Using OLED for Photography Display

Jason66

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I've been involved in displaying photography for many decades, where dynamic range and color rendition has been quite poor except for on small monitors. I'm wondering if a 65" 4K OLED TV (from LG) will work as a very good monitor for my photography? Is the color space better than the typical computer monitors on the market? Will I get the nice blacks one sees from viewing video? My computer has a graphics card capable of displaying 4K @ 10 bit color. This is not for editing but for photo presentations. I have an HD projector but again the dynamic range is not so great...
 
I've been involved in displaying photography for many decades, where dynamic range and color rendition has been quite poor except for on small monitors. I'm wondering if a 65" 4K OLED TV (from LG) will work as a very good monitor for my photography? Is the color space better than the typical computer monitors on the market? Will I get the nice blacks one sees from viewing video? My computer has a graphics card capable of displaying 4K @ 10 bit color. This is not for editing but for photo presentations. I have an HD projector but again the dynamic range is not so great...
I use my E6 for showing my photos and it seems to produce very nice images but whether they are accurate...

Colour space: ??? Not sure if they can do 100% Adobe RGB
Blacks: yes, better than any other display type
Contrast range: yes, better than other display types
Viewing angles: yes, better than IPS but see below.

The nearest monitor equivalent would seem to be the Dell UP3017Q, also an OLED but considerably smaller (and very expensive for it's size) Dell UP3017Q Review - 120Hz OLED 4K Monitor
except
DELL decided not to release it due to issues Dell cancels its 4K OLED monitor due to image quality issues The UP3017Q has been cancelled due to image quality concerns. Due to the use of OLED, the monitor suffered from colour drift when viewed from an angle. That might point to the LG Oleds having similar problems for photo use.
 
Thanks Doug for your feedback. I'm not too concerned with color accuracy... am more interested if the dynamic range (darks to lights) works equally for stills as it does for video? TVs have a lot of digital processing and it is not clear to me whether the advertised HDR is native or somehow processed... I am also concerned whether there is any burn in with OLEDs that was known to happen with early plasmas... Do these tvs have a PC In input setting?
 
Thanks Doug for your feedback. I'm not too concerned with color accuracy... am more interested if the dynamic range (darks to lights) works equally for stills as it does for video? TVs have a lot of digital processing and it is not clear to me whether the advertised HDR is native or somehow processed...
The dynamic range comes from the OLED panel tech (all input sources).
Variously noted in reviews as
....giving an infinite on/off contrast ratio and an ANSI contrast ratio of over 47,000:1.
The ANSI contrast ratio is thus a more useful indicator and that was a very impressive 147,000:1.

Normal PC monitor panels are usually in the up to 4,000:1 range so whether it's 47,000:1 or 147,000:1 it's still extremely good.

I'd suggest asking LG support or a good retailer if it could do what you want.
I am also concerned whether there is any burn in with OLEDs that was known to happen with early plasmas...
Displaying the same static image for hours could possibly cause burn in. Slide shows not a problem.
But the LGs come with a pixel shift function to move the image around and also do an auto clean cycle after every 4 hours of use when TV is put into standby. Both features being designed to stop and/or clear up potential burn in.
Do these tvs have a PC In input setting?
Not as such, but there is a games mode setting.
But I'm not sure what you are after here.
 
From a picture quality point of view, when my Amazon fire drops into screen saver mode it starts displaying Amazon photo images - at least they look absolutely stunning to me.
 
Hey Doug that is great feedback. Concerning the "PC In" mode or physical connection, I know that TVs do a lot of digital processing of signals and naturally for photos none of it is needed. In other words, I just want pure representation of my jpg or tif on the OLED panel. I have seen LCD TVs in the past have dedicated PC In hardware inputs which I "presume" bypasses digital processing.

As a side note, with digital photography being so popular today (I'm a serious photographer and 20 years ago few tourists were seen with any serious equipment whereas today, everyone is toting around equipment and taking copious numbers of photos), I am amazed that TVs are not marketed to also address this secondary user market. With the Trillions of digital images snapped every year, where the heck does LG or Sony think the images are being viewed and shared? I can find precious little material about using HDTVs for photo slideshows!

The reason I posted this thread is that I recognize that video and still photography are technically two different animals wrt most aspects of visual display... yet it is not addressed in literature.

For those who may be interested, I discovered that the video color gamut DCI-P3 is of similar size to adobe RGB... but that DCI-P3 provides better red spectrum coverage at the expense of the green spectrum. This has something to do with the nature of Hollywood film. As a photographer, greens are more important to reds and so these new DCI-P3 monitors are not necessarily giving photographers all that they could. However, DCI-P3 is an improvement to the sRGB color space, so in general one is getting a much better color depth capability on a tv today than they were some years ago. And, for the vast majority who shoot in 8bit sRGB jpg, you're now missing out of a richer and fuller color space. I shoot in raw and work in the 16bit prophoto RGB color space - which is a color gamut way beyond what monitors can display. In a nutshell, 8 bit color space is disappointing, especially with greens, and these new tvs offering 10 bit DCI-P3 color space is a welcome advancement, albeit they are still far from what the human eye can process... meaning one's photos when displayed on a monitor or tv don't recreate the vividness of what one remembers seeing.
Also note that browsers still work in 8 bit sRGB... so for those posting photos online, it is best to use an 8 bit version of the image. Basically today I must keep various files of the same image: 8bit sRGB, 10bit adobe RGB (but now maybe DCI-P3 instead), CMYK, and 14 to 16bit photopro RGB... all in addition to the raw file.
 
Hey Doug that is great feedback. Concerning the "PC In" mode or physical connection, I know that TVs do a lot of digital processing of signals and naturally for photos none of it is needed. In other words, I just want pure representation of my jpg or tif on the OLED panel. I have seen LCD TVs in the past have dedicated PC In hardware inputs which I "presume" bypasses digital processing.
There will always have to be digital processing as it is a digital display. ;)
But the LG Oleds have a lot of settings to switch in and out processing. And a lot of pre sets, settings which can be tweaked to your hearts desire. In addition to games mode there is a photo pre set although any of the pre sets could be used. The ISF Dark and ISF Bright presets have the greatest flexibility and access to the Colour Management System.
I am amazed that TVs are not marketed to also address this secondary user market. With the Trillions of digital images snapped every year, where the heck does LG or Sony think the images are being viewed and shared? I can find precious little material about using HDTVs for photo slideshows!
Mostly on phones and tablets...
Although with some of these having amoled/oled panels it's a good place to show the photos (albeit very small).
HDTV for photos - it's there, but they don't make a thing about it. The media app on the LG for example can run simple slideshows from .jpg files.

One thing about the LG Oleds I'll mention for niche photo viewing is that of early sunrise/late sunset images and night sky photos. Here the Oled comes into it's element and can properly display the dark blues or blacks which my photo editing monitor can't get close to showing properly (IPS panel glow).

Basically today I must keep various files of the same image: 8bit sRGB, 10bit adobe RGB (but now maybe DCI-P3 instead), CMYK, and 14 to 16bit photopro RGB... all in addition to the raw file.
I only mostly keep the (edited) raw in Lightroom and produce varients of these as needed (virtual copies). Oh, and of course a lot of cropped to 16:9 4K files for the Oled to show :thumbsup:
 
Thanks again Doug. Yes there is always digital processing... but we all know that video requires all sorts compared to still imagery. That dynamic range is exactly what I am after... the ability to actually see what's in a shadow while showing bright colors elsewhere. I think I will go for the LG OLED B6 model as I don't want curved nor 3D capability and have a good sound system for viewing BluRay. I even saw a review that said still photo color gamut is reduced on the 3D models. Now, the only question is whether to go for 65" or 75" lol! 65" seems like much better value as the 75" is very pricey... at least where I live in the Far East.

Final question - should I wait for the new 2017 signature series... G7 models? I can't find a good comparison review... but it seems like there isn't anything substantial concerning improvements to the OLED panel performance itself... the signature series seems to be more about audio and a thinner, more wall mountable design? Anyone have any insight? I think I will have to pay a big premium for the 2017 model but I am mostly interested in color gamat and dynamic range...
 
Thanks again Doug. Yes there is always digital processing... but we all know that video requires all sorts compared to still imagery. That dynamic range is exactly what I am after... the ability to actually see what's in a shadow while showing bright colors elsewhere. I think I will go for the LG OLED B6 model as I don't want curved nor 3D capability and have a good sound system for viewing BluRay. I even saw a review that said still photo color gamut is reduced on the 3D models. Now, the only question is whether to go for 65" or 75" lol! 65" seems like much better value as the 75" is very pricey... at least where I live in the Far East.

Final question - should I wait for the new 2017 signature series... G7 models? I can't find a good comparison review... but it seems like there isn't anything substantial concerning improvements to the OLED panel performance itself... the signature series seems to be more about audio and a thinner, more wall mountable design? Anyone have any insight? I think I will have to pay a big premium for the 2017 model but I am mostly interested in color gamat and dynamic range...
The C6, E6 and G6 have a better SOC.
The E6 and G6 also have finer granularity in the CMS adjustments (best being the G6).
but until the x7 models are reviewed in detail it's unknown how much of an improvement they are over the x6 range. Plus whether these improvements are only for video or improve the photo side too.

And don't forget Sony and Panasonic are also releasing Oled models in 2017. If you're not in a rush, may be best for all of these to be out and compare them.
 

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