Best CRT for under $300

"hassy_user" posted:
"…
and I understand that with $300 I should be able to do
pretty well with a CRT. Any specific suggestions? Thanks in advance.
…."

I think you "understand" wrong. You should be able to get a small monitor that "actually works" for that price, but you should *not* expect to get a "professional graphics monitor" …. one that is close enough to use for critical work.

For example, see the write-up on the Sony Artisan:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/accessories/sony-a rtisan.shtml

Other professional-level CRT monitors would be offerings such as the Radius Pressview or the Barco Reference monitor

Question:
You sign yourself as "hassy_user" … and Hasselblads are usually considered as high quality, but definitely "not cheap." Why are you getting "cheap" on your computer equipment? Don’t you think that quality software and quality equipment is also required in your "digital darkroom" (I think I’m beginning to hate that phrase …)?

(hassy_user) wrote in message news:…

Hello all,

My next photographic purchase will be a better CRT on which to edit and print my photographs to my Epson 2200. I will have course be calibrating the whole system. I have no idea where to start or how to judge the quality of a monitor before getting it home and testing the workflow, so I’m looking to get a starting point based on reputation. I’ve given up on the idea of an LCD on my budget, and I understand that with $300 I should be able to do pretty well with a CRT. Any specific suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Christopher

I saw a used Lacie Electron Blue II today for really cheap. Is it ok to get one so old, or should wait a bit and get the newer model (IV)? Or is it a bad choice altogether? Thanks.

On 5 Oct 2004 11:37:31 -0700, (hassy_user)
wrote:

(hassy_user) wrote in message news:…

Hello all,

My next photographic purchase will be a better CRT on which to edit and print my photographs to my Epson 2200. I will have course be calibrating the whole system. I have no idea where to start or how to judge the quality of a monitor before getting it home and testing the workflow, so I’m looking to get a starting point based on reputation. I’ve given up on the idea of an LCD on my budget, and I understand that with $300 I should be able to do pretty well with a CRT. Any specific suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Christopher

I saw a used Lacie Electron Blue II today for really cheap. Is it ok to get one so old, or should wait a bit and get the newer model (IV)? Or is it a bad choice altogether? Thanks.

CRTs degrade over time. Buy a new pone. Any of the following:

Iiyama
Mitsubishi
LaCie

All will give you good results for the price range you are quoting, but to get excellent results you will need to increase your budget and, most importantly, include the cost of a spider like the one offered on www.gretagmacbeth.com

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

"RSD99" …

"hassy_user" posted:
"…
and I understand that with $300 I should be able to do
pretty well with a CRT. Any specific suggestions? Thanks in advance.
…"

I think you "understand" wrong. You should be able to get a small monitor that "actually works" for that price, but you should *not* expect to get a "professional graphics monitor" … one that is close enough to use for critical work.

For example, see the write-up on the Sony Artisan:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/accessories/sony-a rtisan.shtml

Other professional-level CRT monitors would be offerings such as the Radius Pressview or the Barco Reference monitor
Question:
You sign yourself as "hassy_user" … and Hasselblads are usually considered as high quality, but definitely "not cheap." Why are you getting "cheap" on your computer equipment? Don’t you think that quality software and quality equipment is also required in your "digital darkroom" (I think I’m beginning to hate that phrase …)?

So do you think a calibrated 19" LaCie Electron IV for $375 (yes, my budget has gone up slightly) will allow me to produce consistent results? The rest of my "digital darkroom" (yes, I agree-that phrase has to go) includes an Epson 2200 and Photoshop CS, on a Pentium 4 machine, so I don’t think I’m cheaping out on that end. I just don’t have $1000+ for a monitor. I didn’t spend that on my basic Hasselblad kit!

I think there is a huge difference in talking about Hasselblad vs. monitor in that a 30-year old Hasselblad can be found used for $600 and continue to shoot consistently for at least another 10 or 20 years with only minor maintenance. I don’t think a monitor is the same, so the cost becomes, for me, more of an issue. I’m not rich (yet) 🙂

I want to be able to get almost WYSIWYG, or at least close enough that I’m not blowing time, ink, and very expensive paper (I’ve standardized on the Pictorico Hi-Gloss) on each print. I don’t do heavy manipulations – not much outside of what I could do in a darkroom, except that contrast masking is much easier in PS.

So to rephrase my original question, can I get a decent workflow for photo printing so that I don’t need to make more than one test print per shot using a ~$300 properly calibrated monitor, such as the LaCie, along with my calibrated 2200?

Thanks

Chris

Hecate …

On 5 Oct 2004 11:37:31 -0700, (hassy_user)
wrote:

(hassy_user) wrote in message news:…

Hello all,

My next photographic purchase will be a better CRT on which to edit and print my photographs to my Epson 2200. I will have course be calibrating the whole system. I have no idea where to start or how to judge the quality of a monitor before getting it home and testing the workflow, so I’m looking to get a starting point based on reputation. I’ve given up on the idea of an LCD on my budget, and I understand that with $300 I should be able to do pretty well with a CRT. Any specific suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Christopher

I saw a used Lacie Electron Blue II today for really cheap. Is it ok to get one so old, or should wait a bit and get the newer model (IV)? Or is it a bad choice altogether? Thanks.

CRTs degrade over time. Buy a new pone. Any of the following:
Iiyama
Mitsubishi
LaCie

All will give you good results for the price range you are quoting, but to get excellent results you will need to increase your budget and, most importantly, include the cost of a spider like the one offered on www.gretagmacbeth.com

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

Thanks, Hecate.

My current setup is calibrated with the Gretag, but my friend is going to buy the new Monaco as soon as it comes out, and has offered to let me use it if I split the price, which I certainly will.

I have not looked too closely at the Iiyama or Mitsubishi, but will now. Any particular models outshine the rest?

Chris

hassy_user wrote:

I have not looked too closely at the Iiyama or Mitsubishi, but will now. Any particular models outshine the rest?

When my good 19" Daewoo gave up this summer after seven years of heavy duty (it probably could have been repaired, but at a price…), I had about the budget you have. After looking at very many monitors I chose an LG Flatron (the F900p) and fared very well with it, It required some calibration as any monitor does, but yes,
it is pretty consistent in its colours and the absolutely flat front is a nice feature to have.

Helmut
—
All typos © My Knotty Fingers Ltd. Capacity Dept.

On 6 Oct 2004 10:44:27 -0700, (hassy_user)
wrote:

Thanks, Hecate.

My current setup is calibrated with the Gretag, but my friend is going to buy the new Monaco as soon as it comes out, and has offered to let me use it if I split the price, which I certainly will.

I have not looked too closely at the Iiyama or Mitsubishi, but will now. Any particular models outshine the rest?

The 19" ones are pretty good as long as you keep them calibrated (but that’s true of all monitors). Personally, we have both Iiyama Vision Master Pro 454s and Mitsubishi Diamond Pro (can’t remember the number). Our next purchase will be a TFT, but that will be an Eizo 😉

Personally, I prefer the Gretag. I find it more accurate than the Monaco system, but that’s IMHO, of course.

Give it a few more years and TFT screens will undoubtedly be better, but the most accurate colour is still from CRT and even the cheaper end will give you more accurate colour than a mid-range TFT, so you won’t lose out.

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

Hecate …

On 6 Oct 2004 10:44:27 -0700, (hassy_user)
wrote:

Thanks, Hecate.

My current setup is calibrated with the Gretag, but my friend is going to buy the new Monaco as soon as it comes out, and has offered to let me use it if I split the price, which I certainly will.

I have not looked too closely at the Iiyama or Mitsubishi, but will now. Any particular models outshine the rest?

The 19" ones are pretty good as long as you keep them calibrated (but that’s true of all monitors). Personally, we have both Iiyama Vision Master Pro 454s and Mitsubishi Diamond Pro (can’t remember the number). Our next purchase will be a TFT, but that will be an Eizo 😉
Personally, I prefer the Gretag. I find it more accurate than the Monaco system, but that’s IMHO, of course.

Give it a few more years and TFT screens will undoubtedly be better, but the most accurate colour is still from CRT and even the cheaper end will give you more accurate colour than a mid-range TFT, so you won’t lose out.

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

The Diamond Pro comes in a 17", which is great for my small space, and it’s only $200. I think I’ll have to go that way.

I had a big problem calibrating my 2200 with the Gretag. The profile was just way off, but that could have been just my inexperience. The canned paper profile from Pictorico works way better for now. Have you compared the Gretag and Monaco for printers? It also generated an invalid profile for my laptop lcd, but my expectations were low on that anyway. I hate my laptop lcd.

In article <41644091$0$24330$>,
Helmut P. Einfalt wrote:

hassy_user wrote:

I have not looked too closely at the Iiyama or Mitsubishi, but will now. Any particular models outshine the rest?

When my good 19" Daewoo gave up this summer after seven years of heavy duty (it probably could have been repaired, but at a price…), I had about the budget you have. After looking at very many monitors I chose an LG Flatron (the F900p) and fared very well with it, It required some calibration as any monitor does, but yes,
it is pretty consistent in its colours and the absolutely flat front is a nice feature to have.

Helmut
—
All typos

On 8 Oct 2004 06:20:07 -0700, (hassy_user)
wrote:

The Diamond Pro comes in a 17", which is great for my small space, and it’s only $200. I think I’ll have to go that way.

I had a big problem calibrating my 2200 with the Gretag. The profile was just way off, but that could have been just my inexperience. The canned paper profile from Pictorico works way better for now. Have you compared the Gretag and Monaco for printers? It also generated an invalid profile for my laptop lcd, but my expectations were low on that anyway. I hate my laptop lcd.

I don’t use the printer version, just the monitor, which is the most difficult thing to get correct. Then I settled on the ink for my printer (the 21000 – same as your’s but European and with the all extras like the gray balancer that you don’t get <g>). And found the papers I wanted to use as well. Then I got a custom profile for those papers with those inks.

Incidentally, the canned profile provided by Epson for that printer is pretty good and as long as you use soft proofing you shouldn’t have a problem

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

FWIW, I bought a 19" Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 930SB for about $300 (can’t remember exactly) and I’m delighted with it. This monitor, together with my Spyder, gives me near WYSIWYG to an Epson 2200.

Yes, there are better, and more expensive, setups but I’m still learning and this arrangement will serve me well until I improve to the point where I am annoyed by its limitations.

THEN, I’ll move on up.

Pixmaker in FLL
==========================
It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity!
==========================
(…Think the humidity’s bad?
You should watch us vote!)

I use Mitsubishi Diamond Pro monitors, calibrated
with a Spyder, and am able to get perfect WYSIWYG prints off of my Epson 1270 and 960 printers. On the Epsons,
I don’t use profiles, but just tweak the color sliders
to calibrate. Printing on ColorLife paper. I use qimage
to print.