in the reach of serious photographers. We tried quite a few other LCD monitors (and even one at $1500 for 1600x1200) and none of them comes close to the display quality of the CE240W:

• More even illumination
• less posterization (we saw a direct comparison to an also excellent Apple 23" Cinema display)

Finally this monitor comes with its own monitor calibration software. Because the monitor is connected via USB 2.0 connection (also includes an USB hub) the calibration software changes the settings inside the monitor.

ColorNavigator CE

This software comes bundled with the Color Edge CE models and allows a painless monitor calibration.

ColorNavigator CE options

Important is that ColorNavigator CE allows you to define the key monitor properties:

• brightness
• white point (we use D65)
• gamma (we use 2.2)
• generate a monitor profile

To use ColorNavigator CE you need to have a measurement device by X-Rite, Gretagmacbeth (now owned by X-Rite) or ColorVision:

Supported measurement devices

Most photographers that are color management aware will likely own one or these devices supported. If not most of them can be bought below $250 today).

ColorNavigator CE target settings dialog

Once you have selected the target settings you can start calibrating and profiling the monitor (takes a few minutes).

slightly tilted screen

Finally ColorNavigator CE creates and installs a new system monitor profile.

Conclusion

We think this is an impressive LCD monitor for this price point and by far the best LCD monitor we have ever used. We have currently the CE240W installed in our print studio (may need a second for our main home office :-) )

Highly Recommended