Eizo launches new technology at Digital Life Expo 2010

Eizo Oceania will demonstrate two exciting new products – the ColorEdge CG245W and the new EasyPIX colour matching tool – at the Digital Life Expo 2010, which opens in Melbourne today.

Eizo’s new ColorEdge CG245W is the first monitor ever to be manufactured with a built-in calibration sensor and self-calibrating capabilities. Built into the upper bezel is a specially-developed calibration sensor that swings down at user-determined times to re-calibrate the monitor. This sensor delivers consistent and repeatable results. It is also able to handle the full tonal range of the monitor, including traditionally difficult-to-measure shadowed areas in images.

Matthew Bauer

According to Matthew Bauer, Managing Director Eizo Oceania, the self-calibration system has been designed to streamline the normal re-calibration process. “It saves time and hassles by eliminating the need for a separate, third-party device that must be manually positioned on the screen and then removed when calibration is completed”, he said.

“Since the self-calibration system works independently of the computer’s operating system, calibration can take place outside of normal work hours – even when the computer is turned off and nobody is in attendance. Users of the ColorEdge CG245W can, therefore, schedule regular calibration times and intervals via the on-screen menu or through the bundled ColorNavigator.”

The ColorEdge CG245W’s self-calibration system can also be used with any computer (including those running Linux, which is not currently supported by ColorNavigator). It works equally well when the screen is in its normal, landscape position and when the screen is rotated through 90 degrees to portrait mode.

The bundled ColorNavigator software, which is used for setting the target values for brightness, white point, and gamma and generating an ICC profile, includes a new ‘Correlation Utility’ that allows measurements from the ColorEdge CG245W to be correlated with the profiles produced by external calibration devices. When added to an existing environment with multiple workstations, this correlation allows all colour values in a workplace to be standardised.

The ColorEdge CG245W has been developed for photo and video editing as well as pre-press and post-production graphics applications. It uses an IPS (in-plane switching), 24.1-inch (61 cm) widescreen LCD panel with a native resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels. Capable of reproducing 98% of the Adobe RGB colour space, it has a maximum brightness of 270 cd/m2 plus a contrast ratio of 850:1 and boasts viewing angles of 178 degrees.

The monitor comes with one DisplayPort and dual DVI-I inputs. The DisplayPort input accepts 10-bit PC signals and can display 1.07 billion colors simultaneously from a pallette of 68 billion (64 times more than a standard 8-bit display). Eizo’s Digital Uniformity Equalizer (DUE) function maintains brightness and colour stability and ensures the monitor has a Delta-E difference of 3 or less across the entire screen. It also counteracts the effects of changes in ambient temperature on colour reproduction.

An on-screen button guide allows the menu brightness to be adjusted for easy reading in different viewing environments. The menu offers six pre-set colour modes that reproduce common colour spaces used in digital photography, pre-press, broadcasting and digital cinema: Adobe RGB, sRGB, Rec709, EBU, SMPTE-C, and DCI. 16-bit internal processing and a 3D look-up table ensure smooth and accurate display of both colour and neutral grey tones.

The ColorEdge CG245W comes with an ergonomic FlexStand that supports both landscape and  portrait orientation. It is supplied with a shading hood that can be used for both landscape and portrait orientation. A five-year manufacturer’s warranty is provided.

Eizo’s EasyPIX colour matching tool is designed for users of DSLR cameras who require a colour-matched printing and viewing environment and is an excellent partner for the company’s FlexScan monitors, which lack built-in calibration facilities. It can also be used with most models in the ColorEdge range, where it will provide quick and easy re-calibration tool when new profiles are required for different output tasks.

ColorEdge CG245W

EasyPIX combines a colour and brightness sensor with specially-designed software for creating colour profiles to ensure consistent and repeatable colour reproduction. No expertise in colour management is required to use it and the resulting profile can be shared with image editing software to ensure accurate results across a range of output applications.

• Matching Mode matches the monitor’s colour and brightness settings to the white of photo printing paper and is ideal for use with inkjet printers. This mode is particularly useful for users of fine-art printing papers because it enables them to obtain accurate colour reproduction on a wide range of different paper types from bright white papers with optical brighteners to ‘natural’ papers that are free of brightening enhancements.

• Photo Viewing Mode sets the monitor’s colour temperature to 5500 K, a common default setting for most digital cameras. It also lets you adjust the monitor’s brightness. This mode is particularly suited to the production of slideshows that will be viewed on widescreen TV sets.

• Web Viewing Mode is designed for pre-viewing images that will be shared online. It sets the monitor’s colour temperature to 6500 K, the standard for most web browsers. Monitor brightness is also manually adjustable for greater control over the appearance of the displayed images.

Eizo’s EasyPIX is compatible with the latest Windows (XP, Vista and 7) and Macintosh (OS X 10.3.9 and above) operating systems and requires one available USB port. It can be used with the bundled software provided by all leading camera manufacturers.

Eizo Oceania
www.Eizo.com.au