What is considered as low color gamut monitor?

[Sweer]

Hello Damien,

I have just read your article about calibrating small gamut monitors. Great article and it answered a few of my questions. I still have one question. What is considered as small gamut monitor? Low sRGB numbers?

I am also in need for some advice on what to do in my situation. At the moment I am taking up photography from a hobby to earning some income. During a event I need to submit photos. Those photos are edited using my laptop, lenovo ideapad 700. The screen on my laptop is not really quite bad at showing colors. It's laking qute abit of red and some blue. From reviews the screen only shows about 52% sRGB. At this moment I am using my laptop for my main job and photography. To try and resolve my screen color issue I found a few options:

1. Buy a screen calibrator and try and use the current screen but from your article this is probably not a very good fix as my screen has low gamut.

2. I found compatible screen which I can replace on my laptop screen which has 74% gamut but I am not sure if this is high enough. Also found another screen which has 92% gamut but at the moment cant find stocks.

3. Buy an external screen. This option would be a good option if I get to edit pictures at home. But I would be submitting 80% of the pictures right after an event. Unless I bring my screen to the event but it's probably too much of a hassle.

4. Buy a Macbook. I decide to buy one I would use it exclusively for photo editing and at this point in time I think it could be too much of an investment as I dont earn that much from photography yet.

I am leaning towards option 2 and a screen calibrator.

Sorry for the long post. Im looking forward to your input.

Thanks.

[Damien Symonds]

Hi Sweer, yes, 52% is definitely small.  I'm very surprised to hear such screens are still being made.  How old is the laptop?

5 hours ago, Sweer said:

2. I found compatible screen which I can replace on my laptop screen which has 74% gamut but I am not sure if this is high enough. Also found another screen which has 92% gamut but at the moment cant find stocks.

74% is on the small-ish side, but I rocked a mid-70s screen for quite a few years, and it really didn't hold me back.  It might trouble you for floral photos, or sunrises and sunsets, but from your question, it sounds like you might be indoors?  The 74 would be ok; but of course if the 92 is going to come back into stock soon, and you can wait long enough, it would be better.

5 hours ago, Sweer said:

1. Buy a screen calibrator and try and use the current screen but from your article this is probably not a very good fix as my screen has low gamut.

Your wording of this question concerns me - it sounds as though you consider calibration optional.  It is NOT optional.  No matter what computer or screen you have, if you intend to work professionally, you must be calibrated.

Therefore, your first step MUST be the purchase of the calibrator.  Even the 52 screen you presently have will be a LOT better with calibration.

5 hours ago, Sweer said:

3. Buy an external screen. This option would be a good option if I get to edit pictures at home. But I would be submitting 80% of the pictures right after an event. Unless I bring my screen to the event but it's probably too much of a hassle.

Your assessment is correct here.  External screen is the best option for quality, but completely impractical for dragging along to events.

5 hours ago, Sweer said:

4. Buy a Macbook. I decide to buy one I would use it exclusively for photo editing and at this point in time I think it could be too much of an investment as I dont earn that much from photography yet.

https://www.damiensymonds.net/2015/07/buying-mac-or-pc.html

[Sweer]

Hello Damien,

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post. You have provided me with more answers to my questions that I have. I found your website has a lot of info that I've missed previously. 

18 hours ago, Damien Symonds said:

 How old is the laptop?

The laptop is less than 18 months old. I'm also quite surprised when I found out how low the gamut is.

Most of the photos I was taking are Motorsports so color accuracy was not so important. Now I have move to taking photos of people so color accuracy/skin tone is important.

The info you provided I think it's probably best to buy a calibrator first and then find a compatible replacement screen. Looking for about 90+% sRGB screen.

For the calibrator I would probably be looking at the Spyder 5. It's easier for me to buy here(in Thailand). I am still deciding whether to buy the pro or the elite. I'm not sure I would need/use the extra features of the elite. I am not going to be editing videos in the near future. The only benefit I might be using is the multi-monitor. From what I understand multi-monitor is for 2 or more monitors with different color space to display the same colors? Pricing of the Spyder 5 here is about 50% more expensive than anywhere else (about $240 for the pro and $350 for the elite).

Is there much of a difference in glossy and matte screen other then preference and reflectiveness?

[Sweer]

Some more questions, I have been looking at replacement screens and looking closer at the specs, the screen with 74% gamut only states 74% CIE 1931. It doesn't state whether it's sRGB or AdobeRGB. Does this mean the screen covers 74% of the CIE1931?

[Damien Symonds]

4 hours ago, Sweer said:

For the calibrator I would probably be looking at the Spyder 5. It's easier for me to buy here(in Thailand). I am still deciding whether to buy the pro or the elite. I'm not sure I would need/use the extra features of the elite. I am not going to be editing videos in the near future.

I'm not sure why you mentioned this point.  Editing video has nothing to do with anything.  A calibrated screen is a calibrated screen, no matter what you're editing, or which calibrator you used.

4 hours ago, Sweer said:

The only benefit I might be using is the multi-monitor. From what I understand multi-monitor is for 2 or more monitors with different color space to display the same colors?

Well, there are multi-level answers to this.  At the bottom you have the Spyder Express, which literally can't calibrate more than one screen (attached to the same computer) - the software won't allow you to do it.  Next you have the Spyder Pro, which does allow you to calibrate multiple monitors, and does a good job of it if they are both quite good screens, but lacks the fine-tuning to really make them match exquisitely.  At the top you have the Spyder Elite, which has those great fine-tuning controls.

4 hours ago, Sweer said:

Pricing of the Spyder 5 here is about 50% more expensive than anywhere else (about $240 for the pro and $350 for the elite).

I'm pretty sure you can buy the Pro now, then pay to upgrade the software to Elite later, if you wish.  As far as I know, the hardware is exactly the same, the difference is the software.  However, make your own enquiries about this, to be sure.

4 hours ago, Sweer said:

Is there much of a difference in glossy and matte screen other then preference and reflectiveness?

Glossy is the devil.  ESPECIALLY for you, on location, where you can't possibly control all the reflections that might hit your screen and drive you crazy.  NEVER get a glossy screen.

59 minutes ago, Sweer said:

Some more questions, I have been looking at replacement screens and looking closer at the specs, the screen with 74% gamut only states 74% CIE 1931. It doesn't state whether it's sRGB or AdobeRGB. Does this mean the screen covers 74% of the CIE1931?

I don't know, actually, but assume they mean sRGB.

[Sweer]

Hello Damien,

Update. I bought the spyder 5 pro and calibrated my original screen. I found it can display 67% sRGB. I wasn't too happy with the calibrated screen as the screen cant display different shades of red. It was just enough to get by at the time but I needed something better.

I went out looking and bought a new laptop screen and calibrated it. I found the screen to have 92% sRGB which is what I was after.

Thanks for all the information and advice.

[Damien Symonds]

Fabulous!

Now for the next step in improving your photos: https://www.damiensymonds.net/bridge-30-day-challenge