MONITOR ADVICE

[Photorob]

I am considering purchasing a moniter to use in processing photos. The Sony artisan seems to be one of the most popular. My question is how close could a top end LCD monitor compare to this model. I would appreciate any advice.

[IncompletePete]

I use a Sony 21" TFT, love it!

[Tdragone]

Most workspaces I have seen people post in the forums here use LCD's as their primary monitor (Some use a 2 monitor setup with a crt holding all the extra crud like photoshop tools..).


I will say I do all my photo editing on my Dell Laptop; by FAR a better and more representative picture of what my images look like than my CRT monitor.

Hope it helps...

Maybe others will chime in on what role contrast plays in LCD's....

-ToM D.

[brunzie]

I called B&H last year and asked them what photographers use. They led me to the LaCie monitors. I think I paid $375 for mine(19") and love it. The 21" is quite a bit more but I can't recall specifics. I do know that you want an aperture grill monitor and a crt is recommended by most.

[defordphoto]

LaCie and Artisan (CRT ONLY) monitors are the top choice. Any Trinitron is after that. LCD's are at the absolute bottom choice of 99% of photographers for editing photos. The Apple Cinema (I think that's what it's called) is one of the better LCD's, but most "purists" won't touch them with a 10 foot mouse. They are just not representative of what your photo really is. Someday, I am sure they will get there, but they are definitely not there yet. I do prefer an LCD for general computer use other than photo editing.

[gcogger]

The (very expensive!) Eizo ColorEdge LCDs are supposed to be on a par with a fairly decent CRT, but something like the Sony Artisan will still be better. The Lacie CRTs are usually recommended as a cheaper alternative to the Artisan.
For cheaper LCDs, look at the rest of the Eizo range. The areas where they suffer compared to a CRT are:
the shadow resolution is not as good - you can lose detail in the very dark areas of an image;
the brightness and colour response change as you move your head off-axis, although this is much better than it used to be.
Other than that, a decent LCD is very good these days.
You can get some good information if you search through the Color Management forum at Rob Galbraith.

[eosster]

I vote for Eizo or Lacie, if the money is the issue get Lacie CRT, heard so many good things about this monitor. Also, get a monitor calibration kit for this LCD or CRT monitor. If your looking for LCD, make sure consider highest contrast(1/500 ratio at least).

Cheers,

Charles,

[pradeep1]

I have a very nice Samsung 900DF which I bought at Sam's Club for around $300 last year. Properly calibrated, it is an excellent monitor for doing photography work.

The Lacie 19" electron Blue CRT with hood is a reasonable deal at about $375. The Sony Artisan is very expensive...close to $1600.

[gcogger]

This article may also be of interest:
http://www.shutterbug.com/features/1104sb_lcd/