Warning: this gets pretty geeky at times!

A recent encounter with a friend’s 23” widescreen LCD monitor made me realize that I am little behind the times.  Although I have been teaching in my workshops that the monitor you use for image editing should be replaced every couple of years, I have happily been plugging away on my trusty 19-inch CRT for almost four years now.  After seeing that big LCD, I came down with monitor envy and I made a quick trip to a big box electronics store to see what is out there.  The wall of bright colorful monitors was impressive and a bit overwhelming, and I instantly realized I would need to do a little research into what makes a good monitor for an outdoor photographer like me who shoots digitally and spends countless hours on the computer editing and “developing” my images.

The first thing I noticed is that finding a new CRT is like finding a local lab to process E-6 film in my home state of New Hampshire.  They practically no longer exist.  A few years ago, imaging professionals were preaching that CRT’s were necessary for critical work and that LCD’s should be avoided for those tasks.  That is no longer the case, as LCD technology has improved considerably to the point that many monitors now match or surpass CRT’s in their ability to render tone and color accurately.  In addition to that good news is the fact that LCD’s are much easier to make in the widescreen format, and of course they are much lighter.  LCD’s are the obvious choice when buying a new monitor today, but the challenge from a consumer’s standpoint is sorting through the myriad choices when deciding which monitor is best for your image editing and your budget.

The first, and I think easiest, choice to make is between a widescreen model (16:9 aspect ratio) and a traditional model (4:3 aspect ratio.)  For photographers, a widescreen monitor is the obvious choice because the software we use, especially Photoshop CS3, Lightroom, and Aperture, are really designed to be used with a wider screen.  If you are intent on being a two-monitor person, then the traditional monitor format is still a reasonable choice, but I love working on the widescreen and recommend you try one out if you’re on the fence about it. 

After deciding on a format, there are several monitor specs to consider including brightness, contrast ratio, viewing angle, color gamut, and resolution.  All current model LCD’s have plenty of brightness and contrast.  In fact, most screens come preset to display too bright of an image and the brightness as well as contrast may need to be toned down during calibration to insure that they don’t blow out highlight detail.  Because of this, higher end monitors often have a lower contrast ratio, in the 400:1 to 1000: 1 range then less expensive monitors, so if you opt for a more affordable choice, try to convince a dealer to let you calibrate a floor sample so you can confirm that they can maintain color fidelity and detail when their brightness is turned down.

The viewing angle spec describes how much you can change your line of sight from side to side and still have the monitor display an acceptable image.  You will notice that as you sit directly in front of the monitor, color and tone is fairly uniform from corner to corner (if it’s not, move on to another choice,) but as you change your point of view, colors will start to shift, contrast goes down, and some areas of the screen will start to look darker.  Manufacturer specs will list viewing angles as anywhere from 150 degrees to 170 degrees (and beyond.)  The way this is determined can vary greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer, so the only way to truly tell if a viewing angle is acceptable is to view the monitor in person.  Obviously, the bigger the monitor, the more important a large viewing angle becomes.

In my opinion the most exciting feature of the new LCD monitors is an increased color gamut.  For years, we’ve all been working on our color images using two main color spaces, sRGB and Adobe RGB, with sRGB being the smaller gamut used for monitor displays and Adobe RGB being the larger gamut that we use to prepare images for printing (I know some of you are using the even bigger space, ProPhoto RGB, but that’s not even part of the equation for monitor displays yet.)   A couple of years ago, only the very best LCD’s displayed all of the colors in the sRGB color space, let alone a high percentage of Adobe RGB.  Today, the top of the line monitors are capable of displaying 90% or more of the Adobe RGB color space.  Working in this wider color space means that you will get much blacker blacks and smoother tonal gradations in your display, which reduces the possibility of banding and increases the amount of shadow detail that you will see on the screen. 

To achieve near Adobe RGG color, manufacturers have built some of the graphics processing, specifically the color look up table or LUT for short, into the monitor itself (bypassing the computer’s graphics card,) which lets them use ten or twelve bit color versus the typical eight bit.  This means that buying into a wide gamut monitor will cost you – typically twice as much as monitors with a smaller color gamut. If you can view a wide gamut LCD next to a smaller gamut model, do it.  You will be impressed.

Lastly, you need to consider resolution and monitor size, which is a simple proposition.  Choose the highest resolution screen you can find for the size monitor you are buying (this will give you the most detail and sharpness in your display,) but don’t bother comparing resolutions between different-sized screens.  Resolution is measured in pixels, i.e. 1680 x 1050 is 1680 pixels wide and 1050 pixels tall.  A resolution of 1680 x 1050 on a 20-inch screen is going to look sharper than the same resolution on a 23-inch screen because the wider screen has to spread those pixels out over a bigger area, so to achieve a similar look the 20-inch, the 23-inch screen will need a higher resolution.  Obviously, the size monitor you choose will depend primarily on how much space you have on your desktop and how much money is in your bank account.

Even after learning what features to focus on, you will have a lot of monitors to sort through when making your buying decision.  After talking with several manufacturers and looking at a wide variety of screens, I’ve compiled the following list of monitors as a starting place for those ready to buy.  These products range in price from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand.  All are more expensive than the typical monitor included with a new computer system purchase, but I feel the upgrade is worth it if you plan to do critical image editing.

If you are looking for an affordable big screen, check out the HP LP2465 ($649.00) from Hewlett-Packard, a 24-inch widescreen monitor with 1920 x 1200 resolution and a stated 178 degree viewing angle.  Many monitors in this price range have trouble maintaining color fidelity when their brightness is turned down to an acceptable level for image editing,  but this monitor does well in this regard and also responds very well when being calibrated with a colorimeter like Pantone’s Spyder.   If you want to go real big, take a look at the 30-inch version (LP3065.)

Apple was at the forefront of the LCD monitor revolution, eschewing CRT’s in 2001, and they designed their line of LCD’s with the graphics professional in mind. Their Apple Cinema Display line-up includes 20-inch, 23-inch, and 30-inch widescreen displays, which range in price from $599.00 to $1799.00.  Apple has worked hard to maintain consistency between the displays, so you will find that they all maintain excellent color fidelity from corner to corner with their stated viewing angle of 170 degrees.  They also look pretty nice on the desktop with their snazzy brushed aluminum case that not only looks good, but provides a nice neutral viewing environment.  And in case you were wondering, these displays work on both Mac and Windows PC’s.

NEC has a large range of LCD choices, but of most interest to photographers doing critical color work is their line of high gamut monitors, denoted by an “SV” or “LED” at the end of the model number.  These models range in size from a 19-inch traditional format screen to a 26-inch widescreen.  They are pricey compared to the Apple and HP monitors - for example the Multisync LCD2490WUXiSV, a 24-inch widescreen panel retails for $1749.99 - but the extra money gives you a panel with an internal 12-bit gamma look up table that can display 93% of the Adobe RGB color space.  You also get a colorimeter thrown in.

LaCie’s 300 and 500 series LCD’s also use an internal 12-bit color look up table to provide excellent color and tonal reproduction.  Their top of the line 526 ($2099.99) display boasts 95% of the Adobe RGB color space, and all LaCie monitors come with a LaCie easy hood, a gray hood that can be fit around the monitor to reduce the ambient light reaching the display and improving the viewing environment for precise color work.  You can also optionally purchase LaCie’s “blue eye colorimeter” for calibration that is specifically tailored to LaCie’s monitors.

Eizo’s ColorEdge line of monitors are built specifically for graphics professionals and photographers.  Like the NEC and LaCie displays mentioned above, Eizo ColorEdge displays have built-in color look up tables (either 10-bit or 12-bit) resulting in a wide color gamut (their top of the line CG221 achieves 100% Adobe RGB, but retails for more than $5000.00).  The CE240W ($1799.00) features a 24-inch widescreen panel, a monitor hood, and and Eizo’s patented brightness stabilization technology.  Eizo is unique in offering a five year warranty on their displays, which is a year or two longer than what most other manufacturers offer.

Note:  All the monitors here use digital connections (DVI), which provides a more accurate display of digital images than analog connections because there is no need for a digital-to-analog conversion (30-inch displays require something called a dual-link DVI connection.)  All new graphics cards have a DVI connection, but if you have an older computer, you’ll need to confirm that your graphics card will connect to new your new monitor.

For a schedule of Jerry’s upcoming photo workshops, including his August 2008 tour of Ireland, visit www.jerryandmarcymonkman.com.

 

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