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What Display/Monitor Do YOU Use ?


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I'm just curious about how many people out there are using LCD's versus CRT's and which

ones, so how about a little meaningless and un-scientific poll.

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What monitor do you use for your photo editing? Do you like it?

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Me? I have a 23" Apple cinema display.

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The most important thing is whether the monitor is calibrated. Otherwise, it is just another piece of furniture. With calibration, practically anything will work.

 

I have a Viewsonic VP191 19" LCD, 1024x1280 resolution, which I use most of the time, and a variety of Viewsonic CRTS from 15" to 19". My laptop LCD is calibrated as far as possible. However it has a narrow viewing angle and the display changes whether running on batteries or AC for power-saving.

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Tom's Hardware (an excellent email newsletter about computer parts/equipment, etc.) just had a review of LCDs in the $300-$600 range. Much discussion about color fidelity and suitability for photoediting.

 

If you do a google search it is easy to find.

 

Based on a review there we purchased the Samsung 930P LCD (about $500). It is 1280 by 1024...nice monitor at all angles. Three year warranty. Our other one is a LaCie CRT. We prefer the LCD for most work, except color critical work - for that we use the LaCie.

 

LCDs are still too high in cost. CRTs are good value.

 

rdc/nyc

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Laptop screens cannot compete with desktop monitors regardless of whether the latter are

CRT or LCD technology. The laptops are too constrained with regard to size, weight, power

consumption, backlight quality, etc.

 

Current top-end LCD desktop monitors are generally better quality than CRTs of similar

pricing, most CRTs have become a commodity market now and have serious imaging

quality problems. Top of the line CRTs in the $1500+ price bracket still have a small edge,

mostly important when doing color-critical video work, but need more maintenance with

the calibrator than LCD monitors in a similar quality bracket.

 

Yes, calibration tools are essential if you want to be critical about quality. I use the Gretag-

Macbeth Eye One Display unit, it helps keep both my systems (laptop and desktop) in sync

and consistent, makes printing much much less of a pain.

 

Godfrey

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Picked up a 1999 19" Optiquest Q91 CRT at a thrift store for $4.

Have a 1998 19" Princeton Graphics EO90 CRT paid $600 when

it was new. Still calibrates well to sRGB standards according to

EyeOne Display.

 

Between the two I now get to see what a cheap low quality CRT

is like. The Q91 has slight pinkish white point color

non-uniformity. The pink made my eyes perceive a grayramp

changing color cast when it wasn't after calibration making it

hellish to calibrate and profle. I finally found the sweet spot.

 

If I set the black point level any higher than overscan (with

readings of 0 minimum luminance levels) the display will drift

through the week to brightness levels intolerable. This unit

doesn't have a black point gain lock screw adjust on the circuit

board like the EO90.

 

Color critical still hasn't been fully defined for me, but from the

color restoration testing of some really bad pro wedding

photography, I still get screen to print matches Soft Proofing to

my local minilab.

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I am extremely happy to switch to LCDs. CRTs have caused me years of frustration. I used to work as a tech support guy for an art school and you hardly ever see a nice looking analog graphic card / CRT monitor combination. Ghosting, blurring, weird geometry, non-uniform color... you name it.

 

I use two Dell 2001FP and they are good. Some minor banding on a greyscale gradient, nothing major.

 

One thing I am not sure is how to thoroughly test the image quality after calibration though. Greyscale ramp has some problems in the garkest greys separations if I softproof to monitor profile in PS. The ramp looks OK if I use normal color space though (Adobe or ProPhoto) - so I assume it's all good.

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