Which TFT screen should you get?
For the fine detail, you will have to make up your own mind. But so far as the big picture goes, it's easy. Do not even think about any of the popular TF+N screens. They are, for photographic purposes, pretty much useless. Better to keep your old CRT than go down that road. If you are going TFT, get something decent.
I have not used any of the modern S-IPS panels, so I can't comment from my own experience, but from my reading I'd say that you would probably do just fine with one.
I have used Samsung's magnificent S-PVA panels, and the day I got my first one of those was the day I stopped using my CRTs for photographic work - and it wasn't as if I had cheap and crappy CRTs, I was running an excellent old Hitachi 19 inch and a simply wonderful, top-of-the-range Mitsubishi 22: at the time, pretty much the best readily available monitor money could buy.
The Samsung 214T was AU$1200 - a lot of money considering that a typical reasonable quality 19 inch TFT was around $380. I ordered it on spec, sight unseen, as much in hope as in expectation. 24 hours later I picked up the phone and ordered another one - it was that good. I couldn't bear swapping back to lesser screens after using the 214T, not even the Mitsubishi 22. (Oh, and the 214T has pretty reasonable ex-factory settings. I have calibrated mine, but the factory default colour settings aren't atually all that far out - much better than most screens. I now own three Samsung S-PVA screens. I added the smaller 19 inch brother of the 214T to go in the showroom. Unfortunately, people see it there, admire the picture quality, and wind up buying it. I keep replacing it.
I'm sure that there are other good TFT screens around, but they are hard to find in this gadget-riden, throwaway world, and nearly everything you will see in the shops will be yet another crappy TN Film screen. You have to look hard, ask questions, and be prepared to pay for quality.
Prices. No point quoting you Australian prices. Even if you do the currency conversion, prices change all the time and your market may be different anyway. But I can do it this way: let's say a typical "good quality" 19 inch TF N screen costs 100 clamshells. A cheap one will be around 70 or 80 clamshells. And the Samsung 19 inch S-PVA will be around 140 clamshells. The 214T will be about 300 clamshells. I imagine that the prices of the S-IPS screens will be about the same as the S-PVA, probably a bit more, but I'm only guessing.
One more thing. Viewing angle matter. Matters a lot. You see, with a monitor that doesn't have excellent viewing angle technology, every time you move your head the tiniest little bit, the colours change. You just can't tell if your picture is too bright, too dark, or what. You end up guessing all the time, which just isn't good enough.
|