Selecting a monitor (was: Monitor calibration)

Nathan wrote:
"Hi Oliver,
First of all, these are wonderful travel images.
But on the technical front: to me, the images also looked too bright on my
Windows PC at home. I have just looked at them with my Powerbook, and it is
still the case (although perhaps a little less so than on the Wintel box).
In any event, I downloaded on of the images at random and opened it in Photo
Mechanic just to see what the color space is. As I suspected, it was Adobe
RGB, not sRGB. I suspect that what is happening is the following: you scan
the file and create a TIFF file in the sRGB color space. But when you then
open the file in Photoshop, the color space is reset to your working color
space, which is Adobe RGB. You do not realize that this is happening, so you
then happily do your editing and convert to JPG, thinking that you are in
sRGB the whole time.
I am of course guessing a bit here, but I am pretty sure that this is what
is happening. For sure, the image I checked (06Umbria32.jpg) is in the Adobe
RGB space, not sRGB.
The cure is simple: have the scanner create the file in Adobe RGB and do all
your subsequent Photoshop work in that space as well (it is wider and better
than sRGB). As a last step, just before you convert to JPG, make sure you
convert the image to sRGB.
Nathan"

Nathan, thank you for your constructive comments. It had not occurred to me
that PS would do this. On other occasions - usually with b&w -I have seen
the panel that says, "this image doesn't have a profile, etc." Would it be
correct to conclude that I might as well select Adobe RGB as the scan
profile and stay with it all the way through the occasional print on my old
1280?
Over the years I have neither spent as much time learning PS as I probably
should have nor applied myself consistently to PS because several other
interests demand brain-time and memory, a diminishing asset. Consequently I
stay on a fairly low level on the PS proficiency curve. 

Bob wrote:
"Oliver,
The most recent Colormatch software for Gretag (I think they're now owned by
X-Rite, no?) allows you to automatically calibrate some monitors. You may
want to look at those.
I bought a used Lacie monitor from my local photo store, KSP, and have been
extremely satisfied with it. One item that came with it, which I'm sure you
can get for any monitor, are "blinders" for the top and sides. I find these
blinders extremely helpful for keeping ambient light (which changes with the
hour of the day at my desk) from interfering with what I see (and therefore
making the profile less accurate).
 Good luck!
Bob
P.S. - I think you should reconsider the M8. And when you get it perhaps I
could borrow it sometime? ;-)"

Bob, thank you for that suggestion; I'll check it out. Regarding the M8,
perhaps we should form a pool to bet in the California Lottery, and if we
win, we'll have a timeshare camera :-)

Harrison wrote:
"Oliver,I have a Gateway 21 inch widescreen that is very nice, it also
allows you to rotate it if you want a 21 inch tall monitor for portrait
display.
Now having said that, the best thing I have put my eyes on is the new 23
inch apple cinema diplay I picked up with my new MacPro...so SWEET to look
at, and desktop space...it has it in acres.  I have it and an old Samsung 17
LCD inch hooked up in tandem so when I am working in Photoshop I have 23
inches of nothing but image and then all pallets and junk of a separate
monitor.
One thing when looking at LCD monitors try to get one that has DVI hook up
as the image quality is better.  You may need a new graphics card, but it is
worth it."

Thanks, Harrison, that is very useful information. Selecting a new monitor
is a challenging undertaking as I have some constraints to balance against
desires (who doesn't?). After looking at the specs for 19" and 21" CRTs I
realized that neither my wife nor I could lift one of them since both of us
have serious back problems. 
The 23" Cinema has caught my eye on more than one occasion. What graphics
card do you use? I have to stay with the PCI form factor. 

I have benefited greatly from the observations of our fellow LEG and LUG
correspondents, and I am grateful for them.
Oliver



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