LED or LDC monitor for retouching

[james laubscher]

Thank you Simon, your explanation was very useful.

take care.
--
jamesza

 

[mustang_fan]

Last year, I purchased one of those 60 inch 3D plasmas and I love it. Best buy wanted me to pay them over 300.00 to calibrate it and that is ludicrous. I never heard of calibrating a TV but if it is needed, I will check to see where I can get a TV calibrator device and do it myself because if a person is suppose to calibrate their TVs as often as their computer monitor, then I know for sure I would never pay Best Buy 300.00 or more every time it needs to be done.

Have you ever heard of this and do you have someone do this for you or do you do it yourself and with what device do you use?
--
Melissa
http://www.atncentral.com

 

[Genix]

Yes, it makes a big difference when they calibrate the TV. I have a Samsung Plasma and BB came and did the hardware calibration - the viewing went from dull to extremely good. Once the TV is calibrated, it is not a bad idea to have it done again every few years as colors and lighting will shift. This assumes you are picky about how your TV screen looks when watching HD or Bluray content.

BTW, the hardware calibrator for a plasma TV is far and away much more expensive than a Spyder.

Last year, I purchased one of those 60 inch 3D plasmas and I love it. Best buy wanted me to pay them over 300.00 to calibrate it and that is ludicrous. I never heard of calibrating a TV but if it is needed, I will check to see where I can get a TV calibrator device and do it myself because if a person is suppose to calibrate their TVs as often as their computer monitor, then I know for sure I would never pay Best Buy 300.00 or more every time it needs to be done.

Have you ever heard of this and do you have someone do this for you or do you do it yourself and with what device do you use?
--
Melissa
http://www.atncentral.com

 

[NewsyL]

BTW, the hardware calibrator for a plasma TV is far and away much more expensive than a Spyder.

The pro's use a spectrophotometer which run between $1000 to $2000 vs the $100 to $200 for the colorimeter's found in the Spyder3's or i1's.

You can find some info on these things here:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews.htm

Spyder offers a specific HDTV kit:
http://spyder.datacolor.com/product-ht-s3tv.php

I believe we can use our i1 and Spyder3 pucks with HCFR software to calibrate our LCD's and Plasmas.

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

Me... I took the lazy man's way out and bought a TV that had been reviewed by a couple of different technicians where they published their settings. Between them I've found a sweet spot and am really enjoying it. I may get around to doing my own calibration but there are a bunch of other things pending I need to do first (like process some photos from my vacation a year ago).

.

--


Newsy http://newsy.smugmug.com

.

 

[maverick01]

BTW, the hardware calibrator for a plasma TV is far and away much more expensive than a Spyder.

I just had a thought. What if you ran the calibration software off a notebook but put the capture dongle on the TV connected via HDMI. I know the software could not calibrate the TV automatically, since the software is actually controlling the notebook, but I think some calibration software may let you calibrate it manually by playing with the TV settings.

 

[Ronj2]

I don't know why manufactures just don't calibrate the sets themselves. Most sets / models are pretty close to each other in color, so really they would only need to calibrate an occasional set for reference. That would not be 100% accurate but al least they would be a lot closer than they are now. They could put it in the menu as a separate setting if they want to display the sets with the current color & gray scale.

You buy a $6,000 TV panel and you still have to pay someone $300 to get the colors right. At least the panels should come with some way for self calibration, or at least offer it as an inexpensive option after the sale so you can do it your self.

With technology where it is, correct color should be a non issue in panels capable of displaying it. Maybe that will be a selling point for the next generation of panels to get us to buy a new monitor TV again.

--

Sincerely

Ron J

 

[Pictus]

I don't know why manufactures just don't calibrate the sets themselves.(...)

TV I do not know, but there are only 2 monitors that self calibrate, the Eizo CG275W and CG245W, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlUqXoTy6_A

 

[Simon Garrett]

I don't know why manufactures just don't calibrate the sets themselves.(...)

TV I do not know, but there are only 2 monitors that self calibrate, the Eizo CG275W and CG245W, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlUqXoTy6_A

Some monitors do sort of profile themselves. Almost. That is, many modern monitors return "EDID" status information (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDID ). Among other things, the EDID can return the chromaticity co-ordinates of the monitor's R, G and B primaries. So it's possible to generate a profile with approximate colour space info from that. Calibrize (Google for it) is the only software package I know that builds a profile based on EDID chromaticity co-ordinates. And of course, manufacturers often supply default profiles with the monitor which could (but I don't know if they do) contain colour space info.
--
Simon

 

[mustang_fan]

I looked up that monitor that calibrates itself and I was blown away by the price of 2800.00. For that price, I have to ask, is Eizo the absolutely best computer monitor in the world? It should be if it isn't for that price. It doesn't come with any USB or HDMI ports like the HD Dreamcolor that I wish I had.

I just wonder who really does have the best monitor when you consider that it wouldn't make a difference if a person did have the best monitor in the world because if it is not calibrated correctly or say I retouched an image to my liking but others didn't like it, that best monitor in the world wouldn't make a bit of difference at all. Do you see what I am trying to say?
--
Melissa
http://www.atncentral.com

 

[mustang_fan]

because I was told this is a top of the line monitor and I paid over 1200.00 for it but when I used it to correct photos, no one noticed so I am not sure if it is because I retouch photos to my liking or if I did not calibrate it perfectly or because it wasn't really a top of the line monitor as reviewed.
--
Melissa
http://www.atncentral.com

 

[Pictus]

Ask a PRO violinist if a high end model makes a difference...
Opus 58 beats Stradivarius.
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/090915_violin.htm

The HP DreamColor LP2480zx is a lonely beast from HP, I guess they abandoned the high end monitor market, here you got a review http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2009/review-hp-lp2480zx.html

I do not know if Eizo is the best of the world, but they are one of the tops. The current high end models, the ones with hardware internal LUT , from QUATO, Eizo, NEC, Lacie are considered the best...

Also the best connection today is DisplayPort, because it can deliver 30bit(10 per channel) output when using a Nvidia Quadro or ATI Fire class video card + a capable monitor and a supported software like Adobe CS5.

 

[Jazon]

wow so much info I never knew about before, what an educational thread this has been! One questions though, the monitors which come on the Apple iMac's, are they good? Is their panel technology TN? And, I guess if you buy an iMac then one needs to get it hardware calibrated right? By taking it to a shop or something?

 

[mustang_fan]

I have learned a lot on this thread as well from just posting the question. I have the LaCie 321 that I purchased in '08 and since my main computer is on the blink right now, I hooked it up to my son's computer to use and calibrated it again so I will see how well I calibrated it in due time.

As for the Apple displays, you can buy a calibrator yourself that supports them and calibrate it yourself. So much less expensive than having someone else do it for you.
--
Melissa
http://www.atncentral.com

 

[akjos]

How much money do you want to spend ? And how big monitor do you need or want?

I currently have 22" samsung 1680 x 1050 and its ok. especially for 200 bucks I paid for it about 2 Years ago.
From "sane" choices the best deals seem

http://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VP2365WB-23-Inch-IPS-Monitor/dp/B002R0JJYO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301880503&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/NEC-EA231WMi-BK-23-Inch-MultiSync-Widescreen/dp/B002LARVYK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1301880503&sr=8-2

I'd get this one once I have 4-500 extra $$

http://www.amazon.com/HP-ZR24w-24-inch-S-IPS-Monitor/dp/B003D1ADUU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1301880503&sr=8-4

Seems like best deal for decent monitor and decent size. ALSO I like the 16:10 format which is 1900x1200 on this one, rather then most 16:9 nowadays...

I took some of my favorite photos on a "stick" and went to best buy and viewed them on 27" IPS Imac.... they looked good but not for 1000 bucks( thats how much apple charges for monitor alone)

The point is, once you get past 500 or maybe 700 wall, there is very little returns, especially with resolution. I personally wouldnt spend double just to get 2560x1440 res, instead on 1900x1200.

If I won the lottery sure... as a normal "mortal" individual, heeell no. I'd rather buy extra prime or a flash...
--
http://www.infiniteartphotography.com
http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleries

 

[mustang_fan]

For the time being, I hooked up my older LaCie 321 that I purchased quite a few years ago calibrated it and will use that until I get my main computer back from the shop and then I think I am going to go with a ViewSonic that was suggested in one of the posts for the second computer. I had a ViewSonic years ago and it really was a nice bright monitor for a good price.
--
Melissa
http://www.atncentral.com

 

[akjos]

Yep, Viewsonic was the first link I suggested . I had VP201b while back that I paid like 700 buck for in 04 I think. It was 20.1" 1600x1200 IPS panel. It was great for its time, but no comparison to the new ones.
I was bummed that my DVI port went out after about 2.5 years ...
--
http://www.infiniteartphotography.com
http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleries

 

[Pictus]

I have learned a lot on this thread as well from just posting the question. I have the LaCie 321 that I purchased in '08 and since my main computer is on the blink right now, I hooked it up to my son's computer to use and calibrated it again so I will see how well I calibrated it in due time.

The Lacie 321 was a TOP monitor, if the backlight is not tired by the years of use, there is no reason to change for a cheap Viewsonic, problably the LaCie blue eye pro software can calibrate its internal hardware LUT, ask the support...

 

[Pictus]

wow so much info I never knew about before, what an educational thread this has been! One questions though, the monitors which come on the Apple iMac's, are they good? Is their panel technology TN? And, I guess if you buy an iMac then one needs to get it hardware calibrated right? By taking it to a shop or something?

I am not sure, I guess it is TN...

All monitors needs calibration, best to calibrate yourself and a Spyder3 Express is cheap...

 

[NewsyL]

wow so much info I never knew about before, what an educational thread this has been! One questions though, the monitors which come on the Apple iMac's, are they good? Is their panel technology TN? And, I guess if you buy an iMac then one needs to get it hardware calibrated right? By taking it to a shop or something?

I am not sure, I guess it is TN...

All the current Cinema Displays, 24 and 27", use H-IPS tft panels and with their W-LED back light, they support a standard sRGB gamut. They all have glossy front panels.

The 24" and 27" iMac's also have the same specs.

The current MacBooks use TN panels. With IPS panels starting to appear in other manufacturer's laptops (HP & Lenovo confirmed to date) I expect Apple will follow with a MacBook Pro+ soon.

.

--


Newsy http://newsy.smugmug.com

.

 

[graybalanced]

I just wonder who really does have the best monitor when you consider that it wouldn't make a difference if a person did have the best monitor in the world because if it is not calibrated correctly or say I retouched an image to my liking but others didn't like it, that best monitor in the world wouldn't make a bit of difference at all. Do you see what I am trying to say?

At the places that use $3000 monitors, like National Geographic, it isn't a matter of whether you like it or not. It is a matter of whether your editors approve it, and everyone else who has to sign off on the image. At a catalog company, what matters is that you matched the colors of the actual clothes. And so on. These monitors are not about playing around with Photoshop until you "like" it. It's about meeting specified job requirements for the reproduction of color, all the way up and down the tonal range, where things like banding in the shadows would not be noticed by Joe Home User but would get in the way of your job getting a million dollar press run out the door. And so you get a Eizo/NEC/LaCie.