Review: Eizo CG243W

Nederlandse versie van review (klik op het vlaggetje)

Eizo, the brand for high-level graphic displays, launched a new display: The Color Graphic 243 Wide - CG243W. At this moment, the display isn’t available on the market yet. On the Dutch website, you can’t even find some information! You need to go to the international website to see the images and information. I couldn’t wait and tested the screen.

The display isn’t a common display; it’s a graphic 24.1” wide display. If you are in front of the display, you’ll see 61cm of display! The moment you take a look at the specifications, you’ll see that this screen isn’t a display made for some Internet, spreadsheet or gaming. This display is made for professional (or serious amateur) photographers / graphic employees!

Installation
I connected this display for the test to my Mac Pro with OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and to my Macbook Pro with OS X 10.5.8 (Leopard). For both OS systems the results were the same: the screen was detected within 2 minutes. The only difference is the software. You need to download different software. How the installation process is on a Windows computer is a question that I can’t answer. I only use Mac, but I suppose it will work as well.

Calibration
The Eizo CG243W display is calibrated in the factory, but you need to modify that calibration at the light conditions in your office. It doesn’t make sense to buy an expensive display, if you don’t calibrate it on your light conditions. That calibrator can be bought as a package with the display called “OEM calibrator” and is cheaper, but you can only calibrate Eizo displays with it. You have to consider first! If you buy an independent calibrator, it’ll cost you more, but you can calibrate almost any display with it. I used my X-Rite Display 2 for the calibration process.

Before calibrating the display, you need to download the latest software. The ColorNavigator is dit 1 woord? Calibration Software 5.2.5 (32.5MB) is compatible for many calibrators (you can find the whole list on the website of Eizo) and Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6)! For Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5), you need to download version 5.2.4 (24.2MB).

Tip for Mac users:
When the software is installed, you won’t find the software in the list of your installed programs. You need to take a look in the folder “” where you’ll find the ColorNavigator software. Connect the device, leave the white cap on it and click “Initialize”. After a few seconds you’ll get the message “Succeeded”. You can now continue with the calibration process.

In the next screen, you’ll find some preconfigured photographic profiles and some printer profiles. Personally, I prefer to make a profile myself, modified to my light conditions in my office. I choose “Create a new target”.

The program will ask to configure RGB Gamut, Brightness / White point, Black level and Gamma. For the “RGB Gamut”, we choose for “Monitor Native”. Brightness / White point will be configured with 100cd/m2 brightness (officially 80 would be enough for TFT displays). The White point will be determined by your calibrator. We choose to keep the minimum for black level, as for the gamma, we choose for 2,2.

The program will ask to rename the profile. How you name your profile is completely your decision, but I prefer to write it this way: [Type display] _ [Brightness] _ [Kelvin values] _ [Gamma] _ [Date], an example: EIZOCG243W_100_6500_22_20091007.
Your target is made and you can start making a display profile. Select your target and click “Adjust”. Initialize your device again and click next. Now you need to place the device at the display, for this you can slide a small plastic in the monitor hood to the left of right side. Rotate the display also a little backwards so the device lays gently to the display. Click next and wait until the program is terminated.

The whole process can take up to 5 minutes. It is really important that the light conditions don’t change while calibrating your display!
In the last screen, you’ll see the results of the calibration process with the values that you asked and the values that the display has accepted.

My values:

Lookup Table
After the calibration process of the display, most photographers finish because they can’t continue modifying their display to perfection. At this point, this Eizo can continue a long way! Eizo developed something called ”Lookup table”. What it does is modify your profile with really small steps to perfection. The most easy way to do it is by taking a picture of something with almost every color in it. Make sure the following colors are in your picture: white, black, red, blue, yellow and some rose, pink, purple, … Open that picture on your display with the objects from the picture next to the display. Start to change the different colors with small steps. When you are done, the picture on your display is completely the same as the objects on the picture. If you can’t find such objects, you can buy a X-Rite Colochecker card (costs about 80 euro).

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Connections
The Eizo has two DVI-I connections and one display port. This could be useful when you want to connect two computers with the display at the same time. At this moment the display port isn’t very useful because many computers don’t have such a port and the cables are very expensive. When those change, this port will be the new standard.

The display also has a USB hub with 2 ports. When you are using this display, you’ll be using one port to connect the calibration device and the other for a USB stick that you connect from time to time. Because the 2 USB ports are at the top of the left side, you can easily use them. Other displays also have a small USB hub integrated, but are a lot less easy to reach. When you use the display, there are always 3 cables leaving your display: a power cable, a dvi / display port cable and an USB cable for the hardware calibration and the USB hub. All cables can be hidden at the back of the display.

IPS Panel
The CG243W display uses an IPS (In-Plane Switching) panel. Generally those panels deliver extreme viewing angles and superior quality – a major factor for professional users who work with colors like photographers. The disadvantage is the price and reaction time. These displays aren’t made for video editing or gaming! The same panel is used in CG221 (100% Adobe RGB). It is 3” smaller than the CG243W and costs almost double!

Positioning the display
The ergonomic rules are really important with these large wide displays, and is to keep the distance to your eyes higher than 50cm. The first time it will feel a little strange, but you’ll get used to it and your eyes will appreciate it as well. To determine the ideal height of the display is a little less easy. When we follow the official ergonomic rules, I need to be on a comfortable chair with my feet flat on the ground and my knees in an angle of 90°. I need to have a supported straight back (by the chair) and look straightforward. The line of my eyes and the top of the display needs to be equal. Now you will work correctly. Everything seems overacting but when you work 8 hours (or more) in the same position, you need to sit correctly. You can slide the display easily above. I need to justify that the maximum height isn’t that high. Tall people will need to search for a solution to place the display higher.

The monitor can be switched in portrait stand (90°). This could be useful when you need to correct a large amount of portrait pictures and want to use as much as possible of your display. Still, I don’t think you’ll use this function a lot because there isn’t a sensor that detects that the display is switched to portrait. You still need to do it manually in the system preferences.

It’s really a pleasure that the display is so flexible and easy to position.

Monitor hood
The CG243W comes standard with a special monitor hood to reduce light from both sides and the top to reach the display. The difference with or without the hood is huge; I never want a display without it anymore! At the top of the hood, you’ll find a part that’s able to slide to one of the sides. This is made to calibrate the display.
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Quality
Eizo displays are high quality products. You can see it immediately! Each display is calibrated at the factory and the personal test results are delivered with it. This test includes 25 points all over the display. The difference between these 25 points has to be minimal. Eizo claims to deliver displays that guarantee that 5 years of utilization will give the same results as day 1. To prove it, they give 5 years (on site) guarantee.

Color range
One of the major advantages of the Eizo CG243W is the wide color range. The display can show up to 98% of the Adobe RGB range. Like many other professional displays, this one can show 100% of the sRGB color range. You’ll find the differences right away by reviewing older pictures. In the past you couldn’t see that much differences in the same color, now you can!

Resolution & format
Like many other displays of this size, the Eizo CG243W has a resolution of 1920 by 1200 pixels. As this display is a wide screen, it’s a pleasure to use it with Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop. At both sides you have plenty of space to put your different palettes.

Using the display
At the lowest side of the screen, you’ll find some buttons to change some setting on the display. In most cases, you’ll never use these buttons. I just name them (from left to right): the First one is a transparent circle “Light sensor” – to verify the light density and adapt the screen (more info below). The next button “S” is to switch to another connected computer. “M” stands for Mode – to switch to different mode as Custom, RGB, EMU en CAL. To correct pictures, you choose CAL. To play a game or film, choose RGB mode. The next 2 buttons are placed to upper or lower the brightness. Those don’t work in the CAL mode. The new button shows the menu structure. The last buttons will put the display in standby. If you want to shut down the display completely, there is a button at the back of the display.

Light sensor
Like we’ve mentioned above, this display has a light sensor (small transparent circle in front of the display) that can measure the light in the room and adapts the brightness of the screen. This function will give you a brighter screen at daytime and less brightness in the evening.

Response time
We can be short about the reaction time: with a response time of 5Ms (grey to grey) it’s fast enough to correct photos, but to slow for video editing or gaming!

Conclusion
The Eizo CG 243W is an awesome display for every professional photographer – graphic employee! The price is high, 2300 euro. But you get a lot more than just a simple display. This display will sell!

Best regards,
Sven Michiels