Best Monitor for photos?

BeemerChef

Maybe this is the wrong place to ask, could not find better.
Would like Sony as use a Sony Laptop but they don't make monitors only.
19~21 max. LCD, flat acreen.
I am still confused between TV and Monitors. I don't watch TV so that part does not matter. I read, I read and read some more! Still in the dark...
Thank you all for the input.
Be well... Ara & Spirit

Pupator

BeemerChef wrote:

Maybe this is the wrong place to ask, could not find better.
Would like Sony as use a Sony Laptop but they don't make monitors only.
19~21 max. LCD, flat acreen.
I am still confused between TV and Monitors. I don't watch TV so that part does not matter. I read, I read and read some more! Still in the dark...
Thank you all for the input.
Be well... Ara & Spirit

Look in "Digital Darkroom Gear." There are tons of posts about monitors there. You're looking for an IPS or S-IPS panel so you'll probably be getting a Dell or an Apple.

kdog

Ara, get this: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=320-7825&cs=04&c=us&l=en

It gets great reviews. Here's one: http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/15/dells-2209wa-lcd-monitor-reviewed-deemed-king-of-22-inchers/

Cheers,
-joel

Ric Grupe

Consider this one.

Some review links.

BeemerChef

Hi Joel... how have you been?...

Well, the NEC of course is very nice...
The Dell contrast ratio is low + I really do not have that much room...

I was looking at the EIZO and this HP which seems to have it all with also a 3000:1 contrast ratio. Their larger model has a ratio of 60,000:1...

So, will be thinking... or should I say the $'s will be thinking...

Thanks and be well... Ara & Spirit

colourbox

Forget about contrast ratio, you are wasting your time and money if you buy using those numbers. Maybe if you could find contrast ratio numbers after calibration, but nobody supplies that.

http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdtv/lcd-tv-contrast-ratio.html

Contrast ratio stands out as probably the most blatant and ridiculous example of irrelevant manufacturers specifications...There are no standards which manufacturer's factories must follow in order to test...There are several ways that the factories produce these phenomenal contrast ratios...Basically, manufacturer's normal contrast ratio is worthless and the "Dynamic Contrast" ratio is doubly so.

BeemerChef

colourbox wrote:

Forget about contrast ratio, you are wasting your time and money if you buy using those numbers. Maybe if you could find contrast ratio numbers after calibration, but nobody supplies that.

http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdtv/lcd-tv-contrast-ratio.html

Very informative... thanks! I even saw one that had a 60.000:1 ratio...

Be well... Ara & Spirit

Newsy

Best sites for reviews...

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews.htm

http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/reviews.html

btw... Prad's reviews of the past year or two are very detailed. In particular, they discuss the contrast ratio AFTER calibration. Pretty much all monitors have a CR less than 1000:1 after calibration - even the "best in class" units.

Those 60,000:1 figures you read of are for Dynamic Contrast - it is usually associated with one viewing mode on the monitor which is never the mode used for custom calibrated viewing.

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I think a lot of the latest HDTV's are the same way. Certainly I can testify that Panasonic plasma's are like that. Only the "Vivid" mode has dynamic contrast (on my 2007 model). Interestingly, most of the guru's over at the AVR forums suggest you don't use this mode to set up your TV for most accurate viewing.

There can be a number of issues with using a 32" LCD HDTV for viewing.

For starters, their resolution is 1920x1080. You may not like the image if you sit too close.

If you can get access to the set's "service menu" you can often find quite a number of settings that can be tweaked to calibrate the screen - perhaps more than a computer monitor. This can be confusing as some parameters are indecipherable.

Their color space is maybe not as well documented/defined as a computer monitor so until you get a calibrator onto it you're not sure what you're getting. It likely won't be wide gamut so if you work with the AdobeRGB or ProPhotoRGB color space this may not be the ideal solution.

If you already have puck from Spyder2, Spyder3, or i1D2, you can use the open source colormiter software- HCFR - to calibrate your TV after it is connected to your laptop.

HCFR > http://www.homecinema-fr.com/colorimetre/index_en.php

Help 1 > http://www.curtpalme.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10457

Help 2 > http://www.marcelpatek.com/hcfr.html


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Don't buy a HDTV unless it has a IPS type panel. That's the key for computer monitors as well - the panel.

In terms of image quality for photo editing, these are the TFT LCD panel types from best to worst:

IPS (newer variants are S-IPS, AS-IPS, H-IPS, e-IPS, etc)
PVA (newer variants are S-PVA, c-PVA)
MVA (newer variants are A-MVA, P-MVA, S-MVA, etc)
TN


If you would like some background on these panels, read this article:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/panel_technologies.htm

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BeemerChef

Just received the HP HDMI 21.5, nice... except of course the colors do not match my faithful Sony! So much red!!!...
OK... now to look for calibration thread...
My opinion is really the fact that all this is so silly!!! Why? Because I keep a Journal and I bet every single reader has a different calibration...
OK... feel so much better now... Thanks for all the support, I learned a lot.
Ara & Spirit