LCD Monitors for Photography

Why it is all in the Monitor

That is where we do our darkroom work. The monitor is your eyes into the mysterious world of camera workings, mega-pixels, colour, contrast and other concepts associated with digital imaging. You can take good pictures with any camera but you can't process them properly using a poorly performing uncalibrated monitor. That would be like trying to read a book in a dark room while wearing sunglasses. For me my monitor is more important than my camera because it is the monitor that determines how much of my images I can actually see. This makes sense

Defining Your Imaging Needs - Amateur or Pro?

Colour reproduction, image contrast range and stability are what we look for in a monitor and people such Photographers and Graphic Designers working professionally don't mind forking out over $1000 on an LCD monitor. That's fine if you are making serious fine art prints or work in the print media industry (and have deep pockets) but for most of us there are some very good monitors which can be had for a fifth of the price of a professional model

The LCD Panels used in most brands of monitor are supplied from only a handful of factories where the panels are graded in terms of their quality. The highest performing panels end up in the more expensive brand models while those that under perform are fitted to budget monitors intended for the consumer market. It is a smart idea to read customer reviews and feedback on sites like amazon when doing your research because you will soon hear about a monitor that will ensure you don't need to spend lots of money on a cracking monitor for Photography and Digital Imaging

At the lower end of the price range there is little difference between most LCD monitor models and the more expensive professional models can make a difference but LCD Technology is maturing so well that the differences between pro and amateur models are decreasing all the time. You would need to spend a lot of money before seeing a huge difference but to justify high prices the manufacturers sometimes include a hardware calibrator and associated software in the bundle

Below are some of the things I look for in an LCD monitor. It is a useful list and could be just the thing for someone needing a crash course in choosing an LCD monitor

Ergonomics

The ability to rotate a monitor screen by 90 degrees is a very handy feature for comfortably viewing images in both portrait and landscape formats. All monitors can be tilted up and down to suit your seating height

Performance

A good monitor should remain stable after calibration and not need frequent recalibration

Calibration ensures that the monitor is performing to its full potential

Aspect Ratio

Standard monitors are 4:3 (eg 1600 x 1200 pixels) - good for portrait Photographers

Widescreen monitors are 16:10 (eg 1440 x 900 pixels) - good for landscape Photographers

Resolution

The number of pixels displayed on the screen horizontally and vertically, eg 1600 x 1200 pixels

With higher resolutions you see more of your images without having to scroll - better usability

Terminology

LCD Displays are sometimes called TFT Displays because they use Thin Film Transistor (TFT) technology. The term TFT is often used interchangeably with 'Active Matrix' and both terms are often seen listed in monitor specifications. In future LCD will be replaced with LED technology

TFT Display Technology

There are three technologies used in the manufacture of LCD Panels and they offer different levels of quality. Some manufacturers try to hide this specification for reasons known only to themselves:

TN - Twisted Nematic - cheap and fast. Good for gamers but for poor for photography and imaging

VA - Vertical Alignment - widely used and very affordable. Good for photography and imaging

ISP - In Plane Switching - top quality. The very best for professional photography and imaging

Dot Pitch

The space between screen pixels. Smaller gives better image quality for a given monitor size and anything smaller than 0.28mm dot pitch is considered good

Contrast Ratio

The higher the contrast ratio the more brilliance in the image

Response Time

Important for computer gamers but of no importance to Photographers. Monitor manufacturers always over sell on this spec' to attract the gamers to their products