So long calibrated CRT monitors, we will miss you.

[Tom V]

Look around, and you will not find any more high-quality CRT monitors designed for color calibrated work. LaCie has discontinued their electron19/22blue series, and Sony has discontinued their Artisan series. There are still some large CRTs left, but their days and accuracy is limited.

I can't find any LaCie or Sony Artisan CRT monitors for sale anywhere.

For anyone working on images to be used in the CMYK colorspace, especially commercial printing (like me!), this is a bad thing. LCD monitors are at their limits showing sRGB color space, and cost a lot if they are able to produce the extra color depth needed for the larger Adobe RGB gamut.

If you mainly produce images for inkjet output, things aren't as bleak, since the inkjet world (portraits, weddings, large format, etc.) is more aligned with sRGB.

[Melody]

Yep Tom they cost a LOT more, however so far it sure is nice, not saying it's worth the price nothing really to compare it to http://fmount.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14762

Melody

[KPRussell]

Hey Tom,

I've bought a couple of 22" Mitsu Diamondtron monitors from a guy local to me, http://www.atlantamonitors.com/ that have worked out well. He is on eBay too, might try there to get the best deal. He gets in units off of 3 year leases typically and replaces the tubes with brand new ones. I've purchased 4 monitors from him so far, 2 for the lab I used to run, and 2 for myself at home office. I've been very happy with them.

Just a suggestion if you were still trying to get some CRTs in.

Take care,

[Tom V]

Thank you Kevin for that source.

It might be a while before I have $5600 to put toward a 14-bit LCD monitor.

http://www.chromix.com/ColorGear/Shop/productdetail.cxsa?toolid=1142&num=7&refcode=cmdisplays&-session=tx:4087DD2E1afa93209AsiW3D9FCA1

I am going to have to learn about this stuff.

As far as I know, there are 8-bit LCD monitors which use "level one" technology and include Apple's LCDs, and all the cheapies. They have a hard time showing accurate color and gamma. They might be bright, and even from any angle, but they are not as accurate as an ordinary decent CRT. Then there is "level two" technology with 10-bit LCDs that can show a fuller sRGB gamut, or maybe a bit more. These cost about $1500 for a decent size screen. "Level three" has the 14-bit screens and can be accurate for Adobe RGB and CMYK. Don't consider my information as the final word, I might be wrong or miss-informed on some of this.

[cmclaughlan]

Apple claim that their monitors are better than CRTs in a number of areas ... wider gamut, better continous tones, no fade after time.
http://images.apple.com/pro/pdf/L309968A_Display_TO.pdf

Now obviously some of that is marketing schpiel ... but I have to say that the 23 inch Cinema display is the best monitor I have every used.

I calibrate it regularly with a Spyder Pro .. I don't think I can ask for much better. Now obviously my uses are no-where as demanding as yours. I don't however think that they belong in your lowest tier ;-)

Colin

[Swampy]

I've been working with the 30" Cinema displays and while the color range, gradients and brightness are excellent, I will miss the blacks from my CRT when I can't use a CRT anymore. :(