The New Display

James0b57 said:
AndreeOnline, that looks like an Awesome setup!
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I think it is, for what it is. So to speak.

Nothing spectacular or expensive in play. Apart from the "so obvious that it's hard to see": the room itself. I've got a small studio room separate from my apartment, which makes it easier.
 
AndreeOnline said:
I think it is, for what it is. So to speak.

Nothing spectacular or expensive in play. Apart from the "so obvious that it's hard to see": the room itself. I've got a small studio room separate from my apartment, which makes it easier.
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So true. Also, I like the neutral paint on the walls. I'm about to paint soon, though I am going with a less neutral colour, I am going with a grayish beige. While it may not be as technically correct, I like the way that a near grey beige can look warm or cool depending on the light coming in the windows. Reminds me of Monet observing colors at different times of day. I find that a subtly fleshy tone doesn't bother me, as long as it does not lean into magenta, orange, or green too much. Though if I were to really set up a studio office, I'd go grey. I am considering turning the house/shed in the back yard into a little studio, but that would take more renovating. For now my study will double as the "colouring suite", and right now the walls are too warm to grade anything in, haha
 
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AndreeOnline said:
Had a 65” in my living room and picked up a used 55” for a good price. Using a dirt cheap BMD MiniMonitor that sends UHD HDR over HDMI.
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BTW, the mini monitor is 4K now? I'll definitely consider that when I get an LG 4K OLED.
 
James0b57 said:
BTW, the mini monitor is 4K now? I'll definitely consider that when I get an LG 4K OLED.
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Exactly! Up to 2160p30 and HDR support via HDMI.

$195 retail and I got mine for around $90! Good times =)

While not technically a grading screen, the LG OLED C-series are used in a lot of the largest post houses in LA as client monitors (not in the suite itself). And for what I do, my reasoning is that if it looks good/correct on my 55 C8, it's good enough for me.
 
AndreeOnline said:
I think it is, for what it is. So to speak.

Nothing spectacular or expensive in play. Apart from the "so obvious that it's hard to see": the room itself. I've got a small studio room separate from my apartment, which makes it easier.
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Nice set-up, Andree. How is it you always seem to be editing beach footage? #jealous
 
ahalpert said:
Nice set-up, Andree. How is it you always seem to be editing beach footage? #jealous
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I was going to say that I'm just reusing images already on my server for convenient linking.... but you're right: last one was Miami Beach and this is Punta Cana.

I'll do something from the Alps next.... change of scenery...
 
AndreeOnline said:
Exactly! Up to 2160p30 and HDR support via HDMI.

$195 retail and I got mine for around $90! Good times =)

While not technically a grading screen, the LG OLED C-series are used in a lot of the largest post houses in LA as client monitors (not in the suite itself). And for what I do, my reasoning is that if it looks good/correct on my 55 C8, it's good enough for me.
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That's nice. I may save up for that next. I currently have a HD Ultrastudio mini display, so I am running 1080p till at least next year. I really like 4K imaging. I don't need it, but certainly do like it.
 
James0b57 said:
For a moment, I thought you might be AramK the guy that does Davinci Resolve tutorials.
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Definitely not AramK. You've see the short I have been slowly making with my partner (bless her). I am clearly way more handsome...
Now, for real, I am subscribed and have seen some good stuff from him, but sometimes it feels like he is improvising a little too much for my taste.
 
Anyone have thoughts on the LG UltraFine 5K monitor? My 2015 iMac is on its last legs and I'm going to pull the trigger on the 16" MBP with the new 5600 GPU and am trying to figure out which monitor I should get for my office. I hate dual monitors, so I have quite enjoyed having a 27" 5K display on my iMac - gives me plenty of real estate to work with when editing.
 
chris f said:
Anyone have thoughts on the LG UltraFine 5K monitor? My 2015 iMac is on its last legs and I'm going to pull the trigger on the 16" MBP with the new 5600 GPU and am trying to figure out which monitor I should get for my office. I hate dual monitors, so I have quite enjoyed having a 27" 5K display on my iMac - gives me plenty of real estate to work with when editing.
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The nice thing about them, is that they are more closely made for Apple, so they should have no issues waking up with USB-C/TB3, etc. I had an issue with the BenQ SW270C, it didn't always wake up right away. I tried shaking the mouse and taping a key on the keyboard, and sometimes it would work, other times it wold stay off.

Also, they're generally available to demo at an Apple store.

With calibration, they should be generally accurate, and slightly above average image quality.

Can't think of a better GUI monitor for a Mac, if you like the resolution.



Though, this thread is more about a grading monitor, so looking more at monitors that are made for accuracy. Almost any monitor with half way decent reviews is going to allow you to get through the day. Just get it, and enjoy it. But if you are getting into grading, then the LG is a little subpar for that. Not the worst, but I feel like the Eizo CS2420 is kind of the minimum for grading.
 
chris f said:
Anyone have thoughts on the LG UltraFine 5K monitor?
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It's one of those things you might have "feelers" out for on whatever platform you use to buy used stuff. Monitors rarely takes a beating and you might find one like new for half price.

It's a shame that there aren't more monitors like it out there. I'm on two 2560*1440. I like that size for GUI. 5K is the same of course but HiDPI. Any in-between resolution like UHD or similar is "lower" than 2560*1440 in my view, since I wouldn't run it 'native'. Haven't been tempted to run a 32" UHD in native resolution, and certainly not smaller sizes either.

What I did do—most unfortunately—was to bring my MacBook Pro 16" to an Apple Store and hook it up to the Pro XDR. I did manage to keep the tears away, but that is the setup you want: Put the MBP in a stand, closed, attach one cable and use separate proper keyboard and trackpad. Seamless switching between SDR and HDR. Really nice image.

I never look at price when I evaluate a product, so to me this is a beauty. The price will stop me from picking one up though, at least initially. But the size, resolution, image quality... very nice balance. It's too bad it doesn't deliver quite what Apple said it would in terms of reference level. Because of this, instead of being a great deal for a reference monitor, it becomes a luxurious prosumer display. But I'm pretty sure: a slightly "worse" (in terms of reference specs) Pro XDR with roughly the same capabilities for $2500 would easily sell 4x as much as the twice as expensive—which would be a win for Apple.

Oh, well... I've already seen them on the used market. Maybe I get lucky....
 
AndreeOnline said:
It's one of those things you might have "feelers" out for on whatever platform you use to buy used stuff. Monitors rarely takes a beating and you might find one like new for half price.

It's a shame that there aren't more monitors like it out there. I'm on two 2560*1440. I like that size for GUI. 5K is the same of course but HiDPI. Any in-between resolution like UHD or similar is "lower" than 2560*1440 in my view, since I wouldn't run it 'native'. Haven't been tempted to run a 32" UHD in native resolution, and certainly not smaller sizes either.
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That’s a really good idea. While I’m very far from being a pro colorist I’m pretty familiar with the process of calibrating my monitor with my X-Rite i1DisplayPro and DisplayCal, so as long as the monitor isn’t super worn out I imagine it would be great for editing and “good enough” for grading.

I couldn’t quite wrap my head around why everyone recommended running the 4K version at 2560x1440 to be double retina or whatever but now I think I understand? Having two monitors like you have or one 5K monitor will keep the scaling of text, etc at a proper multiple of the native resolution?
 
chris f said:
I couldn’t quite wrap my head around why everyone recommended running the 4K version at 2560x1440 to be double retina or whatever but now I think I understand? Having two monitors like you have or one 5K monitor will keep the scaling of text, etc at a proper multiple of the native resolution?
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I always think of monitor resolution in terms of GUI size.

Way back we had 24" 1920x1200. That was pretty standard. Then, with 27" screens we got 2560x1440. More space. This was/is a popular GUI size for people who need space. We never actually got more than that. Apple's 5K screen in their iMacs were the first widely adopted HiDPI screens at this level. They needed to make a proprietary hardware solution to sync two panels, but it has worked well. Other manufacturers tried. There were many issues in the beginning and lots of flakiness. Dell made one screen that isn't made anymore, but those who have one are pretty happy with it it seems. Most gave up on this resolution—which again, is just 2560x1440 but doubled up. So: same about of space as a "normal" 27" screen, but typically Viewers in NLEs or photo/graphics apps show images 1:1 for crisp results.

Apps like Resolve gives you a different layout based on 'base resolution'. So Resolve looks the same on my 2560x1440 screens as on a 5K iMac. If you were to run Resolve on an older 15" MacBook Pro with 2880x1800, you get the 1440x900 GUI version. Same as their pre-retina 15" MacBook Pros.

In addition to all of this you can add that second monitor, as in my image above, which changes the layout of Resolve one again....

Once 5K screens failed apart from Apple's 5K iMacs, manufacturers moved back to UHD resolution. But to me this was 1920x1080 all over again. Others reacted by forcing the higher resolution in native mode turning their GUI barely readable (but lots of space). Slowly we moved from 27" with the realisation that 27" and UHD native was pretty small. I think nowadays, over 30" and UHD is semi-popular. Yet others kept the 27" and UHD but run in scaled mode. I've heard that this can be OK, but my frustation has been that the "correct" 5K was first and then there was the regression to UHD.

Today the LG Ultrafine is alone offering 5K.... I think... They are licensing Apple's chip if I remember correctly. And it has got the speakers and webcam.

Apple's Pro XDR is yet a small step up in resolution. Both actual and GUI. It's not much, but it's a really nice match between the 32" and resolution.
 
Thanks Andree! That's super helpful. I poked around for used ones in the area and found one, but then did a little digging on the difference between model numbers (since Apple is offering these monitors as "new", but they've been around for years) and discovered this:

27" Models

27MD5KL
current (as of 2020) revision updated in 2019
added: usb-c compatibility
changed: contrast - 1100:1
changed: charging - 94w
changed: thunderbolt controller: Titan Ridge (EDID id: 5b74)

27MD5KB
previous
contrast - 1200:1
charging - 85w
thunderbolt controller: Alpine Ridge (EDID id: 5b11)

27MD5KA
original version
WARNING: this model caused interference issues
sold for a short time only at Apple stores before being removed from shelves

I've seen people complaining about the monitor (must be the older two) not properly supplying their MBP with enough power via the Thunderbolt cable and it looks like the "brand new" version of this monitor has fixed that issue, so unfortunately it looks like I'm back to buying brand new. (the one I found used was the original version)
 
Placed my order today, will report back on how the new LG UltraFine 5K performs after it's first go round with the i1DisplayPro
 
chris f said:
Placed my order today, will report back on how the new LG UltraFine 5K performs after it's first go round with the i1DisplayPro
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Looking forward to it. This monitor is such a wild card addition to this thread. This thread was started to discuss cheap professional monitors, and you come in from the other end with an expensive and lavish consumer monitor, haha. I never would have thought to compare it. Marvelous.

Will be interesting to hear your thoughts about it as a colour grading tool, and why one might opt for it over a $1500 entry level pro monitor or LG OLED for colour grading?
 
say_doyster said:
Unless I am missing something, this is only $1300 at B&H.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1500040-REG/lg_27md5kl_b_27_27md5klb_ultrafine_5k.html

Might be great if you get a good one - or a dog... It all depends on luck. Interesting possibility? Looking forward to your comments, Chris f
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I tend to round up. Not always, but I tend to. So used to hidden costs, that I do it out of habit for rough budgeting. Like I bought my Eizo for a lower price than BH has it for, but I still call it a $900 monitor, as I do the BenQ SW270C, because even though it is $880 with tax, you have to buy a cable because they have a weird DP cable and it is useless. So, I got the Eizo for less money than the BenQ, but no shade hood.
 
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