Monitor Recommendations Please

[colliewalker1]

I am scanning my way through an archive of 35 mm colour negatives which dates from 40 years ago.

I at first thought that the prints I am receiving after uploading the edited images were very good - but comparing them with the monitor image they are not quite as bright and well saturated and colour accuracy is not 100%.

My monitor is quite elderly - an Iiyama Pro 17 ET - and must be 7/8 years old. I have tried to calibrate it to match a card supplied by Photobox ( a UK online digital photo print supplier) but the match I achieved is not too good - yellow is especially poor : seeing this result I am surprised that my prints are as good as they are!

The prices of monitors covers a very wide range and I'm wondering how much (or little!) it is necessary to spend to acquire a monitor which provides a 'what you see is what you get'screen image as regards photo prints.

I see that many monitors are advertised on Ebay but wonder if this might be an over speculative way of solving my problem!!!

Recommendations will be much appreciated.

[mapollo]

Asking the same question here myself I was told get an Aperture Grill CRT.

I have a Samsung Syncmaster 959NF 19" Aperture Grill display that was delivered yesterday it cost £203 from Dabs.com.

I would recommend 19" because Photoshop's RAW converter and Rawshooter I have found do not run on my 17" monitor (800*600 res). My guess is as more software is released I could find myself having a similar problem if I have a 17" display plus the extra desktop space in photoshop will be great. So I'm sure 19" is the way to go.

My first choice AG dipslay was an NEC/Mitsubishi 93 SB and my second choice was a Phillips 109P40 but I could'nt find either of these in stock anywhere.

I can post back here if you like later with first impressions of my new monitor when I install it later this weekend (I'm building a new PC at the moment so it may be a couple of days)

Hope that helps David...

[tim]

I quite like my 19 inch LCD, a Samsung Syncmaster 910T. It's probably not as color accurate as a CRT, but it's compact which I needed, and according to reviews it's one of the better LCDs.

[mdr]

I have two 17" Sony X-Black LCD's running at a native 1280x1024 resolution each. I can highly recommend these or their larger 19" brother. Note that a 17" LCD corresponds in display size to a 18"+ CRT.

Colour accuracy (once callibrated) is absolutely fantastic, and sharpness if wonderful due to the X-Black feature.

If you go for an LCD, make sure that you can connect it through DVI-D and not analogue to your computer. The picture quality of most if not all analogue connected LCD's is shockingly bad.

Whether you go for an LCD or a CRT, make sure you get one with a small .pitch. I would not accept anything over 26.

[colliewalker1]

I can post back here if you like later with first impressions of my new monitor when I install it later this weekend (I'm building a new PC at the moment so it may be a couple of days)

Hope that helps David...


Thanks to everyone who replied, with their helpful comments: I will think about the recommendations very carefully before going further.

David - yes please, I would be interested to hear furtherabout your new monitor.

[CyberDyneSystems]

I am one of the advocates for the aperture grill CRTs.
These continue to be the best choice for photo editing.

I prefer Sony,. but there ar many good models out there.
I agree with Mapollo that 19" is the minimum size for any serious editing.

[EricKonieczny]

20 inch Apple Cinema Display, or even the 23, o 30" inch if you have the $$$.

I love my 20 ACD. I am running it with a Dell system, and first ordered a 19 inch Dell LCD , and returned it because I did not care for it.

[lancea]

I upgraded to a Philips 109P40 (19 inch, flat screen) in December, and must say I'm very impressed at the colours. It is an aperture grill tube, and for the first month I was mildly distracted by the fine horizontal lines near the top and bottom of the screen. Now I rarely even notice them. It was worth the extra cost for this "professional" monitor.