Tech Note: What is An IPS Monitor?

I was tasked recently with finding a monitor for a user who does publication work.  She was getting a new Mac and wanted to get a second monitor.  She was happy with her current 23" Apple monitor, but didn't want to spend $1,000 on a new Apple 27" monitor, sad to say Apple no longer offers their 23" monitor.  I had to then track down a good, affordable substitute.

One of the big issues if you are doing publication work is color matching and color depth.  For instance when you look at an image on the screen you want all the particular dots that represent a single band of red to all look exactly the same no matter where they appear on the monitor.  You also want the monitor to be able to distinguish between the slightest shades of red.  There are other more complex issues as well, but I won't get into those.  The purity of the colors being represented is the most basic issue to first be addressed.

Most flat panel monitors made, fail to produce the kind of image quality necessary if you are doing professional publication work.  The way the monitors are lit cause colors to skew and most fall short in the amount of colors they cover in the Adobe RGB range.  Adobe RGB is the standard most commonly used for doing print work.  So what kind of monitor do you need?

Well there are a class of monitors that are made using a method called IPS.  These monitors have the best color depth and color matching of any monitors on the market.  I found a good website with a list of all the IPS based monitors available on the market.

So if you have bought a nice SLR digital camera and you're wanting to do some photo work at home, it's probably worth a $300-$400 investment to get a monitor that will help you properly edit the pictures, so that you are not surprised when you have good quality prints made.