Choosing best monitor for eyes

[linksyswrt54gs]

Hello,

My eyes are sensitive to light. I think photophobic is the term. I am in IT and spend major time in front of monitor screens. I am using flux application on my computer and it helps but I am looking for a best possible monitor that support eye care to protect my eyes. I most do reading and some video watching. I dont do gaming at all. I want to thank you for your time and help in advance and really truly appreciate your suggestion and advise.

Thanks so much!
Much appreciated,
Sam

[nuninho1980]

Get IPS monitor 27" Viewsonic XG270 and you enable PureXP+ for almost eliminate motion blur but you change the vertical frequency to 85Hz or higher, you should increase much "low blue light" (filter) and reduce strong colors (especially red, blue...).

Edit: if you want to watch video files with 60fps or live TV NTSC (60Hz), you get TN monitor BenQ XL2411P 24" monitor and you change to 60Hz single strobe ("Blur Reduction" needed).

[alienware]

If you are photophobic, you want a monitor with a good contrast ratio

More importantly, you want the image on your screen to get its visual clarity from high contrast via high levels of darkness (occlusion) rather then high levels of brightness (illumination). Think of it as viewing a soft flickering candlelight in relatively dark room vs staring at the relatively bright sun on the bright sunny beach.

Look for VA or OLED displays as they offer the blackest blacks. Avoid TN and IPS panels due to poor contrast which will require a higher brightness level to percived contrast-based detail. HDR technology is good example of what you want to avoid, cranking up the illumination level of the "whitest whites" to create relative contrast = eyestrain for you.

Also, the stereoscopic effect from backlight strobing, which is normally used to reduce motion blur, may help. The flickering from a strobed light source can help reduce excessive visual fixation/tunneling that is observed in individuals with light sensitivity. This might seem counterintuitive as many so called "eye care" monitors promote anti-flickering technology, but the truth is that it depends on the individual. You need to try this in person to see if it helps.

Do you have any screen size or budget requirements?

[Chief Blur Buster]

I'm going to provide superior advice.

A high-Hz monitor is sometimes a great choice for inclusion for eye-friendliness because the high-Hz can reduce motion blur eyestrain (even without needing strobing).

Get IPS monitor 27" Viewsonic XG270 and you enable PureXP+ for almost eliminate motion blur but you change the vertical frequency to 85Hz or higher, you should increase much "low blue light" (filter) and reduce strong colors (especially red, blue...).

This depends on whether what your vision/motion sensitivity is to -- many people are sensitive to different things (brightness sensitivity, motion blur sensitivity, flicker sensitivity, etc).

Flicker free is better for many people but there are situations where the motion-blur-reducing monitors are better if you are bothered.

What you want is access to many options -- like the ability to turn motion blur reduction off (flicker free mode) and motion blur reduction on (a specially synchronized strobe that eliminates motion blur). Definitely avoid those unsynchronized strobing (PWM-dimming). Having multiple options is key.

Look for VA or OLED displays as they offer the blackest blacks. Avoid TN and IPS panels due to poor contrast

The venn diagram overlaps. Contrast ratio isn't necessarily a prescription for photophobic. For example, many photophobic people use Apple laptops, and they're such bliss on the eyes because of the way Apple has pre-calibrated them.

Sure, there are people who have least eyestrain from VA panels, but I've also seen people who have least eyestrain from IPS, and also people who have least eyestrain from TN, because of specific panel quirks that addressed their sensitivity better.

It is more situational and calibration related. It's possible to also have eyestrain from VA because of too-wide contrast ratio, because VA monitors are often extremely BRIGHT and hard to adjust darker without crushing the blacks (for an inexperienced person without a colorimeter), so sometimes reduced contrast ratios occasionally help, by dimming the whites and raising the blacks, and equallizing it properly to room lighting. Then IPS/TN/VA can become equal more or less. Basically, the screen should NOT be the brightest thing in the room. I've seen a situation where a super-bright VA panel (e.g. >600 nits) could not be adjusted dark enough for a photophobic person (screen wouldn't go darker than 100 nits in Windows). The use of other tricks such as dark themes for Windows is another option too.

A colorimeter such as i1 or Spyder can be a very big help too.

What I recommend is a display with lots of options / very flexible adjustments. Stutter strain? Enable GSYNC. Blur strain? Enable blur reduction. Flicker strian. Go PWM-free. Brightness sensitivity? Choose a monitor with a wide brightness adjustment range.

[Dmoney405]

To go a bit further on brightness. If you can't find a monitor with a low enough setting but it has BFI (motion blur reduction with black frames insertion) then with BFI enabled it will effectively reduce brightness much further if needed. So with that setting you can solve stuttering issues and brightness issues with just 1 thing BUT it will introduce flickering, so you need to know what triggers you.

I find IPS displays give me a bit of strain because my eyes are bad enough I tend to sit closely to them. The problem with this is IPS glow intensifies the closer you are to the screen. If you can sit about 3-3.5 feet away from a 27 inch then it should minimize this. Also the blacks are bad with them and require very low brightness to get deep blacks so they are usually a bit more gray especially if the dark area is in an IPS glow zone. TN panels color shift but they it never strained me. IPS glow feels like a light source pointing at you while TN color shift dims a bit and changes color a bit. Annoying sure but not as distracting in game (for me).

If you do not do photo or video editing try to find a monitor that is RGB only or at least has an RGB emulation mode that you can calibrate the brightness in. If you get a wide gamut display then all standard RGB applications, the desktop and icons, games, and videos not specifically designed with the wider color space will be oversaturated (bright / vibrant) and may cause strain...while also looking inaccurate.

[RedCloudFuneral]

I don't believe you've provided enough information for recommendations to be made. Monitor shopping is generally about finding the display which addresses the issues you're sensitive to. If you don't know what triggers your fatigue advice will be vague at best.
Can you figure out why Flux looks better for you? Have you tried using your monitor at different brightness, contrast, color settings(using the monitor's OSD controls) to isolate individual factors? Can you think of anything outside computer displays which fatigue your eyes?