I have been taking pictures for a long long time. I have a large 35 mm collection. Back in the day I would create poster size prints and provide to friends & family as gifts. I found when trying to determine which photos to enlarge was a hit & miss as when viewing an otherwise so so standard photo, the enlarged copy would be spectacular. Since those days I have moved on to digital and have a vast collection. Next year I am retiring and plan on continuing my passion. With digital I now have the opportunity to view my pictures on a screen at sizes equal to the poster (or greater). Does anyone have any recommendations of the best large screen I can purchase to achieve the best viewing that reflects the best printed image. I am considering a 4K TV coupled with an unknown video card (suggestions please) that will support the resolution. NOTE: I plan on purchasing a Canon printer that is capable of printing posters.
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance,
MCKRAFT
Regardless of the TV (or monitor) you select, the most critical factor will be that you calibrate it. Look at information on calibration specifically or in general purpose sources. The "Scanning Film and Slides" book has an excellent section on this subject.
mckraft wrote:
I have been taking pictures for a long long time. I have a large 35 mm collection. Back in the day I would create poster size prints and provide to friends & family as gifts.
<SNIP> NOTE: I plan on purchasing a Canon printer that is capable of printing posters.
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance,
MCKRAFT
What "poster size" do you have in mind?
Using 4K for a display, you need to research the video card's abilities to support this resolution. No matter what size screen you choose, 4K requires more video RAM and more complex video processing than the present standard of 1900 X 1200. I believe this new resolution requires a minimum of 3 Gig DDR5 and special software that is supplied with the video card. At present, I know of no laptop computer that supports the 4K standard so this leaves you with desktop machines and video cards costing between $200 to $900 depending on the application. I know that the new R7 and R9 cards from Radeon and the higher priced NVIDEA cards will support 4K.
I also recommend you research the ability of this monitor to be calibrated properly if you intend to print what you see on the screen.
My next upgrade will be to 4K, but I am waiting for the prices of these displays to come down and the reliability of the displays to improve before I jump into this format. It's a big investment and you'd hate to have problems like pixel failures and edge LED missing vertical line errors as was the case when the first IPS displays were released. I understand that VIZIO now has a reasonably priced 32" 4K monitor/TV, but I have no experience with them as yet, and the large SONY models still cost $20K or more. They give nice bragging rights, but the cable companies are not broadcasting better then 1080HD and some only 720HD as yet so the only real application for these displays are in ULTRA HD BlueRay format machines and video from high priced video cards in mid tower or full tower computers.
When I do upgrade, I'll post my opinions and results for review.
I think you will find an ordinary HDTV to be more than adequate. Almost all computers have a DVI or HDMI interface.
All you will need is a cable long enough to reach your TV.
Unless you are being really picky, or producing something for commercial reasons, you do not need to worry about colour calibration. You will get as good or better colour balance results that you ever did printing from color slides.
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