Glossy or Antiglare for tethered location shooting

[Bernhard]

Hi

hope you can help me out, I'm going to buy one of the new Macbook pro. Not sure if I should go with the glossy or antiglare version?

anyone using the Glossy, have heard photographers who got used to the glossy and say they simple love them, deeper colors and richer blacks. I'm just wondering if the colors are right/true?

and it simply might reflect everything like a mirror?

I anyone got one of these I would be happy to hear your opinion

thanks,

Bernhard Kristinn
http://www.bernhardkristinn.com

[JonathanBenoit]

The glossy will be a real problem outdoors. I'd make sure to get some sort of a shade for the LCD no matter what you do.

[paul_jones]

Hi

hope you can help me out, I'm going to buy one of the new Macbook pro. Not sure if I should go with the glossy or antiglare version?

anyone using the Glossy, have heard photographers who got used to the glossy and say they simple love them, deeper colors and richer blacks. I'm just wondering if the colors are right/true?

and it simply might reflect everything like a mirror?

I anyone got one of these I would be happy to hear your opinion

thanks,

Bernhard Kristinn
http://www.bernhardkristinn.com

ive had a glossy 15 inch unibody for a year now, and i shoot on location a lot. but ive just purchased a 17 inch unibody with a antiglare and the screen blows the glossy away. i was on the fence whether to get the antiglare, but once i had it it really is good.

paul

[Dustbak]

I have the 15" with the high-res anti glare screen. It is really nice. I had to get used to everything being a bit smaller but after that I find it really nice to work with.

[Guy Mancuso]

You should read MacRumors on this topic. It's like watching a yo yo go up and down 4 million times. I really liked glossy for the longest time but this time went anti-glare which is really nice in a outdoor setting otherwise inside it is connected to a NEC wide gamut monitor so does not get used but for e-mail purposes and a tool monitor. Tough call really should try and drop in a Apple store and try them out and at least get a idea. But if primary reason is location shooting than I would lean anti-glare.

[Bernhard]

I went to the Apple store today, and took the glossy 17" outside in sun and watch it beside my old MB pro and and found it really good, there were reflection but the image was really clear with sun directly on the screen and no shade around it

wish I could see the antiglare version beside (the Icelandic Apple dealer don't stock them, the downside to live in a small country;)

more google searching and reading macrumors

thanks for your replies guys

Bernhard Kristinn
http://www.bernhardkristinn.com

[amsp]

I have both and I'd be hard pressed to recommend one over the other tbh, they both have their positives and negatives. The glossy is much brighter and has more vivid colors, a bit too vivid at times though and of course there's the glare issue. On the other hand the antiglare is a bit too dim and I wasn't able to calibrate the colors any better than the glossy one, worse actually. Also the viewing angle is not as good as the glossy one. If I had to pick just one I'd probably go with the glossy, but if location work is critical for you then go with the anti-glare. Either way you should do your editing on an external monitor, I use an eizo cg223w myself.

[Fritzer]

The new 15" MacBookPro Antiglare is really nice, but I haven't tried it on location.

I have an older matte 15", and it catches stray light from everywhere when you are outside, even a hood doesn't help much, I always have to watch the histogram to avoid underexposure.

Glossy displays don't have the issue with stray light, but of course act like mirrors, and need a decent hood or such.
They are also very hard to calibrate, yet that for me isn't a major concern with laptop displays really.

That said, I'd choose the new Highres Antiglare (15" only ?), looks to me like the best of both worlds.

[JoeKitchen]

I also heard that the anti-glare has a true color spectrum than the glossy.  I would also assume that the anti-glare would be easier to calibrate. 

I have a 17in anti-glare and it works great inside and out, only you need a shade for outside use. 

[Jeffreytotaro]

In my opinion Apple has made 2 tragic mistakes in the last few years.  One is the death of FW400 (FW800 is the poorest connection ever), and the second is the glossy screen.  I bought the unibody first-gen MacBook Pro and hated the glossy.  When they came out with the matte option for gen-two, I sold the glossy right away.  Now I'm looking at Eizo for my next desktop display, the 30 looks great!

[MAmaro]

I was in the same spot a year ago and I have to agree with those pointing towards the matte (anti-glare) screen.  After talking with folks then doing a side by side (basically I uploaded some sRGB and aRGB profiled images that I had done to a website, went to the apple store then checked them out side by side).  Taking into account different viewing angles, how colors looked in terms of how they compared to my calibrated 30" at home and of course reflections, the matte won out for me.  Just like you are doing I did check with fellow photographers who did outside work and the consensus within my survey was to go with the matte (anti-glare) screen.

So, in the end that is what I went for and I have not regretted it weather out reviewing images while in the desert or tethered in the studio I love the matte screen and my MBP.  Oh and I agree the loss of the FW400 sucked as the FW800 connector should really have a locking mechanism of some kind (I make sure to gaffer my cable when tethered just in case  ).

Q

[BrettMoen]

I work allot as a digital tech and mostly location work. I would not get the glossy display they are almost imposable to see out side. I think it's one of the worst moves apple has made. They may look pretty but there are VERY glossy and reflective. and VERY hard to retouch on.
B-!

[BrendanStewart]

Definitely the anti-glare screen. I'd never do the glossy outside.

[yaya]

I have an older matte 15", and it catches stray light from everywhere when you are outside, even a hood doesn't help much, I always have to watch the histogram to avoid underexposure.

Slightly OT but anyone shooting tethered to a laptop or an iMac should be keeping an eye on the histogram or remember to turn brightness down. They tend to cheat as they're too bright at times.

[rolleiflexpages]

Add a third mistake to the two listed: the loss of ExpressCard slot. No longer possible to use an ExpressCard UMTS modem, and the alternative of using an USB one is really cumbersome. When will they finally give us back the ExpressCard slot or else, integrate an UMTS slot inside the laptop like many others do? More and more reasons to abandon the system ...

[gazwas]

Add a third mistake to the two listed: the loss of ExpressCard slot. No longer possible to use an ExpressCard UMTS modem, and the alternative of using an USB one is really cumbersome. When will they finally give us back the ExpressCard slot or else, integrate an UMTS slot inside the laptop like many others do? More and more reasons to abandon the system ...

Errrr...... tether your iPhone for a 3G connection?

[rolleiflexpages]

Why would I have to use the detour of a mobile phone to connect my laptop to the 3G network, and thus not only make it more complicated but also drain two batteries for no good reason (laptop + phone)? Moreover, I did not give in to the iPhone craze. While this of course also be achieved with other phones, it is an unnecessary step for something that should be standard on a laptop...

And I am not even speaking about the other consequence of the loss of ExpressCard, which is the e-SATA interface for fast hard drive access...

[Guy Mancuso]

Why would I have to use the detour of a mobile phone to connect my laptop to the 3G network, and thus not only make it more complicated but also drain two batteries for no good reason (laptop + phone)? Moreover, I did not give in to the iPhone craze. While this of course also be achieved with other phones, it is an unnecessary step for something that should be standard on a laptop...

And I am not even speaking about the other consequence of the loss of ExpressCard, which is the e-SATA interface for fast hard drive access...

The absolute biggest and worst possible thing ever done IMHO is remove the Express card slot from the 15 inch. Not all working photographers and designers work with a 17 inch. Bad Bad move and for what a SD slot that is limited in use when 29 dollars buys you a reader if you want one. Okay so it is only 10 percent of the buyers that need it but we DO count. Rant off

[craigwashburn]

Glossy has always been hard to judge true contrast of the image - it tends to make whites whiter, and darks darker.  Then we get back to the studio and have to punch up the brightness.  I learned fast to watch the histogram.

I calibrate displays to 90 cd/m2 which is pretty much unviewable in the sun, so if shooting outdoors I use a hood like this:  http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/472440-REG/Lightware_PS100.html

Of course this means only one person that needs to can see the display... not entirely a bad thing IMO

[craigwashburn]

B&H appears to not sell the pixelshade anymore... well here's another link.  http://www.lightwaredirect.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LightwareDirect&Product_Code=PS100&Category_Code=WalletsTagsStraps

Got it 5 years ago, who knows maybe someone else has a better alternative now.