Just getting started again - should I buy a monitor?

RachelRose53 · Sep 19, 2013

Not completely new to photography, but for the past few decades have limited myself to a series of nice point-and-shoots for snaps and messing around creatively. Six months ago I finally bought an entry level dSLR - a Canon t3i. I have the kit lens (actually both of the kit lenses - it came with an 18-135 but I bought the 18-55 that used to ship with it so I'd have something really light) plus I got the inexpensive 50 mm 1/8. I have Adobe CS6, and am starting to now get good enough in Photoshop to play constructively with editing my photos. I work on a 15 inch MacBook Pro. (I also own a decent tripod, which I considered basic to get.)

I have money put aside for eventually expanding/upgrading my gear, but decided when I bought my camera that I was going to start with something entry-level and that I was not going to buy anything else (better lenses, etc.) until I had really learned how to use that camera and edit photos and knew what I really wanted/needed. I don't know enough yet to make good decisions. But I am starting to feel like my 15 inch screen is holding me back. It's very small for editing - at least that's how it feels to me. Is it premature for me to think of buying a large monitor to work on? I don't know which one to get - I've looked at the Apple 27 inch Thunderbolt display, just because I am pretty much a Mac person (iPhone, iPod, I've owned Mac computers since my first SE30 back in the day). I've read reviews of other monitors. I just keep wondering if I'm rushing - if most people are happily doing their photo editing on 15 inch monitors and I should just stick with that and wait until I'm further along.

I'd appreciate any input on this. This is my first post here. So, along with my question, I'll say hello to everyone!

kathyt · Sep 19, 2013

I have to edit on a 27" monitor. That is just what I am used to. I could probably get away with a 22", but I would rather not. No way could I edit just on a laptop. I would have to check myself on a larger, calibrated screen. I would do the 22 or 27 iMac.

RachelRose53 · Sep 19, 2013

Well, I was thinking of getting just the display to hook up to my MacBook, not getting a whole other computer. But same diff, right?

kathyt · Sep 19, 2013

RachelRose53 said:
Well, I was thinking of getting just the display to hook up to my MacBook, not getting a whole other computer. But same diff, right?

I am not a Mac girl, but I am sure someone who knows will chime in. I don't like having all of my images in one location. I play on my laptop, and then work mostly on my desktop.

Stevepwns · Sep 19, 2013

If your Macbook has a DVI or an HDMI output then you can connect any monitor that you would want to use for photo editing. I have 4-24" monitors on my PC and cant imagine going to anything less than a multi monitor setup. I say that because you should keep in mind, once you upgrade, its difficult to go backwards when it comes to hardware. I don't recommend anything smaller than a 24 inch LED monitor for anything graphical in nature. What you also want to keep in mind is the power of the Macbook. The size of the monitor means nothing when considering whether or not you have the power, the resolution however matters.

RachelRose53 · Sep 19, 2013

Stevepwns said:
If your Macbook has a DVI or an HDMI output then you can connect any monitor that you would want to use for photo editing. I have 4-24" monitors on my PC and cant imagine going to anything less than a multi monitor setup. I say that because you should keep in mind, once you upgrade, its difficult to go backwards when it comes to hardware. I don't recommend anything smaller than a 24 inch LED monitor for anything graphical in nature. What you also want to keep in mind is the power of the Macbook. The size of the monitor means nothing when considering whether or not you have the power, the resolution however matters.

Sorry to be thick, but I don't understand what you are saying and would like to. You mean you would never go back to having less than 4 monitors? I don't understand how that relates to upgrading and not wanting to go backwards. You'll have to excuse my ignorance, I'm still figuring things out on a lot of levels.

My Macbook can do DVI and HDMI, I just need to use an adapter.

Thanks.

Stevepwns · Sep 24, 2013

RachelRose53 said:
Stevepwns said:

If your Macbook has a DVI or an HDMI output then you can connect any monitor that you would want to use for photo editing. I have 4-24" monitors on my PC and cant imagine going to anything less than a multi monitor setup. I say that because you should keep in mind, once you upgrade, its difficult to go backwards when it comes to hardware. I don't recommend anything smaller than a 24 inch LED monitor for anything graphical in nature. What you also want to keep in mind is the power of the Macbook. The size of the monitor means nothing when considering whether or not you have the power, the resolution however matters.

Click to expand...

Sorry to be thick, but I don't understand what you are saying and would like to. You mean you would never go back to having less than 4 monitors? I don't understand how that relates to upgrading and not wanting to go backwards. You'll have to excuse my ignorance, I'm still figuring things out on a lot of levels.

My Macbook can do DVI and HDMI, I just need to use an adapter.

Thanks.

Personally, I wouldn't go any less than 3 monitors for myself. I do a lot of graphics and multi tasking. If you have a DVI and an HDMI, then I would recommend getting a good size monitor utilizing your HDMI output. You will be fine. 22" or a 24" LED flat panel will do you just fine.

RachelRose53 · Oct 2, 2013

Well, I am back to revisit this. I looked at the 27" Thunderbolt display today, and 27 inch screen seems huge to me. I looked at the iMacs and the 21 inch iMac can be configured to have twice the RAM and a faster processor than my Macbook, so the idea of having a separate computer just for graphics and photo editing is beginning to grow on me. My question is this: coming from a 15 inch laptop screen, the 21 inch screen seems like a pretty nice size, but am I fooling myself? Do I really need 27 inches? (In which case I could get the 27 inch iMac.)

I appreciate the responses. I am just getting started in photography, and as I said in my original post, I vowed not to get ahead of myself in buying equipment, to wait until I knew what I needed or wanted. But it's very hard to learn to do photo editing on such a small screen, so I think I have to do something about this now.

cgipson1 · Oct 2, 2013

I run a 30" monitor... and love it for editing. Had a 24" before this that did well.. but the extra inches really help. I have 15" Mac Book Pro Retina.. and while I will edit on it if I am stuck in a motel room somewhere, it is not something I like. Hard to get a consistent view with the display...

That 27" Tbolt is a sweet monitor...

The_Traveler · Oct 2, 2013

Set aside $ for a monitor calibration tool.
Best few bucks you'll spend.

JacaRanda · Oct 2, 2013

My wife has the 21" IMAC and wishes she would have bitten the bullet and gone for the 27". Size does matter!

cgipson1 · Oct 2, 2013

The_Traveler said:
Set aside $ for a monitor calibration tool.
Best few bucks you'll spend.

^this!

RachelRose53 · Oct 2, 2013

Thanks for all this. Looks like I should go for the 27 inch.

Yes, I have budgeted for a calibration tool. Which one?

RachelRose53 · Oct 24, 2013

Back again with another question. I decided against an iMac or a Thunderbolt display. The glossy screens had too much glare for me personally and would have been unworkable in my current space. I needed a screen with antiglare. I ended up with a Dell Ultrasharp U2413, figuring 24" was a good size to start with. I just hooked it up and am figuring things out.

This may be a dumb question, but I am assuming that when people use these screens to photo-edit, they are not using them at highest or native resolution. If I did, I could fit a lot of windows on the monitor at once, but Photoshop would be not much larger than it is on my laptop, which I already run lower than its native resolution so that I can actually see and read things. I reduced the resolution on my external so that Photoshop is nice and big. Is this what everyone does? The support guy at Apple said working at lower than native resolution would not effect the sharpness of my images, or of it did it would be negligible. But then, he isn't a photographer. Will working at lower than highest native resolutions cause me to end up over-sharpening images to compensate?