Monitors

[Ade G]

I have a question, do many people who are amateurs i.e do this for fun not for a living use a separate monitor.

I currently just use a laptop (I have calibrated the screen)

Those of you who do, could you briefly explain the benefits.

When I google 'Top 10 Monitors' you get a range of monitors from £3-400 up to whatever you want to pay.

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/20...photo-editing/

One of the best value for money in that test was the Assus at £374

so i guess the question is will I notice a difference in my processing results if a bought a monitor at this sort price (I certainly cannot justify £700+ at this stage)

Thanks for any comments you may have.

[Gidders]

There are a number of things to consider when you're buying a monitor and I'm not sure how balanced a view that link gives with coments like 'ugly, its looks don’t match its price' & ' just not very nice-looking, which is a shame' when to my mind, performance is the key.

First things first though. Having a seperate mointor gives you more desktop real estate and programs like Lightroom & Photoshop came display different things on each monitor. Even without that capability a laptop will typically have a 1366 x 768 px display where as a 24" montor could be 1980 x 1200 px (some are only 1980 x 1080) which is more than twice the desktop space of a laptop screen. I cant do any serious editing on my laptop - its just too small & also has viewing angle issues - see below. Some 27" monitors give you 2560 x 1440 (beware some are still only 1980 x 1200) which is 3.5 times your laptop. So size is important but not all 24" or 27" monitors are the same.

Next consideration is the technology TN, VA or IPS. Your laptop scren is almost certainly TN technology. When you view it at different angles the colours & brightness will change - not good for photo editing. Better photoediting monitors should be IPS panels.

The third consideration should be wide gamut or not. Non wide gamut monitors, which is the majority of them have a color gamut that matches the SRGB color gamut. sRGB color gamut is not as wide as Adobe 1998 version, & Lightroom uses Pro Photo which is even wider. Some of the Adobe colour space outside the sRGB colour space can be printed via your inkjet printer. As a result, your camera can record colors and they can be printed with your printer. However, you cannot see them on your monitor if you do not have a wide gamut monitor. But if you never print your images & they are only viewed digitaly (via projection or on the web) then there is little benefit in wide gamut or Adobe RGB.

Have a look at this article http://www.color-management-guide.co...o-editing.html

[Ade G]

So basically having read all that, an IPS monitor is going to mean no angle issues when looking at the screen, larger screen with more consistent colour

The author seems to take the practical view there are some very good monitors at reasonable prices (even cheaper than the Assus in the 1st test I read) which the average person would find difficult to tell the difference in over more expensive ones

As a beginner I could do a lot worse than a 24in - HP 23xi, Dell 24in Ultrasharp (both available under £200) or the Assus 1st mentioned. Any of this would be significantly superior to a laptop

With a view possibly to upgrading to a 2nd (additional) better quality monitor some time in the future.

Am I somewhere near or missed the point?

[Gidders]

If you're not unvesting in a wide gamut monitor at this stage (£5/600+) then that's pretty much the case.

Of the two you mention, I'd go for the Dell it's 24" & 1920 x 1200 against the hp 23" & 1920 x 1080 but either will be a big improvement over your laptop screen

[Ade G]

If you have a battery icon on your lower toolbar, click on that & you should be able to go into menu that adjusts screen brightness or go into control panel from the start btton & into power options or power management & go into change power settings. For photo editing set it to full power. this will of course reduce battery time if youre not plugged into the mains

[davet47]

Just read all the above posts. I used to use a 23" monitor for editing but since we rearranged the office this has migrated to "she who must be obeyed"'s computer and I'm now just using my laptop screen, with its inherent colour changes through angle of view etc.I have a 19" TV quite close to my desk-has anyone any experience of using a TV as a monitor?It has both VGA and HDMI sockets.

Dave