My company being a newspaper is looking at the possibilty of purchasing LCD monitors for the photographers.Is there anyone that looks at this forum that is a working newspaper photographer or a professional in the industry that could provide specifications to look out for? All our machines are fitted with Adobe Photoshop from 5.5 to CS.Hopefullly we will be upgrading to CS for all.I don't want links to discussions just practical advice.There is a limited budget as we have to purchase over 40 monitors and are looking at maximum of $1200 to $1500 Australian per unit.Any advice appreciated.

Tom's Hardware had a recent article on a color accurate LCD from NEC. http://graphics.tomshardware.com/display/20051028/index.html Not cheap but so far the only LCD that I've seen that is targetting photo professionals and the like. (I'm not entirely sure it's out for purchase yet.) The cheap LCD's (even the not so cheap ones) don't display enough of the color gamut that someone who is fussy with color would like. Ok, I'm no help. :)

Apple cinema display is huge and powerfull, but not sure about the price, I think its about $1500. Maybe the best solution would be to buy 21" CRT monitors, they are much cheaper and you can calibrate real good :) Tihomir

I have not tried out all monitors so I cannot give out a review. However according to my understanding, if your company is a newspaper publisher, the issue of colour matching is not as important as say a fashion magazine. From a business point of view, the investment you made on the monitor will have to suit its purpose at the machines lifecycle, hope I am using the right phase. As from the photographer's point of view, the larger their screen, the better. Less strain on their eyes to begin with. Since the output of the final product will be on print( newspaper ), more than likely the colour will not be the same as the one they see on the monitor anyway. I would go for the larger screen size with decent gamut level. Ok, after boring you with all this. May I suggest you to have a look at the Lacie web site. They do a fine range of professional monitor plus more, oh they also do calibration kits too in case you need it. Good luck.

Many thanks all for your replies. At least I have some information for our next company meeting.arrow1

Attached Link: http://www.wildstate.com

For bang for the buck, the Samsung 213T has proven to be both large and calibrates right on with the Monaco Optix XR hardware/software. I do a lot of photoshop work and it's great. Better yet, get a second monitor to park those toolbars on and use the 213 for the photo. Works like gangbusters. Hope this gives you some ideas.