Digital BW, The Print

Dear community,

let me shortly leave my lurker's status to ask for some advice on the 
choice of a 24" LCD Monitor. Since we have similar expectations from our 
Hardware, I will probably get more appropriate advice from you than from 
a general monitor forum.

The most important work on my new workstation will of course be B&W 
photography using Photoshop and Lightroom. But since I also plan to do 
some HD video editing (Premiere), and my budget is not unlimited, I had 
taken some interest in the Benq FP241W (or even FP241WZ) for its 
additional video-oriented inputs and excellent price/performance ratio.

Upon reflection, I start being worried about insufficient tonal 
separation in the B&W shadows and have been thinking of an Eizo CE240W 
instead. But: almost double cost, not at all geared towards video, and 
the "lowest" member of a, though, superior class (different technology 
if I'm not mistaken).

Could anybody with more experience be so kind and comment on this?

Many thanks,

Louis

(from Zurich, Switzerland)

Louis -

The problem with LCDs is their "off center" variation and the limitations
imposed by viewing angle. Best are the Eizos and LaCies with a healthy nod
to the Eizos. With any of the others, looking up toward the top of the
monitor, down toward the bottom, or changing your viewing angle changes how
light or dark the image appears - not a good thing. It makes it hard to
evaluate density.

That said, most budgets are growing smaller rather than larger. For reasons
of practicality I went with the Samsung 226BW which is a stunning monitor
(though they were supplied with a couple of different LCD screens and I have
been told only one of these screens is a good one). Next up the food chain
are the Apple Cinema displays which are a little less pricey than the Eizos
and not as good. The Samsung's colors are excellent, it calibrates well,
however it does have this disappointing viewing angle problem that makes it
hard for me to judge softproofs in terms of how light or dark the print will
be. The equivalent 24-inch model also get good reviews. The equivalent HP is
also supposed to be very good. I would really stay away from anything else.
Just my .02.


-- 
Rick Colson
rick.colson@...

Check out the Samsung 245T which has an S-PVA panel.

Louis - the best monitor will be an IP-S type screen. They are about
the best at handling viewing angle problems, for one. I suggest you
take a careful look at NEC monitors.



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Louis de Stoutz
<loudest@...> wrote:
>
> Dear community,
> 
> let me shortly leave my lurker's status to ask for some advice on the 
> choice of a 24" LCD Monitor. Since we have similar expectations from
our 
> Hardware, I will probably get more appropriate advice from you than
from 

> a general monitor forum.
> 
> The most important work on my new workstation will of course be B&W 
> photography using Photoshop and Lightroom. But since I also plan to do 
> some HD video editing (Premiere), and my budget is not unlimited, I had 
> taken some interest in the Benq FP241W (or even FP241WZ) for its 
> additional video-oriented inputs and excellent price/performance ratio.
> 
> Upon reflection, I start being worried about insufficient tonal 
> separation in the B&W shadows and have been thinking of an Eizo CE240W 
> instead. But: almost double cost, not at all geared towards video, and 
> the "lowest" member of a, though, superior class (different technology 
> if I'm not mistaken).
> 
> Could anybody with more experience be so kind and comment on this?
> 
> Many thanks,
> 
> Louis
> 
> (from Zurich, Switzerland)
>

My RTC Viewsonic went dead sometime ago so I switched to flat screen. After long search I went for the IIyama prolite B2403WS, which is a 24'.
It is doing the job fine for photography, the angle of view isn't that problematic, set it up properly at the right height and you can really work with it.
The best screens are xxxLED, we have to wait another few years before the technology get steady and price get down, so this screen is a very transition price/quality.

I calibrate it, results are wysiwyg strait from the first print PROVIDED that you get a proper calibration system, not are they all equal. Some users don't even calibrate it and are happy with it, depends on how fussy you are, I am !
With this screen I don't need to re-calibrate every two weeks , I haven't done for months and my prints are what I get on the monitor, that is a great improvement from RTC monitor, specially an old one.

Shall I have to insist on the fact that printing profiles have to be personnal, for your printer and the inks/papers used, that is essential and is the follow up after screen calibration.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I was just wondering if any other samsung monitors besides the 245T   
have an S-PVA panel and are recommended by this group?

thanks
Larry.