When I started researching gear to start my photography passion I fell in love with the large iMac display. The large bright screen at the best buy was showing a sideshow if images that looked better than life and I was in awe.
Since I am a Microsoft developer, buying Apple would be very limiting. Are their other options for me to rival the Apple display but with a Windows machine?
What do photographers use as displays?
Mainly I want to see the images really pop off the screen and be really vivid. Spending is relative, so I could splurge and make a nice desktop workstation for myself that can double as a "photo lab" of sorts for my hobby. As for size, the larger the screen the better... I love the huge iMacs!
Answer
I guess there isn't much more I could say other than I own the Apple CinemaDisplay 30" LCD screen, and I am a heavy duty Microsoft/.NET developer. I work entirely in Windows 7 on my custom-build PC (not a Mac), and this screen has been great. I purchased it quite a number of years ago, and it is still running strong.
If I was in the market more recently, I would definitely go for an LED LCD screen, rather than a CCFL LCD screen. LED screens, particularly those with a clear/glossy screen, offer a much wider gamut, more accurate color rendition, and broader coverage of the AdobeRGB and NTSC gamuts than other screens. There are several manufacturers who make LED computer screens these days, including Eizo with their ColorEdge screens, LaCie with their new 730 model (one of the best photo editing screens on the market with the broadest gamut I've ever seen...my next screen if the Apple ever dies), as well as more well-known brands such as NEC (I'm having a hard time finding professional grade LED monitors from NEC right now), Apple, etc.
If you want a high quality, wide gamut screen that is designed for a photo editing workflow, I highly recommend looking into LED screens, particularly professional grade ones. NEC and Apple will have them at more reasonable prices, but with narrower gamuts than true professional grade LED screens. If you want the top of the line, with the widest gamut currently available, look no further than the LaCie 730. It covers 123% of the AdobeRGB color gamut, which is ideal for photographic editing. It is not quite as physically appealing as the Apple CinemaDisplay, but color-rendition-wise, it is fantastic.
No comments:
Post a Comment