Looking for Monitor recommendations

[imann08]

I am looking for a new LCD monitor and was wondering what everyone had to say on the subject. I've got a PC by the way.

The other question I have regards the effect a wide screen monitor has on a Wacom tablet. I have heard that it throws tablets off because they are shaped differently than normal 4:3 monitors. Has anyone heard anything about this?

[BobJones]

Originally Posted by imann08

The other question I have regards the effect a wide screen monitor has on a Wacom tablet. I have heard that it throws tablets off because they are shaped differently than normal 4:3 monitors. Has anyone heard anything about this?

It doesn't throw the tablet off. The default is for the tablet driver to map the tablet width and height to the monitor width and height. But, you can easily change that and remap the tablet active area to match the aspect ratio of the monitor. The only downside is that you will be using less of the tablet working area.

If you are buying a wide screen monitor and a tablet, I'd recommend getting a tablet that comes close to the aspect ratio of the monitor. If you already have a tablet, you can continue to use it with the new monitor. You might not even feel the need to change the mapping in the driver. It usually only matters if you are doing something like tracing a drawing on the tablet where it's important to maintain strict linearity.

[imann08]

Thanks for that info.

[KR1156]

i recently got a 21.1" Eizo, and a intuos wacom tablet that matches the widescreen ratio and love it. great monitor compared to the apple lcds we use at work. they suck.

[K.C.]

Originally Posted by KR1156

i recently got a 21.1" Eizo, and a intuos wacom tablet that matches the widescreen ratio and love it. great monitor compared to the apple lcds we use at work. they suck.

I run a commercial studio where we have several of the original Apple Cinema Displays in use. They're all calibrated with GM i1 and work quite well. I have a SONY Artisan that we use as a reference if there is ever a doubt about skin tones.

Based on our experience I'm surprised to see that you think the ACDs suck. Perhaps they're not calibrated ?

The Eizo monitors are very nice, most use proprietary LUTs and benefit from a higher bit rate in the tables.

[KR1156]

i have my apple cinema display at work calibrated with eye one display-2....color is decent.....but i've gone through 2 ACD's that had very bad burn-in problems where anything that was left on the screen for more than 5 min would stay ghosted for like 20 min, and also get this magenta-ish glow around the edges of the screen. same problems happened to a friend of mines ACD also.

the ACD's are hard to work on if theyre not calibrated, color is very blown out and light.

[Ant]

The ACDs do stink. Backlight bleed, calibration drifts sometimes even throughout the day, non-even color throughout screen, sub par viewing angle. I've an Eizo at the job job and at the home office I've a trusty Lacie 22 that I still love. The Eizo is nice, but the price and sometimes the calibration, no matter how hard you try, leaves a little to be desired. I wish they'd make a curve option for tweaking the profile rather than the hue, gamma, etc. I would be interested to know anyones experience with a Westinghouse LTV-37W2 37" LCD TV used as a monitor for retouching and color. I'm not certain how one would/could calibrate it. I hear good things though.

[K.C.]

It sounds like Apple dropped the ball with the second generation of ACDs. Mine are the first ones with the wide white surround. They've been great.

[Ant]

yeah, the first gen ones were/are better.

[NPiek]

I have a Gateway FPD2185 that rotates 90 Degrees works well for me.

[scott37040]

Any more recommendations out there? I'm a wedding/portrait photographer and a PC user and need to get an LCD monitor up to the task of accurately retouching portraits. I've heard two or three mention Eizo and one who loves the Lacie 22. What's the best for the pro?

Thanks,
Scott