Tips for Choosing the Best Monitor for Photo Editing

Hi, everyone, I'm professional nature and travel photographer, Ian Plant. And as much as I'd like to spend all of my time out in the field, taking photos of incredible things, unfortunately, I end up in front of my computer reviewing and editing my image files more than I care to admit. But even if you aren't a pro like me, if you are passionate about photography, then you are going to wanna make sure that your photos look the best they can. And it all starts here with your computer monitor. If you are using a poor-quality monitor when processing your digital photo files, then you have no way of knowing if your photos look the way they should.

If you are serious about having your photos look their best, you should get the highest-quality monitor that you can afford. These days, there are all types of fancy and expensive high-resolution monitors available, offering 4K, 5K, or even 8K resolution. Although high resolution looks really nice, you don't need it for photo editing. In fact, my monitor has what is, by today's standards, a fairly modest HD resolution of 1920 by 1080, which is a lot lower than the resolution offered by the newest high-res monitors. Of course, if there are any rich benefactors out there watching this video, I'd love to have a fancy new 8K monitor, but I'm not interested in shelling out $5,000 to get one myself.

There are three important features, however, that you will need for photo editing. First, you should select a monitor with a wide color gamut range. If you are editing mostly to post photos on the internet, then a monitor that covers the entire sRGB color space, which is the color space used for the internet, will be sufficient. But if you plan on doing any printing, then you want a monitor that will cover most of the Adobe RGB color space as well. The best monitors for photo editing will cover 97% or higher of the Adobe RGB color space.

Second, look for a monitor that provides a wide, consistent viewing angle. A quality monitor will give you consistent color and illumination from top to bottom, side to side, and from corner to corner. Also, you'll want a monitor that looks the same even when you view it from an angle. My advice is to choose a monitor with at least a 120-degree viewing angle. But since you'll usually be editing your photos while looking at your screen straight on, don't worry too much about viewing angle.

Another thing to consider, a monitor with a matte finish is better for editing than one with a glossy finish. Third, remember that a big screen is really nice to have. My advice is to put most of your budget into the quality features I've already described and then buy the largest screen you can afford. Contrast and brightness are two features that monitor manufacturers like to brag about. And there are a lot of super bright, high-contrast monitors out there.

These features appeal more to gamers and people watching high-def movies on their screens, and they're not necessary for photo editing. In fact, any monitor that is optimized for photo editing with the three important features I've just discussed will have more than enough brightness and contrast. As for me, I'm using a 24-inch Eizo ColorEdge monitor, giving me plenty of space to edit my photos. As you can see, my Eizo came with a hood to protect the screen from stray light. So that is another feature you might wanna consider, but you can buy a hood separately.

Another cool feature of my Eizo monitor is that it has built-in calibration hardware, which ensures that the colors on my monitor are always accurate. Calibration is very important for photo editing, but that's a topic of discussion for another video. Selecting a quality monitor is an important first step towards ensuring that your photos always look their best. I'm Ian Plant, and thanks for watching.