googled & cant find the diff between LCD & TFT ?

gus

Can any one enlighten me please ?

Also are many of you happy using these thin screens to process in PhotoShop ? IE is their colour etc up to a CRT ?

dragon300zx

TFT is a type of LCD screen. All laptop screens are LCD's however some are TFT (which is a active matrix LCD), and some are DSTN/HPA (a passive matrix LCD). If you decide to get a LCD monitor you don't want the later. You want to make sure it is a TFT (active matrix) LCD. There is a difference and you can tell looking at them. At least I can and the passive matrix does not perform as well. It is the cheaper version.

gus

Tks dragon...that was troubling me somewhat.

dragon300zx

LCD Basic Type Explination: Total Price: 5 Cherry Ripes.

gus

dragon300zx wrote:

LCD Basic Type Explination: Total Price: 5 Cherry Ripes.

Not a chance...i open 'em before im out of the shop.

dragon300zx

gus

Just got back from the puter shop. I opened up my yosemite photos on what they said was one of their better LCD TFT..its colour was terrible (reds were orange) & clouds had defining lines around them.

I just hope its not my monitor here that has led me to set my colours badly. But this monitor (CRT) has never failed me & from the way people dicuss individual shots in here...its just fine.

I can buy a nice 19" (CRT) Mitsubishi for about $250 yank equiv so that might do me. Just have to move the desk out further from the wall as i currently have a 17".


Gus

tlittleton

Humungus wrote:

Just got back from the puter shop. I opened up my yosemite photos on what they said was one of their better LCD TFT..its colour was terrible (reds were orange) & clouds had defining lines around them.
Gus

Gus...what brand was the LCD? There are some brands that are just plain no good. I use a Dell myself, and it is excellent. I know that Apple makes some outstanding LCDs as does NEC.

DavidTO

Whether you're on an LCD or a CRT, you need to calibrate your monitor. Anyone who gets paid for color accuracy has a CRT, but they also have an expensive CRT. Not sure how the low end CRTs compare as far as color accuracy to LCDs.

You can get a calibrator relatively inexpensively. I've not done it, and I'm sure that there are many who know more, but I think Spyder's a good one...

Having said that, you can also calibrate your monitor with software and end up with something pretty decent. Either way you end up having to worry about ambient light and other issues...

gus

tlittleton wrote:

Gus...what brand was the LCD? There are some brands that are just plain no good. I use a Dell myself, and it is excellent. I know that Apple makes some outstanding LCDs as does NEC.

I cant remember mate but they said it was one of the better ones. Nothing came in as good as a CRT for me. I think i can handle the sheer size of a 19" CRT ok. At the end of the day...the CRT is accurate & cheap (cheap by comparisson to LCD).

If i had an open cheque book then every thing i own would be apple...i just love their stuff.

Gus

tlittleton

Humungus wrote:

If i had an open cheque book then every thing i own would be apple...i just love their stuff.

Gus

Heh...same here. I can't afford anything now that I'm hooked on lenses and Cherry Ripes...

DavidTO

Humungus wrote:

If i had an open cheque book then every thing i own would be apple...i just love their stuff.

Gus

Just wait for Andy to sell off his Apple stuff.

gus

DavidTO wrote:

Just wait for Andy to sell off his Apple stuff.

I thought most of his apple stuff had already departed. Who would we poke fun at if he wasnt about ?

Bet his missus is always waiting for him to come home with a current copy of 'photographic models illistrated' to choose a new model from

ginger_55

Gus, guess I have a crummy monitor, too. A 17" Dell, a couple of yrs old. I have always really liked your photos.

Have you had any printed out? Most new stuff looks better than what I have.......... Not saying you wouldn't enjoy a bigger monitor, perfectly calibrated, but I would have thought Andy would have been breathing "helpful" advice at you, if things were terribly off.

Just surprised a bit that there was such a difference. Makes me a bit suspicious. Of course, maybe I thought the colors were true, and they were not, but the lines around things.......someone might have noticed. Why don't you post some of the stuff here, just to give us something to do.

ginger

colourbox

As far as LCDs go, from what I have picked up reading other sites, Apple and Eizo make the best regarded LCDs for color. Some say that the best LCDs you can buy are the 10-bit high-end Eizo ColorEdges, but they are all in that stratospheric Apple price range.

Other people noticed that Dell's widescreen LCD (can't remember which size) uses basically the same LCD panel as Apple yet costs hundreds less. So some Mac users have these Dell LCDs hooked up.

Not trying to slam Apple...I love my PowerBook! (but must plug it into my CRT for decent color...laptop LCDs are not the same quality as desktop LCDs or CRTs)

dragon300zx

I haven't checked lately however I know in the past and up until recently Dell's LCD's and CRT's are actaully made by sony and just dell branded (their better monitors that is). Sony has always made a good LCD monitor. The best monitors that I know of are LaCies and they are making LCD monitors now. Any of the cheaper LCD's are gonna be crappy. LCD's deffinatley need to be calibrated for color. Plus with the LCD it will still depend on your angle of viewing on what you will see.

patch29

colourbox wrote:

As far as LCDs go, from what I have picked up reading other sites, Apple and Eizo make the best regarded LCDs for color. Some say that the best LCDs you can buy are the 10-bit high-end Eizo ColorEdges, but they are all in that stratospheric Apple price range.

Not trying to slam Apple...I love my PowerBook! (but must plug it into my CRT for decent color...laptop LCDs are not the same quality as desktop LCDs or CRTs)

Eizo makes Apple monitors look cheap, here is what you can get with an open checkbook.

I have a Powerbook and hook my 19" Lacie CRT into it for color correction. I get dual monitors and can take the PB with me on the road, don't want to take the CRT though. When oh, when will Apple release a G5 or much faster Powerbook.

robscomputer

I'm looking at up grading my home pc with a LCD monitor soon as well and found that most people recommnd Dell's 20.1" screen or 19" screen.

Both monitors have fast refresh rates and offer great color inaddition to running up to 1600x1200 res. Compared to my work monitor, a 17" Dell CRT with Sony Trinatron tube, the LCD shows a greater amount of color. For example I can see more details in the shadows and the sky that appears white on the CRT really has clouds that come out on the LCD. This could also be from my monitor not set correctly but have seen the same problems on other CRT's as well.

Here's a couple of links to read.

http://www.anandtech.com/displays/

http://reviews.cnet.com/Monitors/4520-7610_7-5084364.html?tag=dir.monbg

Rob

Stan

Gus, I just bought a 19" Viewsonic Here I know nothing about them but it does this which is really useful

colourbox

Quick caveat for Mac people: The pivoting monitors automatically rotate the desktop on Windows, but not on the Mac. This may be changing with 10.4 Tiger, because there is supposed to be pivoting monitor support in it, but I haven't seen any articles about whether Tiger really does enable the auto desktop rotation on all these monitors or just a few.

gus

ginger_55 wrote:

Gus, guess I have a crummy monitor, too. A 17" Dell, a couple of yrs old. I have always really liked your photos.

Have you had any printed out?
ginger

Tks G..none printed out. I tend to move too fast/crazy to stop & do anything productive if you know what i mean.

gus

patch29 wrote:

Eizo makes Apple monitors look cheap, here is what you can get with an open checkbook.

I have a Powerbook and hook my 19" Lacie CRT into it for color correction. I get dual monitors and can take the PB with me on the road, don't want to take the CRT though. When oh, when will Apple release a G5 or much faster Powerbook.

Tks patch.

Looks like im moving now to a smaller place so i am seriously looking at a laptop (PC) on wireless.

I am looking at about 1.7 gig with 1 gig of ram so i know its will have the power but this colour correction thing you mentioned has me worried.

Could you operate PS & correct your photos on the laptop without refering to the CRT monitor ?

Gus

patch29

Humungus wrote:

Could you operate PS & correct your photos on the laptop without refering to the CRT monitor ?

Gus

It can always be done by the numbers.

Just color correcting visually will probably be ok. I just find it easier with a CRT.

DavidTO

Humungus wrote:

Looks like im moving now to a smaller place so i am seriously looking at a laptop (PC) on wireless.

Gus

Time to get that Mac you've always wanted, Gus.

colourbox

Humungus wrote:

Could you operate PS & correct your photos on the laptop without refering to the CRT monitor ?

To a point. For example, any neutral area should read out close to 0, 0, 0 in RGB, and you can use clipping previews to watch where the highlights and shadows are. By this method you could get the basics down on a black and white monitor!

But for critical fine tuning, if I want the print to match, I have to plug into the CRT which must warm up half an hour for good, stabilized color display. I just can't take it all the way on the laptop screen, especially in the shadows. And both screens are hardware-calibrated, in case anyone asks.

gus

DavidTO wrote:

Time to get that Mac you've always wanted, Gus.

I would love to mate...but it just plain old simple 'aint gonna happen'.

gus

colourbox wrote:

To a point. For example, any neutral area should read out close to 0, 0, 0 in RGB, and you can use clipping previews to watch where the highlights and shadows are. By this method you could get the basics down on a black and white monitor!

But for critical fine tuning, if I want the print to match, I have to plug into the CRT which must warm up half an hour for good, stabilized color display. I just can't take it all the way on the laptop screen, especially in the shadows. And both screens are hardware-calibrated, in case anyone asks.

Thanks for your replies patch & CB. Im not smart enough to paint by numbers..that simple. I have put the question to a computer pro type group here in oz & they said an EIZO will maybe do it but they are way too dear.

looks like im still in the land of CRT.

Gus

gtc

tft/lcd vs crt
gus

i went through this a few months back and ended up with an LG flatron crt.

the colour and resolution is still better than tft/lcd and much,much cheaper,at least in Melbourne.its a flat screen too.

the money you "save" by buying a crt over tft/lcd can then be put away for your next L lens

by the way tft stands for thin film transistor.

greg

Guzzler

Going back to the orginal question about LCD & TFT technology, I found this information which explains how it works.

Toms Hardware - LCD Technology It's in the middle of an article comparing Plasma and LCD for television, but it is really nice and detailed.

gus

Guzzler wrote:

Going back to the orginal question about LCD & TFT technology, I found this information which explains how it works.

Toms Hardware - LCD Technology It's in the middle of an article comparing Plasma and LCD for television, but it is really nice and detailed.

Tks guzz...i keep forgetting about that site...i will go & have a read now.

gus

gtc wrote:

gus

i went through this a few months back and ended up with an LG flatron crt.

the colour and resolution is still better than tft/lcd and much,much cheaper,at least in Melbourne.its a flat screen too.

the money you "save" by buying a crt over tft/lcd can then be put away for your next L lens

by the way tft stands for thin film transistor.

greg

Thats what im finding GTC.

I live in a smallish inner city flat & am moving to a smaller one so i was hoping for a laptop or LCD but as you mention...i dont think they can compare with CRT. I was hoping to have a laptop with wireless.

Which model & size CRT LG ?

Hard to believe that LG has performed so well & virtually dominated the electronic/white goods market so quickly here in 0z.

Gus