Computer monitors

[quekbc]

Having read some comments about how computer screens affect PP work, I'm just wondering, what makes a good computer monitor good?

and how do you know whether the monitor settings are correct, given that you do not have a good monitor/correct settings to compare to?

Are mac monitors really better than the average PC monitors?

[jml79]

A good monitor will be able to reproduce colours accurately and have a very smooth response across its range of brightness. It will also be able to reproduce a very broad range of brightness and not clip blacks and whites. Here is a short article to help.

Monitor Calibration: Is Your Monitor Calibrated?

Here is a basic calibration card that should help some.

Photo Friday: Monitor Calibration Tool

As for mac monitors, they usually are better than your average pc monitor but they also have much tighter controls on the quality of the monitors and the operating system includes colour management at the lowest level. On a PC colour management is done by video drivers and its different for each vendor.

[Biomech]

When looking for a monitor you want to look for something with a wider tonal/brightness range as possible with a high contrast.

I use a samsung that has an 8000:1 contrast. This is nothing compared to TV's and that now but was good at the time. And bare in mind that if you're doing alot of digital work that will be displayed on monitors - most client screens won't be as good so will clip back tones anyway.

Second to that, grab yourself a Spyder. This is a calibration device that you hang on the screen. The Spyder knows what red should be so sends a signal to the screen to display red, the matches it to what it knows it should be. It will do this for all types of colour and tone and in the end build up a corrected profile. (I need to redo mine to be honest)
Colorvision Spyder 3 Express (DATA137) - Warehouse Express

HTH