BenQ SW270C: new photographer monitor receives Pantone validation

Color accuracy is a key selling point for the BenQ SW270C monitor, the new model added to the PhotoVue family. The monitor is one of the first to receive the Pantone Validated seal of approval.

First presented at NAB 2019, the new BenQ SW270C is an evolution, in size and specifications, of the SW240 model introduced by BenQ in 2018 as a monitor for photographers. The 24-inch model, with a resolution of 1920 x 1200, is the smallest in the family,  which includes the 27-inch (2560×1440) SW2700PT, 27-inch (3840 x 2160) SW271 4K UHD with HDR and the 31.5 inches (3840 x 2160) SW320 4K UHD with HDR. The BenQ SW240 is also different in that it offers a 16:10 aspect ratio against the 16:9 now common and offered by the other monitors in the family.

Now BenQ returns to the 16:9 aspect ratio, with this 2560 x 1440 monitor that shares many core specifications with the SW240, but also picks features introduced by BenQ in its other monitors for imaging professionals, some of which ProVideo Coalition mentioned in previous news. Designed with photographers in mind, the BenQ SW270C meets the high color standards by covering 99% of Adobe RGB, 100% of sRGB/Rec.709, and 97% of DCI-P3/Display P3, resulting, says the company, “in a more realistic color representation for outdoor and nature photography.”

Consistent color with dual monitors

The SW270C offers, according to BenQ, “the silkiest and smoothest color gradations with 10-bit panel from a 16-bit look-up-table (LUT) by gamma correction, which shows more than one billion colors for natural color transitions and subtle shading. The 16 bit look up table (LUT) improves RGB color blending accuracy, resulting, adds Benq, “in impeccable color reproduction and Delta E ≤ 2 in AdobeRGB and sRGB color space renders the truest and most representative view of the original image.”

The new monitor uses BenQ Uniformity Technology, which offers screen-wide precise color from corner to corner for perfectly authentic and consistent viewing experiences. This is achieved via processes utilizing high precision apparatus to meticulously fine-tune the color and the brightness at hundreds of sub-regions on the entire screen. Consistent color, for convenient monitor usage is another feature that BenQ mentions, stating that photographers will perceive the consistent colour when working with dual monitors, because in every production line the company has utilized a well prepared instrument to ensure that monitors from different production lines will display color at same precise level.

The Pantone validation

Factory calibrated, the BenQ SW270C monitor offers out-of-box color accuracy that guarantees users can enjoy the most trustworthy color performance. BenQ states that ”with the certification of Verified by CalMAN as well the Pantone Validated, BenQ SW 270C is to maintain truthful colors which promise the industry-approved performance all the creative enterprises will love to reproduce.”

Newly launched for 2019, the Pantone Validated mark vouches for the ability of a color control system and associated hardware to accurately produce the full range of PMS colors, ensuring the production and appearance of colors in print or on finished products reflects the design intent, now including Pantone colors as shown on BenQ DesignVue and PhotoVue display devices.

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“Pantone Validated provides designers and photographers confidence in the Pantone colors rendered on screen throughout their creative process, to better align materials in Pantone colors or simulations using Pantone-licensed output solutions,” said Conway Lee, President of BenQ Corporation. “BenQ is proud to join the global community of color professionals who trust the Pantone system to deliver accurate colors in graphics, fashion, packaging, architecture, and consumer goods industries.”

AQCOLOR technology

This May BenQ announced its PD Series of DesignVue monitors for designers and SW Series of PhotoVue monitors for photographers became the world’s first stand-alone displays to earn the Pantone Validated status, ensuring color-matched interoperability with a plethora of production-grade color output devices qualified by Pantone. The BenQ SW270C monitor is included in that list.

The new monitor also features, as expected, AQCOLOR technology, developed to uphold the concept of “Accurate Reproduction”. BenQ has invited color experts to lead the team, and also actively participated in ICC (International Color Consortium) and ISO (International Standard Organization) to establish color-related standards and implementation in order to provide consistent and accurate colors. The color fidelity AQCOLOR technology and now the Pantone validation of PhotoVue monitors reinforces BenQ’s dedication to providing absolute color accuracy to color-critical professional applications.