IBC 2012 – FSI’s affordable grade-1 monitors [UPDATED: 5% off]

by Sebastian WöberSeptember 27^th, 2012

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[UPDATE 27/09/12]:
5% DISCOUNT for cinema5D readers on any new FSI equipment:
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(valid until October 31st)

Here we found a company that produces some really really nice color correction monitors: Flanders Scientific Inc.
Their grade-1, 10-bit 17″ full HD panel (CM107W) is $3300 while the very popular (LM2140W) 21,5″ panel (8 bit) is $2490.

These monitors looked really really nice and in terms of the size I’d prefer the 21,5″ or the very similar 23″ model. It is 8-bit, but it looked superb.

Up until now the company offered their free of charge calibration service to US customers only, but coming December they’ll have established a European office that offers the same service to FSI customers in Europe.

[UPDATE 27/09/12]:
Bram told me that even though their large monitors don’t have an hdmi input, they do have a DVI connector. So you can use a simple DVI to hdmi adapter to get hdmi connectivity. (LINK)

I also did some research on 8-bit vs. 10-bit panels as I wasn’t sure if I’d get a Canon DSLR-looking image on the LM-2340W panel when grading 10-bit footage. Apparently most computer monitors and also television sets are 6-bit, even my Macbook Pro is 6-bit. See, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera footage looks just fine on the Macbook, so I take it 8-bit will be just fine for basic color correction that doesn’t have to be ultra spot on. All the new FSI monitors just received a firmware update to now support 12-bit processing by the way. Great job Bram, keep up the good work.

Check out their stuff on the website: www.ShopFSI.com