What to look for in a monitor

See what the BenQ PhotoVue SW271 has to offer photographers

Calibration software

Each monitor is individually calibrated before leaving the factory. To maintain accuracy, calibration software is also included, enabling you to make adjustments without altering the computer’s graphics card properties. It’s compatible with a wide range of calibrator hardware.

Hotkey puck

A hotkey puck is supplied with the monitor to easily switch between various display modes, including Adobe RGB, sRGB, Advanced Black & White, HDR and Darkroom options. Various calibration and custom modes are also featured.

Additional connections

As well as the audio/ video ports, there’s a USB 3.0 hub built into the left-hand side of the monitor, with two downstream ports. Just above this pair of ports is an SD/HC/XC memory card reader.

IPS screen

The 4K UHD IPS screen has 3,840x2,160 pixels, equating to a very fine pixel density of 163ppi (pixels per inch). 10-bit colour depth and advanced processing enables 100% coverage of the sRGB spectrum and 99% for Adobe RGB.

Moving parts

The stand is particularly rigid for wobble-free support, and enables a good range of tilt, swivel and height adjustments, as well as a pivot facility for portrait-orientation viewing. The supplied shading hood can be used in both orientations.

Colour accuracy

The image-processing system uses a 14-bit 3D LUT (look-up table) to improve colour accuracy and ensure ultra-smooth blending. An HDR (high dynamic range) mode is available, with support for content in the HDR 10 format.

AV connections

Connections include DisplayPort 1.4, two HDMI V2.0 sockets and USB Type-C, also compatible with Thunderbolt 3. A headphone socket is featured for audio output. The connector strip is built into the lower section of the monitor case.