Monthly Archives: April 2007

How To

Discerning among LCD monitors

I’ve been looking at various LCD monitors lately, because I’d like to get one for my laptop. Truth be told, I’m more confused than when I started. There’s a dizzying array of prices among various brands, in the same size display, and not a whole lot of explanation as to why that is. Sure, every company touts their higher contrast ratio, higher brightness, more resolution, more inputs, etc., but that still doesn’t explain why the prices differ so much.

I’m looking at 20-22″ LCD monitors, and in that range, I’ve managed to find monitors in three price groups:

  • Around $250, I can buy this Sceptre or or X2gen (brands I haven’t heard of). I can also find similar prices from brands like ViewSonic, Samsung, Dell and HP.
  • From $600-900, I can get the 20″ or 23″ Apple Cinema Displays. The thing is, other than the distinctive design, the specs are actually less impressive than those of the much less expensive monitors in the first group.
  • Then, of course, there are brands like LaCie, with their professional LCD displays that start [*cough*] around $1,800 for the sizes I’m interested in.

So I did a lot of searching, and found out that manufacturers can fake the contrast and brightness measurements, so even though everyone touts their higher specs, you can’t trust them. Many of the monitors also don’t list a measurement that’s harder to fake, the gray-to-gray response time. I wanted to compare apples to Apples, if you will.

After a little more spec comparison, I found that the top of the line LaCie monitors list a spec that no one else seems to list, and that is the “gamma correction”. For example, their 321 LCD has 12-bit gamma correction. Less expensive models have 10-bit gamma correction. And that got me thinking: if, at least for LaCie, the price is proportional to the gamma correction bit depth, a higher spec there might be a good thing. But the less expensive monitors didn’t list it, and Apple didn’t list it either. What was I to do?

I gave Apple a call. After about 15 minutes of alternate talking and holding on the line for a sales rep while he consulted with the engineers, I got nothing but smoke and mirrors. Not that I think it was intended. I just think the rep didn’t have the info. He didn’t know what gamma correction was, and the bit depth of the gamma correction on Apple’s displays isn’t listed anywhere in the specs. The person he spoke with in engineering either didn’t know this or didn’t feel like sharing that bit of data. So the rep kept coming back to me with 16.7 million colors, which works out to 24-bit color.

I kept thinking, that can’t be right! Here LaCie is charging over $1,800 dollars for 12-bit gamma correction and Apple claims 24-bit on that spec at less than half that price? They would be an absolute bargain if that were true! But it’s not, at least not for that spec. I don’t doubt the Apple displays can show 24-bit color overall. But I still don’t know whether their gamma correction engine outputs 8-bit (the normal spec), 10-bit (the higher end), or 12-bit (the really high end), and this determines how well that 24-bit color gets displayed. This is important because the higher the bit depth, the smoother the color is. I’m a photographer, and I shoot in RAW. The files I get are either 12-bit or 16-bit color, and I can see some dithering in color tones when I look at the photos on my laptop’s screen. That means that even though my video card can display 32-bit color, my laptop’s effective display is less than 16-bit.

I have a feeling that given their price range, the Apple Cinema Displays are either 8-bit or 10-bit when it comes to gamma correction. If they’re 8-bit, then they’re overpriced given their specs, and they’re charging hundreds more based purely on design. If they’re 10-bit, that’s interesting, and it warrants a closer look.

So, as you can see, I’ve gotten nowhere. I’d love to have a reason to buy an Apple Cinema Display, but it’s got to be a good reason, based on facts, not sales fluff. I like Apple but I’m not a fanboy. At this point in time, I can’t see why I should spend more than $1,000 on an external monitor, so that rules out the LaCie LCDs and the other high end displays. That means if Apple can’t offer me a compelling reason for their higher price, I’ll go with one of the less expensive monitors and see how things work out. If and when I do, I’ll blog about it, so stay tuned. And by all means, if you’ve got some ideas about this, do let me know.

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Places

Winter's nice but spring is better

Taken last month, in the last throes of winter, in North Bethesda, MD.

Winter’s nice but spring is better

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Lists

Videos about photography

I thought I’d share a few of my favorite videos about photography with you. The first video is called “Miniature Earth”, and the photos used in it are really powerful.

This next video took two years to make. It’s called “Koya Moments”, and chronicles the changing weather, light and seasons over Edinburgh, Scotland.

Dove put out a video showing the transition that takes place in makeup and Photoshop to make a model look good. It’s pretty sad really, to see that beauty is not only skin-deep but also quite elusive.

I believe this time lapse video was done by a French director, who drove across America with a friend of his in a convertible.

This is a beautiful time lapse video of the 2006 Reno Balloon Race:

Here’s how a typical fashion photo shoot takes place. The subject of this shoot is Martin Scorsese.

Holger Eilhard, a fellow photographer, put together this great time lapse video of one of the Berlin gates. It’s a whole day, from dawn to dusk.

These are a couple of the “take a photo every day” projects:

This is a humorous look at the rise of a photographer. He’s a Nikon guy and I shoot Canon, but I won’t hold that against him… 🙂

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Lists

Funny animal videos

This video of two otters holding hands has been viewed over 5,000,000 times on YouTube. I think that makes it a hit. 🙂

A dalmatian watching Disney’s “101 Dalmatians” howls along with the movie dogs. The poor thing thinks something bad has really happened.

A man in Japan has invented a deep fryer that houses a goldfish bowl underneath. Somehow, the temperature of the water is kept low enough for the fish to survive, and of course the oil stays on top of the water since its density is lower, creating a nice separation barrier. Fried bits of food fall toward the bottom from the top, and the fish get their food as well. What I’d like to know is how he cleans the water, and how the fish get their oxygen. What’s more, how in the world does he take out the dead or sick fish, or put new ones in there? In concept, this is interesting, but in practice, it seems like a pretty rough way to treat some poor dumb organisms.

This looks like a frat boy prank, and since I saved this video, I’ve seen lookalike videos popping up. If you look carefully, you’ll see the trainer enticing the dolphin to climb up on the man by holding a bit of food over his shoulder. What happens thereafter is anyone’s best guess. Are the dolphins trained to move like that, or does some reflex kick in that makes them hump like dogs? I don’t know. Apparently the man knew what he was getting into. It’s pretty sad, and after the cheap laugh wears off, you gotta wonder why the heck anyone would pay for something like that…

A donkey cart gets overloaded somewhere in a Far East country, and the poor animal is left stranded in the air. The people then rush to unload the cart and bring the donkey back to earth. Gee, we’ve only been using animals to pull carts for how long… maybe thousands of years… and we still haven’t learned how to properly stack the loads.

This is a compilation of thieving animal videos. Remember, it’s only funny until it happens to you.

Check out Bebo, the beatboxing bird:

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Interesting sports

I played rugby in college for about two seasons. It was enough play time for me to break my nose and tear my right ACL, necessitating surgery… Would I play it again? Absolutely not. Rugby is a dangerous sport, and I think only certain people can play it — the ones built for it. I’m not one of them. Although I don’t even watch it anymore, I did enjoy this short clip of the NZ All Blacks vs. Tonga. They both engage in a little Maori Haka intimidation, and it’s fun to see.

Roger Federer vs. Andy Roddick. One of the most awesome tennis plays I’ve ever seen:

This is an amazingly coreographed kung-fu fight scene. The two teammates are within inches of impaling each other with their lances. This sort of thing is very dangerous, so please don’t try it at home.

Top Gear got their hands on a Bugatti Veyron and maxed it out at its advertised limit of 252 mph (407 kmh). Very, very cool, and I think my eyes may have gotten a little misty toward the end. 🙂

Sepak Takraw is an Asian sport that’s best described as volleyball with your feet. Some amazing jumps take place here.

I believe the name of this Asian acrobatic team is Butterfly Lovers. Their name isn’t that impressive, but their act sure is! Watch it and be amazed at their skill.

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