What monitor are you editing on?

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Permalink Reply by Roger Ford on August 23, 2012 at 1:40am

A large screen does help, i use a HDMI lead from my laptop to my television. So when editing i tend to use my tv, and find it even more useful when sharpening an image. But overall you get to see more detail.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Ashley on August 23, 2012 at 1:56am

Interesting. I use a 30" mac now hooked up to a Power Mac G5 and I don't think I could live without it. My Macbook is a toy compared to it even when hooked to a larger monitor its just not fast enough.

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Permalink Reply by John on August 23, 2012 at 6:08am

you just wanna show off with your 30" mac screen Sarah!!! lmao (not jealous at all!) 

Although i've always been frustrated with my laptop screen, I didn't think a much bigger screen was necessary. I've never had a small screen, my laptop was 17", so it has never spent time on anyones lap, far too big! lol Looking at a laptop screen, the brightness and colour changes depending on the angle you look at it, calibrated or not, how do you know which is the correct angle? that was always my frustration! One advantage to this I suppose is it made me pay a lot more attention to my histogram when editing and reviewing images, but never the less, it was  a pain! 

I've recently bought a 21.5" iMac, and while the extra screen turned out to make far more difference than i expected, what did it for me was that no matter what angle you view the screen for, or what angle you have the screen tilted at, the brightness and colour are pretty much completely constant. It isn't calibrated and I don't really intend on doing so anytime soon, but at least I get consistent results and I know if I do calibrate it, then it's at least going to be reliable. 

So anyone considering buying a new computer or monitor I would definitely recommend the biggest and best your budget and space allow! I wish I had space to put a 30" monitor somewhere, let alone afford to buy it! lol 

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Ashley on August 24, 2012 at 1:21am

Lol well luckily my dad is a printer and has the large monitors anyway. And luckily we went into business together as a printer / photographer. Im not showing off it really truly is a huge difference from the tiny macbook and smaller monitor set up that I had before. It helps being able to see the image large so you don't miss anything in the image that may be out of place. You instantly see any mistakes just because of the size that you are viewing at. It could be a 30" pc screen I don't care as long as it is a good monitor.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Ashley on August 24, 2012 at 2:34am

I just think a large monitor makes you pickier about what images you conceder good because you see right away if a image is slightly out of focus so it forces you to produce better images. I also notice with smaller screens I am sitting way to close to the screen. With the larger one I can sit back. This may just be my bad eye sight (& im not even old yet hahaha).

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Permalink Reply by maestro vecchio on August 23, 2012 at 5:35am

I use a 30" NEC monitor which I find indispensable .

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Permalink Reply by Wayne Marner on August 23, 2012 at 7:51am

Personally I don't think size is the issue. I use two 19 inch monitors both calibrated with a device which adjusts the display depending on the temperature of light throughout the day. I feel that using two monitors is more useful than one very large monitor.

As for laptops - I would never dream of editing an image on one. No matter what the laptop the screen is never good enough.

If i had the cash I would opt for a monitor which produced colours in an Adobe RGB Colour profile because I do a lot of pre-press work (all others display an sRGB colour profile). But as were talking several thousand of my hard earned English Pounds I think I will have to keep dreaming

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Ashley on August 24, 2012 at 1:23am

Do you use one monitor for photoshop, indesign, and illustrator tools and one for viewing and editing the images? Thats how we use two monitors at our print shop even with our 30" monitors. The larger monitor is always our viewing space. Though we do have a PC with two monitors of the same size but that one is not typically used for layout / design work.

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Permalink Reply by Wayne Marner on August 24, 2012 at 2:43am

That's exactly how I use the two monitors. Having a larger monitor does have advantages for the viewing space but two smaller monitors in my opinion is much more useful than one very large one.

I don't think a larger monitor can help establish if an image is quality or trash. Whatever size the monitor this assessment can only really be made at 100% magnification which is possible on any size screen. Granted a smaller monitor would show a smaller section of the image at 100% magnification in comparison to a larger monitor, but then I rarely produce images intended for poster size output.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Ashley on August 24, 2012 at 4:24am

On a larger monitor i'm not finding a need for zooming in on a image before I spot a focus issue. 

Actually this is only true for subject that are closer to the camera. If they are further away then yes I still have to zoom in. 

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Permalink Reply by paul holmes on August 24, 2012 at 3:10am

just my opinion but i think too much is made about what equipment we have as in the best monitor,camera,software etc you can have the best in the world and still not take a good shot:)) my monitor is a 10 year old fujitsu 19" monitor and i have never had any problems with it also i have never had it calibrated:)) wayne is right about the 100% magnification but you do that on your editing software.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Ashley on August 24, 2012 at 4:27am

I just found a huge difference in a larger monitor and smaller monitor and found it has been so much more helpful for my business. -shrug- If you not doing so much editing then ya you wouldn't need it. 

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