LCD and CRT monitors

[sgwrx]

guilt of not having a quality calibrated monitor is piling up.  

so everyone agrees that quality CRTs* are impossible to come by and the Apple Cinema Display is the best LCD for photo editing?

*i'd like to exclude the $1800 CRTs.

There are no specific CRTs or LCDs that are in the $400-$600 range that could be used and still be 98% of the ideal?

[Bill Ravens]

I'm using a Sony SDM-p234/b with very satisfactory results. this goes for about$1300, online

guilt of not having a quality calibrated monitor is piling up. 

so everyone agrees that quality CRTs* are impossible to come by and the Apple Cinema Display is the best LCD for photo editing?

*i'd like to exclude the $1800 CRTs.

There are no specific CRTs or LCDs that are in the $400-$600 range that could be used and still be 98% of the ideal?
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[DarkPenguin]

I'm using a Sony SDM-p234/b with very satisfactory results. this goes for about$1300, online

That is 2-3x or so the price range requested.

I would look at Viewsonic or Samsung in that $400-600 range.

[jom]

I bought 2 cheap monitors before finally realising they were not calibrate-able.
WISI not WYG.
then I bought a cheapish Eizo flat screen flex scan L768.

just find the bread.

[DarkPenguin]

I bought 2 cheap monitors before finally realising they were not calibrate-able.
WISI not WYG.
then I bought a cheapish Eizo flat screen flex scan L768.

just find the bread.
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I prefer to call that WYGIWYG.

[Ben Rubinstein]

so everyone agrees that quality CRTs* are impossible to come by

Who said that? you could get a very very good CRT for a tiny fraction of the price of the top LCD's.

[DarkPenguin]

Who said that? you could get a very very good CRT for a tiny fraction of the price of the top LCD's.
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They are hard to find unless you want to mail order one.  Most of the local shops only carry ultra cheap CRTs.

Personally I was never comfortable having a CRT mailed to me.  (Having had to exchange a few in the past.)

[sgwrx]

Who said that? you could get a very very good CRT for a tiny fraction of the price of the top LCD's.
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could you elaborate for a poor soul?  i used to be into CRTs in the 90's. always liked the proton and tera TV sets especially when calibrated. i've seen some sony crt's that looked pretty good until they went digital in the late 90's. mitsubishi has had their ups and downs but were generally good with their warp resistent shadow masks. but as far as computer monitors, i thought as someone pointed out in another thread that companies are building them with such cheap components to keep the prices down that they wouldn't perform that well.

is it as simple as getting an nec-mitsubhishi or sony monitor?

[Yoram from Berlin]

My understanding is that Samsung makes the Apple monitors, and that the large Samsungs are the same as the larger Apple monitors. They are also slightly cheaper, though not as cool looking.

[Jason Cory]

First of all, I've never heard of a monitor that couldn't be calibrated. Can someone clarify that one for me?

Secondly, I'm thinking about getting a Samsung Syncmaster 204T 20" LCD monitor. It seems to have good specs and the reviews I've read have been very favorable. The price ($550 at B & H) is amazing. Or so it seems to me.

Does anyone have experience with this monitor? I'm assuming it's "calibratable?" I use the Spyder II spectrophotometer and software.
Thanks.

[Lisa Nikodym]

Jason:

From what I've read and seen, at least a couple of years ago, some LCDs couldn't be properly calibrated because: (1) the brightness & contrast varied a great deal with the viewing angle, (2) the color wasn't very uniform across the screen, and/or (3) the color wasn't very uniform over time.  All headaches when you're trying to calibrate to a precise standard.

But maybe someone else here can tell you if that's still true for very many LCDs.  I'm still using a CRT (a LaCie electron 22, a year or two old, which was very highly regarded for photo processing at the time), so I'm not an expert on current events.  

Lisa