first, I would try to set your monitor to sRGB colorspace, then calibrate it ( I strongly recommend x-rite display pro over the other calibration devices) and after calibration should be your Dell good as reference monitor.. If your colors are still bad you should invest in good sRGB monitor or monitor that has proper sRGB emulation

I would not recommend using presets or any saturation tweaks as they can be way off in reality, I work also as colorist and having a calibrated display that you can trust is a must.

As I know cinema displays are sRGB only , but if you are on a budget.. I would recommend one of the cheap 27" 2560x1440 monitors (catleap,crossover etc) mentioned on this forum with calibration device (i1 display pro ) and you are good to go..

Be careful with this monitor. I had it last year and after some month I sold it again with a loss. Unfortunately I did not read this test before I bought it http://www.prad.de/new/monitore/test/2010/test-dell-u2410-teil8.html

It's in German but I can absolutely confirm what they critizize: color custom mode has a sigificant difference to reference value and as you need ccm for individual calibration it fails with striking divergence in green. As it's not linear you cannot correct it calibration. Maybe the corrected this since last year, but I dare to doubt it. U2711 is different in this point and therefore it should be better choice

Off topic from: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/comment/159978#Comment_159978

@eurocameraman What standard are you calibrating your monitor too? sRGB? Custom color? Conforming it to Rec 709?

I shoot with a GH2, use 2 used Dell U2410 for editing and grading, set them up in custom color and use my used i1 Pro Basic (good unit, a little dated) conforming both to rec709. Right or wrong, good monitor or bad, it seems to work for me.

The only way I could get the 2 monitors to come close to matching is the method I've outlined. I spent many hours tweaking before I came to that conclusion. I found only funkiness using the presets and trying to match the 2 monitors side-byside. My conclusion: it was only possible with the custom color preset, the i1 pro basic, and making manual adjustments the i1 asked for.

I am happy with my results, have had only compliments from clients and haven't noticed this problem described above. I do notice when calibrating, that slight adjustments are hard to dial in precisely, that having the green level at 93 adjusting it to 90 and then deciding to go back to 93, it will settle close but differently, even though numerically all the RGB settings are the same. Perhaps that's what the German article goes in depth about.

I would be interested to hear opinions of users with the same or similar setup, to know if there is a better way? If the u2410 is really that problematic, what's a better monitor option?

Any idea if some of the newer Dell monitors are better? I've also heard that the ASUS IPS display is pretty decent.

I'm basically looking at acquiring a monitor for grading GH2 and GH3 footage/stills. I can't really afford a $2,000 professional panel, so Dell or something similar is the only real option.

I'm basically looking at acquiring a monitor for grading GH2 and GH3 footage/stills. I can't really afford a $2,000 professional panel, so Dell or something similar is the only real option.

I think that $300 monitor is enough http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/7411/even-cheaper-27-2560x1440-monitors-samsung-pls-panels-matte#Item_22

Better invest money in good calibrator and proper workplace (check any good book on color grading).

This monitor Dell u2410 rev A05 even when calibrated still has some red and green fringes on certain shades of gray which is annoying as it can be. I have noticed that there is no fringing when it's used in video mode, connected to HDMI, and image looks ok.

So I thought that I might use it with Blackmagic Decklink monitor mini as external monitor for premiere and resolve. I know that it is far from ideal solution, but do you guys think that It could be calibrated in that mode, and how?

@inqb8tr I can't answer your question in practice, but, in theory, if the decklink has color controls use them, if not, you could use the custom color profile and adjust it manually, but, I am not sure where that leaves your gamut.

I also had the good fortune to color correct a short wilm with my 2 Dell u2410's calibrated in my method above and saw it 2 nights ago projected 40 feet wide in a cinema as part of a short film festival. I was pleased to see the color "looked" correct when compared to the monitors I did the CC on. So I have confirmation, my method (see above) works.

FYI, I also noticed one on my U2410's is Rev A02 and the other RevA05, the A05 color consistency between calibrations is definitely better than the A02. They were bought used, off ebay, so I have know idea what "abuse" they saw before I got them.

I own an FSI, an iMac and a dell2410. The Dell would be the last monitor I would consider for doing any serious color graphics, video or photo work.

@acmeman I second what Vitaly said. The Dells are quite good (considering the price).

If you use your Dell connected to a Mac, than its no wonder the iMac display looks "better" - Apple totally fucked up the colour management of OSX, so that there super cheap display look decent. But with proper calibration the Dell will be much better than the iMac display.

@inqb8tr Sorry, a bit late to the party... but there is a tool for OSX to hack into its colour management and use wide gamut display ...I just can't remember the name (and for now its not working in 10.11+).

I forgot about this topic, but just to chime in, ever since I've properly calibrated this screen with x-rite color display pro it is perfectly looking , reliable and comfortable, much better overall quality than most new ones that I had worked on, including hi res ones like 5k retina imac