My Monitor. Its official,,,,

[handicap18]

IT SUCKS!!!

Ok, so we got back from our adults only Disney weekend late last night. I took tons of pics. During some free time after the parks I downloaded 2 of the media cards to the laptop and they looked great!

Today I start downloading them to my desktop computer (I have almost all of them, just need to transfer some from the laptop to the desktop). I'm looking at a few of them and they seem kind of on the dark side. They don't look as bright as I saw in the camera display nor on the laptop.

I now have the laptop setup right next to the desktop and there is a big difference on how the pictures look. So I downloaded 1 from the desktop to photobucket and compare the 2 screens. On my desktop the pic is very dark, looks way underexposed. On the laptop it looks awesome. Just like I remember it looking on the camera's display.

Here is the pic that I compared:

On the laptop you can clearly see the tops of the trees, the blues are brighter, the purple is brighter, the umbrelle is more defined, you can see the bark of the tree on the right/top edge. Like I said, the pic looks like it did on the camera (only better). On my desktop monitor everything above spaceship earth is black. You can't see the tops of the trees at all, you can barely see the bark on the closeup tree on the right edge. So I went to the monitors controls and bumped up the contrast and brightness all the way to 100% and can now see that there are tree tops though they don't look great. The pic still looks a few stops overexposed. I also just showed it to DW and even with bumping up the contrast and brightness it still doesn't look good on the monitor.

I think its time for a new monitor. I know that I could have it calibrated. But the monitor itself is old. I got it with my first computer about 8 years ago. Is it worth calibrating or should I hold tight a bit longer save up and get a new flat panel LCD monitor (It certainly will take up a lot less space).

 

[pisco]

You can try calibrating using WiziWYG from Praxis Software. It's a free utility for profiling your monitor, scanner and printer. I'd be willing to bet that by using this utility and changing the gamma of the monitor from Windows standard (2.2) to Macintosh standard (1.8) you will see a big improvement. It may not eliminate the need to upgrade to an LCD monitor but it should help until you do get a new one.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Either way, you WILL need a monitor calibration unit anyway. Either you buy it now or you buy it later, it's an unavoidable expenditure. Just get HUEY, it's practically the cheapest one on the market. (and accurate at the same time)

 

[safetymom]

Even if you get a new monitor it will need to be calibrated. I explain it to people by pointing out did you ever walk into a store with a display of tv's. Notice some of them look different? That is ok on a tv but not on a computer monitor. It has to be adjusted correctly to do editing. It may look ok on a monitor and not print correctly but that is because your monitor probably isn't seeing it correctly. A printer is the dumb part of the process. It prints what the computer tells it to. So it is very important that your monitor be adjusted correctly.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

no, it's not even okay on TV because then when you watch a movie, it's not the way the director(s) intended. You can get AVIA TV visual calibration DVD for around $30 to calibrate your TV. The difference will be night and day. I went a step further and have all my TV calibrated using colorimeter (I'm ISF certified, so I already have the colorimeter anyway).

 

[safetymom]

But the point is that it needs to be accurate for printing. You may want to calibrate a TV monitor but I don't think most people do.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Believe it or not, there is enough people who wants their TV monitor calibrated than their PC monitor calibrated. The home-theatre industry is so hell bent about properly calibrated monitors now even Pioneer plasma TVs (Elite Series), Sony, Panasonic, Yamaha, Mitsubishi and even Westinghouse plasma monitor (MSRP US$3000) are already calibrated from the factory to ISF standard. Still not as accurate personally calibrating the TV, but they are almost bang on.

PS: usually the calibrated version is either under MOVIE mode or PROFESSIONAL/PRO mode on the TV.

 

[safetymom]

Thanks for the information.

 

[AZ JazzyJ]

I just went through this myself. My monitor unexpectedly died and I was faced with trying to decide what to do. My hand was kind of forced since the power supply in the monitor crashed so I had to get a new one. I planned to get a 20" flat screen LCD but given the price point (and the online coupon industry) I was able to get a 24" widescreen for the same price as I was going to pay for a square 20". I love it! I now have room for all the Photoshop tools and I still have a decent sized workspace. I tried a lot of different color calibration tools but I settled on the Gretag MacBeth Eye One. They make one just for monitors (both CRT and LCD) called the Display One and then they make higher end models that not only calibrate the monitor but also other sections of your workflow as well. I personally like the Photo One as it allows me to calibrate the monitor, printers, flat bed scanner, and even measures ambient light in the room. You can also calibrate your camera using their color card but I’ve not tried that part yet. All of that functionality comes at a price though as the Photo One is more expensive than my monitor. I’m hoping though that it pays off in the long run by saving me time and aggravation.



Jeff

 

[handicap18]

Good points all. Thanks for the imput. I think I will look into calibrating the monitor first, then later down the road get a new one. More fun for me! riiiiight.