Mark,
I'm NOT intending to alienate anyone or imply that if your not operating a
highend system your not up to speed. Photography and Image Editing is about
artistic skills not technology. Technology is just a tool.
I AM saying this. If you haven't so much as tried using a higher resolution
for image editing and scanning, you may be pleasantly surprised to see that
your existing hardware can offer a more pleasing image rendition than you
thought possible. I switch back and forth on my Viewsonics (relatively
cheepo) monitor. Images look better at 1280x1024 or 1600x1200, but when I'm
working on email, spreadsheets or word processing 1024x768 looks better.
When I'm surfing I sometimes switch to 800x600.
Yes, there can be flicker problems due to slow refresh rates at higher
resolutions, but high res, high refresh rate video cards aren't expensive
anymore. They can be had for less than you might think.
I am using an ATI Expert98 video card. It provides 85Hz refresh rate
(flicker free) at 1600x1200. I bought mine for about US $125. Aberdeen now
sells this video card for US $ 35.99.
My Viewsonic 17" monitor is not high-end at all (anymore), but it does
1600x1200 at 76Hz and looks pretty good. I paid a lot of money for it some
years ago, but now Aberdeen sells it for less than US $400.
I'll be selling this monitor and video card some day soon on e-bay and be
lucky to get US $200 for the lot. I'll bet there's lots more out there (but
maybe not in Australia - sorry, Rob).
Bob Kehl
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark T. <markthom@camtech.net.au>
To: <filmscanners@halftone.co.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2001 9:34 PM
Subject: Re: filmscanners: Puzzled about display resolution
> Do you guys want to alienate all amateurs on this list? ;)
>
> My visitor stats say that 80% of my visitors are using less than or equal
> to 1024x768. This is for a photography site, even if it is by no means
> aimed at the high end of town. Plus:
>
> 1. Monitor flicker can be a major problem with high-resolutions
> 2. Many older cards/monitors simply don't support true or even high color
> at high resolutions
> 3. Some monitor/card combinations just don't work well at some resolutions
> 4. We are not all made of money, and some of us do this as a hobby. (Try
> even 1024x768 on a 14"!!)
>
> Yes, all of these issues are able to be solved with money, but it all adds
> up. If I'm alone here as an amateur/hobbyist, just say so, and I'll shut
> up! But I thought the list was just about film-scanners, and that having a
> professional or even semi-professional setup was not a pre-requisite..
>
>
> I mean, just take a look at Tony's home page - looks like his monitor
isn't
> even color! ;-)
>
> MT
>
>
>
> ==========================================
> Mark Thomas markthom@camtech.net.au
>
