monitor help

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monitor help

Postby tjdowning » Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:12 am

Am looking for a new monitor with the most important feature of photo quality. Want to know that when I am editing my pics, it is what they will pretty much look like. Have researched some, but of course so many say they are the best.

Looking for your expertise in what kind of monitor you use for pics? Also, is there a specific setting I should have my monitor to be "true to life"?

Any help is appreciated.

-Terri
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Re: monitor help

Postby gpsmikey » Sat Jun 18, 2011 12:17 pm

Depending on how serious you are, the answer involves $$$ :twisted: There are quite a few out there that insist the "best" is a good CRT monitor. Probably next in line would be one like the LaCie (or something like that - they are pretty expensive, but get good reports for a flat panel monitor). Whatever you do, you will need to calibrate the monitor - there are a number of gadgets out there like the Spyder3 etc that seem to do a pretty reasonable job. You will also need to control the lighting in the room if you expect to be able to judge the images correctly (working on some images with daylight flooding the room and others under tungsten light will give different results). Unfortunately, there is no simple answer - but there are a lot of variables to consider - spending $2,000 on a good monitor in a room with uncontrolled lighting will give mediocre results, so in that case, just get a reasonably good monitor, calibrate it for the conditions and work from there. For what it's worth, I have a Samsung SyncMaster 226BW and a DataColor Spyder3 calibrator. In general, I have been happy with the results (I use it in Photoshop CS5). YMMV :lol:

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Re: monitor help

Postby BarbaraC » Sat Jun 18, 2011 1:10 pm

I agonized over this a few years ago, and after discovering that I needed to spend umpteen dollars to get what I wanted in a flat screen, I opted for a ViewSonic professional CRT. It wasn't cheap--over $450--but it wasn't over $1000, and I have lots of desk space. The thing gives gorgeous color as long as I'm not lazy and do the calibration using a Spyder.

You will, however, never quite match what you see on the screen to what's printed, the reason being that you're seeing colored light on a monitor and colored pigment in a print.

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Re: monitor help

Postby tjdowning » Sat Jun 18, 2011 1:34 pm

Thanks for your input Mikey and Barbara. I will check them out. :D

-Terri

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Re: monitor help

Postby BarbaraC » Sat Jun 18, 2011 2:00 pm

Terri, as far as I know and quite unfortunately, ViewSonic no longer makes CRT's.

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Re: monitor help

Postby DickK » Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:55 pm

tjdowning wrote:Am looking for a new monitor with the most important feature of photo quality. Want to know that when I am editing my pics, it is what they will pretty much look like. Have researched some, but of course so many say they are the best...


You've gotten some good advice and I'll again recommend the calibration as an essential. I've never seen a monitor of any kind or price come out of the box that's calibrated properly. One or two have been close but most are pretty far off.

You can spend LOTS of money on a monitor but I personally don't think you have to blow the budget--diminishing returns sets in somewhere and I frankly think it starts quickly once you get to the mid-priced ones. Stay away from the bottom end of course but don't assume the most expensive is best. Size does matter here as does resolution because you need to see a good portion of the image but at full (pixel-for-pixel) scale. Refresh time is one number you can ignore but high contrast ratio numbers are good. Read a few of the reviews on photo-oriented sites so you get an idea what characteristics they look for--you may not want to spend the money for what they recommend per se but you'll learn what they think makes a good one, good.

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Re: monitor help

Postby adrian » Thu Oct 27, 2011 5:54 am

You might want to look into the nec digital line, I have a 24 inch nec digital for my photoshop work. They are quite outstanding, and about half the price of La Cie. I need very accurate color for my work, and never have problems with color matching to printing, either ink jet or offset.

You might want to go online and look for gray scales and patches, they will help you see the state of your color calibration. Download and follow instructions, or make your own patch
I don't use a spyder.

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Re: monitor help

Postby DonM » Thu Oct 27, 2011 3:57 pm

For a review of flat panel display types see: http://reviews.cnet.com/monitor-buying-guide/

Don

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