MONITOR? Should I opt for an old CRT or go for a new TFT?

[wakelin]

Hi

I need to replace my monitor and have been reading up about it, alot of people who use monitors for photography and graphic design still think a good CRT monitor is better than the new sleeker TFT's. Lacie seems to be a name which is talked about alot. Anyone got any views?

Thanking you in advance

Lindsay

[jdepould]

If you have the desk space I would just get a CRT, they're still less expensive and (properly calibrated) there's no worrying about whether or not the colors are correct.

[tuckeruk]

I work in broadcast video, so I can safely say that a good CRT is better than ANY non-CRT monitor. We have some CRT's costing £30,000 ($60,000)!

But, all is not as it seems. Although outright visual quality and accuracy of a CRT can't be matched by non-CRT technology, how much quality/accuracy do you really need? Straight out of the box an uncalibrated LCD is likely to be more accurate, and to stay that way longer. A CRT used for critical apps might need to be calibrated monthly, they are known to drift.

I use super accurate calibrated to the nth degree Grade 1 Broadcast monitors daily, including Hi-Def, yet my home PC uses an affordable calibrated once ViewSonic Pro LCD. I think my pictures look OK for it, what do you think?

[rickl52]

The traditional perspective is that CRT's are superior but it would appear that LCD's have pretty much caught up for photography purposes. Besides, finding CRT's is getting pretty difficult and they are less stable as far as remaining calibrated.

Not all LCD's are created equally however, so you might want to wander through this board's archive for numerous discussions and recommendations for quality LCD's:
http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a?top ... y=Monitors

[wakelin]

Thanks guys
Alot to read
Still undecided

[brianblock]

what do you think?

looks ok to me

[aspectprints]

Hi,

I work in the display R&D and measure displays on a daily routine. We work manily in OLED (new up coming technology) and we look at all display types LCD,PDP, CRT.

All new display such as LCD,Plasmas etc have their colours measured using the CIE colour cordinates. Using this method you can see how well your LCD Red,Green,Blue primary colors are located.

CRT have the best colour spectrum (ie deepest RGB) than ANY other display. CRTs colour is used as a "standard" to which all other displays and LCD only cover around 60-90% of the colours CRTs can.

I would suggest for the best colour and viewing angles stick with a good CRT. LCDs have poorer colour,viewing angle and contrast ratio than CRTs and will not give "true colours".

Cheers

Steve