DPR Forum

Welcome to the Friendly Aisles!
DPRF is a photography forum with people from all over the world freely sharing their knowledge and love of photography. Everybody is welcome, from beginners to the experienced professional. Whether it is Medium Format, fullframe, APS-C, MFT or smaller formats. Digital or film. DPRF is a forum for everybody and for every format.
Enjoy this modern, easy to use software. Look also at our Reviews & Gallery!

Monitor

ted

New Member
I am trying to make a decision whether to use a LCD or a CRT for photo editing. I shoot digital and film. I have the negs scanned and do post produciton on the scanned images. Will it make a difference?

I just picked up a Viewsonic VP201b. It's one of the better LCDs out there. It looks great and the extra desktop space is great. I am using the DVI connections. However, Its not quite the same image quality as the Viewsonic Pro CRTs. ...Or is it just me?

Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks.
 
I recently looking into this and the general consensus was that the CRT is still better than the LCD displays. I ended up getting a Lacie Electron Blue 21" monitor. They have some decent deals on factory refurbished monitors with full warrenty on their web site. http://www.lacie.com
 
> [Desk space and hernia bragging rights aside, I think a CRT produces more > ability to represent tones and hues. Most of my LCDs including the pricey > Mitsubishis tend to be more blocky and have a higher contraast. Remember > all LCDs are lit from behind rather than generating their own light, so > there is a difference. In the final analysis it boils down to the person > and what they tolerate. I know that a photo file on a CRT appears a tad > different than when displayed on an LCD, and one cannot exactly match the > two up. One other thing I think are true, generally most LCD can be made > ( cranked ) much more bright than any CRT, thus they have more pizazz in a > bright room with lots of reflections ... sort of graphic art vs a > photo-reality, so to speak. My 2 cents anywho]
 
Image processing professionals are still strongly favouring CRTs. Even a 19" ViewSonic CRT monitor will handle up to 2048x1536 resolution and every lesser resolution. LCDs tend to have a native resolution and little or no flexibility. Colour management is possible with some LCDs with varying degrees of results, while CRTs allow adjustment pretty much to the point that they are worn out.

LCDs make an excellent second screen for Photoshop's tool palettes in a dual monitor setup. They take much less room than a comparable CRT. They are also splendid in brokerage offices where three or four are needed fo r near-real-time tracking of investment instruments. The snappy image makes reading a pleasure, but works against you with images.

If they are chosen as the primary monitor for photographic purposes, make sure that they can be colour managed, and purchase the appropriate spyder and software to calibrate it. A friend was about to chuck his really fine photo printer into the trash, because all the prints were flat, dull, muddy. We traced it the the contrasty, bright and crisp monitor on which he was processing them. To get a good looking picture on the monitor required desaturating and lowering contrast dramatically. Of course this is what got printed - since the printer had no knowledge that he had this flashy LCD.

larry! http://www.larry-bolch.com/ ICQ 76620504
 
Thanks guys! ...This made help make my decision. I just set up my 22'' P225 Viewsonic and the VP201b LCD as dual monitors. Beautiful. Its the best of both worlds. I'll photo edit on the CRT and keep working palettes on the LCD. I do some print work so the CRT is key. Great idea Larry!
 
Back
Top