Results: Color Gamut And Performance
Color gamut is measured using a saturation sweep that samples the six main colors (red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow) at five saturation levels (20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 percent), yielding a more realistic view of color accuracy.
In Custom mode, the color gamut accuracy is pretty good, except for magenta. That secondary has a noticeable hue error towards blue. All of the others come fairly close to their targets for both hue and saturation. Luminance errors are small too, except for blue, which is as much as 33 percent too bright. The overall error is an average of 2.87 Delta E.
Here’s what happens when you switch to Photo mode:
Magenta is now much closer to its target at all saturation levels. Luminance results, however, are a little higher than before. At least to my eye, Photo mode looks a little more brilliant and colorful, but it does take a small step backward in measured accuracy. The average error is 3.74 Delta E.
The best color accuracy is found after calibration using the RGB controls and the color management system.
Most of the improvement we see is a result of our grayscale calibration. The CMS allows us to tidy up the magenta secondary so it has perfect hue. There are no luminance adjustments available, and blue suffers from that omission. The 34UM95’s gamut result is worthy of a professional-level display.
Now we return to the comparison group:
We’ve only seen six other monitors score better than the 34UM95 for gamut accuracy. Even though it’s not marketed as a professional display, it certainly performs like one. Even without calibration, there are no major issues to report.
Gamut Volume: Adobe RGB 1998 And sRGB
There are basically two categories of displays in use today: those that conform to the sRGB/Rec. 709 standard like HDTVs, and wide-gamut panels that show as much as 100 percent of the Adobe RGB 1998 spec. We use Gamutvision to calculate the gamut volume, based on an ICC profile created from our actual measurements.
With such great gamut results, it’s a pity that the 34UM95 isn’t a wide-gamut monitor. Photographers would love it, given plenty of desktop real estate and ample pixel density (this thing rocks in Photoshop). It falls a tiny bit short of 100-percent sRGB volume due to a slightly under-saturated blue primary.
