Contrast Ratio on Monitors

ehrenc

Hi there,

I've been with smugmug for about a year or so now, but I've only decided recently to pop over to these forums. So I should thank everyone for their questions and clear answers as they have helped greatly with my own smugmug account.

I am in the search for a new monitor, however I am confused about contrast ratio: is a greater contrast ratio always better? I have seen monitors with 2000:1 ... is it more representative of the photograph on screen or does it mean we actually see detail that we would likely not see on a photograph that is printed? Would there be a huge difference if I just decided to go for a monitor that had say, 700:1 ?

Thanks in advance for anyone's help

~ Ehren

Ric Grupe

Here is a quote:

Contrast Ratio
All LCD screens get their brightness from lighting behind the actual LCD films. This light has the tendency to wash out the colors and provide a close approximation on most colors. The contrast ratio of a LCD flat panel is the rating of how distinguishable various shades of color are. The higher the contrast ratio of the screen, the better the color representation is by the monitor. When comparing monitors try to find two models of similar size from the same manufacturer with different contrast ratios. The screen with the higher contrast ratio should have better color.




From this page.

David_S85

What Ric said, and I'll add that while specs of contrast ratios are nice to compare, read real reviews and find out what the tested figures are. Manufacturers love to claim super high values. Response time is one of those, but rise and fall is a better indication.