EIZO ColorEdge CG243W LCD monitor
EIZO ColorEdge CG243W LCD monitor
We uncover what EIZO’s latest ColorEdge LCD has to offer the creative
It’s not so much an issue of size, but more about technology. EIZO has added to its ColorEdge 24-inch series with the CG243W LCD monitor, and this new model aims to cater for a wider creative audience.
The company has improved the stabilisation technology for brightness and colour quality in its latest model, and also includes specific presets for the optimum setup for moving images. EIZO has given a lot of focus to make this monitor ideal for multimedia designers.
Its 24.1-inch screen gleams off its plastic stand, and the widescreen frame can be spun left and right, slide up and down, and even pivot 90 degrees to edit in portrait mode. All of the monitor’s function buttons are aligned along the bottom of the screen, and never seen before on EIZO monitors is a user interface that’s been designed to show the command of each physical button on screen, which is ideal if you’re working in low light.
The monitor comes with ColorNavigator, its own calibration software. This allows you to set brightness, white point and gamma values, although a separate measurement device is needed. Compatible brands of measurement devices include ColorMunki, Eye-One and DataColor. The ColorNavigator software synchronises with the monitor’s 12-bit look-up table for a fast calibration to achieve best results. EIZO’s newest addition uses a 3D look-up table, making adjustments on a mixed-colour cubic table rather than assessing RGB values on separate tables. This may sound complicated but means neutral greys are rendered to a high standard, with a hand from the monitor’s 16-bit internal processor for this exact purpose.
The monitor has impressive colour and tonal depth, which is down to its native resolution of 1,920 x 1,200. Couple this with its 850:1 contrast ratio and colours truly bounce off the screen. Let’s not get carried away, however, as its price tag isn’t easily swallowed. At £1,399/$2,798 this would be a serious first-time buy, and only then for designers with deep pockets.
The CG243W reproduces 98 per cent of the Adobe colour space. That’s up from 96 per cent on the previous model, the CG241W. The subtle increase gives an advantage to photographers shooting in Adobe RGB mode to reproduce more of the colour spectrum on-screen.
A common problem found with LCD monitors is an inconsistency with brightness and colour intensity from corner to corner. Fortunately, the monitor comes with a DUE (Dual Uniformity Equalizer) function to improve performance across the entire surface of the screen. For digital artists using every last inch of their monitor, this feature makes a noticeable difference.
The CG243W hits the middle ground on size and does it with superb results. We were impressed with the monitor’s depth and contrast, making it the ideal multimedia choice. If you’re not dismayed by its price, we recommend this ColorEdge screen for digital artists dealing with video streams to photo retouching. 5
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I recently purchased a CG243W. It is an impressive display. But, it has been frustrating getting it to fit into our photographer’s color workflow. It is both greener and brighter than our CG211 (an sRGB Eizo monitor).
Strangely, even though it displays a narrower section of the Adobe RGB color space, the 211 matches our print output much more closely than does the CG243W. Were we to color correct based on the CG243W, we would be producing overly warm images.
Consequently, I strongly recommend potential buyers test these monitors before buying. Eizo support has not lived up to its name, closing our issue and letting it sit for weeks with unanswered questions and not notifying us that it had been closed despite multiple follow up emails being sent to them. I don’t know if we have a faulty monitor or if it’s in spec and I don’t have any technical expert to speak with about it.
Hi,
I am the UK Business Manager for EIZO and I was disappointed to read GaryB’s comments.
I have checked with my team and we cannot find any details of correspondence with you Gary. If you still need help then please email me directly at colin.woodley@eizo.co.uk.
Our monitors are extermely high quality and if you have invested in a CG243W then you are right to expect a better image than what you are getting. I hope you get in touch. Colin
Hi Colin,
I came to this site following a Google search on “reviews photoshop quality monitors uk”.
As you might guess I use Photoshop and I’m in the market for a new monitor which I can rely on as part of my colour-managed work-flow. I use a ColorMunki Photo to profile monitor and printer (Epson R2400).
I hoped to compare output gamut, contrast ratio and anything else relevant to a monitor’s use in preparing my images for print.
Apart from that I wanted to see whether the newer LED technology was worth adopting and, of course, price is of more than passing interest.
Alas, I could not help but notice that GaryB’s contribution of 23rd January 2010 received no response from you for over three months. That appears to reinforce his concern about Eizo support.
Any useful information would be most welcome but bear in mind I wish to choose a new monitor within 5-6 weeks maximum.
Best-
John
John,
You say that Colin taking 3 months to respond to GaryB reinforces that Eizo has bad support. That just doesn’t make sense. To assume that it should have happened sooner is to assume that Eizo staff constantly search the internet for disgruntled customers. Here is what probably happened. GaryB posted his story. Three months later, Colin happened to be reading this review, noticed GaryB’s post, and decided to take the time to respond. You cannot expect an immediate response (or any response) from Eizo when a customer is complaining to the internet. If a customer wants service, they should talk to the company. Maybe Eizo does have bad support and maybe they don’t, but to use this anecdote as evidence of bad support is just ridiculous.
-Bob