Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/08/14

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Flat Panel Displays (slightly OT)
From: "Henning J. Wulff" <henningw@archiphoto.com>
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999 14:58:55 -0700

>Do any of the Digital Darkroom Docents (D3s?) on the LUG have experience
>using Photoshop to process images on computers with flat panel displays? My
>wife has long been frustrated by the snarl of cables and the sheer mass of
>my (our, really) set-up -- currently a Dell 400 with a 17" display, plus a
>scanner and two printers. She's discovered the new NEC Z1, with a 15" flat
>panel and a wireless keyboard, all fitting in a footprint of about 10" x
>12", and wants to "upgrade."
>
>My research indicates that flat panels get good marks for brilliance and
>intensity. How's the color, the contrast, the sharpness, etc.?
>Advice?///Dick Baznik

In a word: terrible. Flat panels (except for exotics like plasma) tend to
change color, contrast, saturation and brightness depending on the angle
you view them at. Not what you need for color work, or even B&W! It's
getting better, but far from good. I'm writing this on a Powerbook with a
very nice 14.1" 1024x768 TFT Flat Panel display, and the text is
outstandingly crisp, but for Photoshop work this screen is next to useless.
Stick with high quality CRT's. Best is to get one that is designed for or
even comes with a little color sensor you stick on the front to calibrate
it. More money, but not more money than a similarly sized Flat panel
display. I have a two monitor setup, with the better one being a Radius
PressView with calibrator. It's usually set at 1360x1024 pixels. The other
monitor with all the pallettes, other files that I copy things from, menu
bar, etc. is a more common CRT at 1152x870 pixels. I've had this sort of
setup since 1990, and couldn't live without it.

   *            Henning J. Wulff
  /|\      Wulff Photography & Design
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