LG UltraFine 5K Display Named 'Best Photo Monitor' in 2017 TIPA Awards

[MacRumors]

LG's UltraFine 5K Display has received a 2017 TIPA Award as the "best photo monitor," the company announced today.

TIPA on its website said the display "brings professional photos and videos to life" with 5K resolution, while it also praised the display's single-cable Thunderbolt 3 connectivity and DCI-P3 wide color support. TIPA said the display reflects a "good demonstration of LG's expertise" with an "eye to the future."

TIPA, short for the Technical Image Press Association, is made up of a group of editors from 27 photography and imaging magazines worldwide. Editors from the magazines met in Havana, Cuba earlier this month to vote on the best imaging products of 2017, and the UltraFine 5K was the only display to win an award.

The award is somewhat humorous given that LG's UltraFine 5K Display suffered from a shielding-related manufacturing defect that caused the display to glitch or turn off when in close proximity to a Wi-Fi router or, in some cases, even a MacBook Pro. LG has since fixed the issue and replaced affected displays.

Article Link: LG UltraFine 5K Display Named 'Best Photo Monitor' in 2017 TIPA Awards

 

[pohejo]

That stand looks quite high. No need for a desk!

 

[-BigMac-]

could rotate the monitor facing up and you've got a table!

 

[MrX8503]

I own one and the monitor is the best I've ever used. The picture quality is incredible. I dock my MBP in a Twelve South Book Arc and plug in 1 cable for the ultimate cleanest desk setup.

That stand looks quite high. No need for a desk!

It's actually pretty nice. The height of the stand is just tall enough to clear a 15" MBP. You can run your MBP right underneath the monitor with the laptop open.

 

[Redneck1089]

There's also the ghosting/image retention issue, the kernel panics, etc. This display is a giant mess. If I were to buy a 5K display at this point I'd get the HP Z27Q.

 

[macduke]

Clever photography trick there—they tilted it up slightly to make the bottom and top bezels to appear similar in thickness. Good optical illusion. I'd be interested to know for what technical reason they made that poor design choice. Anyway, at least the display itself is good (after the fix). That's mostly what pros care about—unless you're a designer, in which case you're still annoyed.

 

[diipii]

How can this be the best monitor ? It has resolution you can't see. This is just a symptom of the spec war and the "how to con the fan-boys with figures" scam.

 

[MrX8503]

How can this be the best monitor ? It has resolution you can't see. This is just a symptom of the spec war and the "how to con the fan-boys with figures" scam.

What? You can definitely tell the difference in sharpness between the LG 5K and a non retina monitor.

 

[grennis]

Damn that thing is ugly

 

[Corrode]

Unpopular opinion but: I LIKE MY LG 5K!

 

[Mirascael]

Damn that thing is ugly

Actually it's not.

In RL it looks perfectly fine. It does look horrible on pictures though.

 

[craig1410]

There's also the ghosting/image retention issue, the kernel panics, etc. This display is a giant mess. If I were to buy a 5K display at this point I'd get the HP Z27Q.

No ghosting/retention on either of mine. Kernel panics no longer a problem either. Best display available for the 2016 MBP and only requires a single cable to connect compared to the 2 cables required to connect a Z27Q.
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It has resolution you can't see.

Open your eyes! And maybe read up on retina displays.
[doublepost=1492616254][/doublepost]

Clever photography trick there—they tilted it up slightly to make the bottom and top bezels to appear similar in thickness. Good optical illusion. I'd be interested to know for what technical reason they made that poor design choice.

Damn, I keep forgetting about the two asymmetric bezels that sit in front of me all day every day. Maybe it's because you just don't see them in use because they are dark and fade away next to the gorgeous display! The reason behind the design is because they need the space for a camera which is the same reason the bezel is asymmetric on the MBP itself.

 

[44267547]

Unpopular opinion but: I LIKE MY LG 5K!

I don't think that's unpopular at all, it's actually a very nice monitor. Even though it's not the most aesthetically pleasing in terms build, the display is beautiful.

 

[lunarworks]

How can this be the best monitor ? It has resolution you can't see. This is just a symptom of the spec war and the "how to con the fan-boys with figures" scam.

Why not read the article and find out? It's from a professional photographers organization, people whose job it is to examine these things in depth.

This monitor isn't aimed at fanboys. It's aimed at people who make a living with photography and digital imaging.

 

[nvmls]

lol TIPA, good one.

 

[macTW]

Best to take photos of, because of the colors it shows.

No but seriously. Ignore the price - this is one of the best monitors ever. The price is what distracts many, including myself, and so do the ports...

 

[iReality85]

Interesting photo angle. Obviously done to diminish that horribly ugly asymmetrical bezel on top.

 

[lennyeiger]

This is not right. It's total incompetence on the part of the TIPA (and Apple). This monitor is totally useless for doing any real photo work. (I am a pro myself.) Resolution isn't the issue, not in viewing, scanning, printing, whatever. The issue is the ability of a device to display a reasonable number of shades of whatever color is being reproduced. The color space of these monitors are DCI-P3, which is a standard for movie houses. It's just a little better than sRGB, which is crap. The standard is Adobe RGB 1998, and there are other larger spaces as well. There are many pro-level monitors that can do 98-100% of this color space, from Eizo to NEC and many others. These LG monitors are not pro-level. They are useless for any serious work. The TIPA should know better, and Apple should stop imaging that I want to watch movies on my Mac all day long. I actually have work to do.

 

[MrX8503]

Interesting photo angle. Obviously done to diminish that horribly ugly asymmetrical bezel on top.

Yep it's horrible. I've stopped eating, sleeping, and disowned my family because the bezel is so horrible.

 

[craig1410]

This is not right. It's total incompetence on the part of the TIPA (and Apple). This monitor is totally useless for doing any real photo work. (I am a pro myself.) Resolution isn't the issue, not in viewing, scanning, printing, whatever. The issue is the ability of a device to display a reasonable number of shades of whatever color is being reproduced. The color space of these monitors are DCI-P3, which is a standard for movie houses. It's just a little better than sRGB, which is crap. The standard is Adobe RGB 1998, and there are other larger spaces as well. There are many pro-level monitors that can do 98-100% of this color space, from Eizo to NEC and many others. These LG monitors are not pro-level. They are useless for any serious work. The TIPA should know better, and Apple should stop imaging that I want to watch movies on my Mac all day long. I actually have work to do.

DCI-P3 is just as wide as, if not wider than, Adobe RGB 1998. The only difference is that Adobe expands the green area and DCI expands the red area. Neither are better or worse, they are just different.

In fact, according to this article, DCI-P3 has a slightly higher coverage of Pointer's gamut ( 86.9% vs 86.2% ) compared to Adobe RGB (1998)
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/pointers_gamut.htm

 

[69Mustang]

Interesting photo angle. Obviously done to diminish that horribly ugly asymmetrical bezel on top.

Not really any different than the iMac angle that highlights the "incredibly thin edge" while de-emphasizing the actual thickness of the computer. I like to call it the back boob. Simply putting the product in the best light possible. It marketing. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[macduke]

Damn, I keep forgetting about the two asymmetric bezels that sit in front of me all day every day. Maybe it's because you just don't see them in use because they are dark and fade away next to the gorgeous display! The reason behind the design is because they need the space for a camera which is the same reason the bezel is asymmetric on the MBP itself.

Yeah, you do keep forgetting. Have you ever looked at a MBP? The bezels are symmetrical top and bottom. The iMac has symmetrical bezels but an extra chin—and the design looks balanced. The Thunderbolt Display is symmetrical. Apple announced that they're working on new displays alongside new Mac Pros so they obviously regret this choice. I mean honestly—were they actually going to fill up their brand new campus with workstations featuring this horrid LG design? They were working on something, it fell through, and this is a stop gap measure along with their recent announcement which basically confirms that.

Furthermore, if you want to talk about dark rooms then you should know that it's not good for your vision to sit in a completely dark room. Most of the designers I know, including myself, face their displays away from the light source in the room and have everything be backlit. This makes the design flaw very obvious throughout the entire day. It just looks unbalanced and dumb. But ignore everything I said about the display itself being good, why don't you?

 

[lennyeiger]

DCI-P3 is just as wide as, if not wider than, Adobe RGB 1998. The only difference is that Adobe expands the green area and DCI expands the red area. Neither are better or worse, they are just different.

They are just different, with the exception that one is the accepted standard of the industry and the other is for watching movies. I've read a lot about this, I wanted to get one of those monitors so I did my research. There are numerous web sites that can show you exactly what is missing, how your photos will appear, etc.

It may be fine for viewing, but as a professional scanner and printer, it fails miserably. As someone who has made hundreds of my own customer profiles most people, even those that like ProPhoto, don't realize how much Adobe RGB is built into the input part of the profiles. If you want to see what you might miss, take a look at the lake image at this site: http://www.astramael.com

I'm not against a new standard. However, when one introduces one it ought to be better, not just different. There ought to be a choice, I don't care if its a dip switch on the back...

 

[shareef777]

That stand looks quite high. No need for a desk!

It is. I have mine in the lowest position, and it's still a bit high for me. Don't understand why they have it designed to sit so high.

 

[Analog Kid]

Interesting photo angle. Obviously done to diminish that horribly ugly asymmetrical bezel on top.

Or to show where the TB3 ports are and demonstrate which axes are adjustable... Up until seeing that picture I didn't realize the ports weren't on the back, and didn't know the display could be raised that high.

People here have an overblown sense of the impact their comments in these forums have. LG hasn't been reading MacRumors comments and they haven't suddenly become embarrassed by their design because a few anonymous posters brought something to their attention that they overlooked...