oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

Agreed, but they can be calibrated within limits to give you an idea. Mine is a 27 inch (29?) so helps on the few occasions I use it. Seems the bigger they get the worse they get.

Jim D

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

A crappy photo can look great on a small screen. Blow it up on a large screen and you see the details much better and find out how crappy it really is. In reverse, if you edit on a large screen and make it look fab, then when somebody views it on a smaller screen, it looks phenomenal.

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

But does that not depend on screen resolution? Rather like dots per inch on a printer?

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

Well, you didn't ask about that, but most tablets now have the same screen resolution in pixels per inch (PPI) as full size monitors. Most all monitors of every size are at least 1980 ppi wide these days. The higher the resolution of your monitor (but you have to have a pretty powerful video card in your computer that can output the same high resolution to the monitor or the monitor resolution is wasted) the better.

So if you have a big, let's say 23" or 27", monitor at a specific high resolution and edit on it, then somebody views your photo on a 7" or 10" tablet that has the same PPI resolution, it looks amazing on the small tablet screen.

The idea of a big monitor is so you can see all the defects of the photo easily. You don't want to fool yourself into thinking the photo is perfected by using a 10" tablet, a 12" laptop, or 15" laptop then when somebody views it on a larger monitor than yours (even at the same resolution) it isn't as good as you thought.

I personally use a 23" monitor but would like either a 27" monitor by itself instead, or to run my 23" for the Photoshop program and put the photo itself on the 27" monitor beside it by using my computer's dual output ability. That way the photo can take up the whole 27" monitor instead of having to share it with the Photoshop tools, bars, surrounding black space, plus the Windows task bar, etc.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

For anybody using computers, larger screens are seen as desirable because of the more pleasant user experience that they provide. I would say this would especially be the case for viewing images of any kind.

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

I also have a 55" Samsung LED HD smart TV. It is my primary viewing method of all my favorite pictures. The colors and sharpness is spectacular. I think it defaults to sRGB color space as does most everything I've heard. My wife has a 47" LG HD tv and it also displays pictures perfectly. The LG will even enlarge 1280x720i pictures to full screen with no noticeable degradation. The Samsung does not, and requires a 1920x1080i photo to fill the screen.

I don't calibrate my monitor at all, and use sRGB color space for most of my pictures. Do you calibrate your monitor to a different color space? This might cause the tv to get colors wrong I think.

Also, I have recently discovered my cell phone will mirror with the Samsung, and now instead of using thumb drive for pictures, I use my cell phone witch has WAY better display features, slideshows and all that. I have a 32gig micro SD card in my cell phone and have 1000's of pictures on it with hardly any space used. (I save all tv pictures "for the web" at about 50% compression and 1920x1080, and they still look fantastic, both on the TV and on the cell phone.

If your cell phone does mirroring, definitely look into that. The Samsung picture application bites. You would think they would put a bit more effort into programing for this purpose, or install Faststone or similar viewers.

davidk2020 Loc: San Diego

Thanks for the tips! I always use sRGB color space, so I don't think that's an issue. I have a Color Munki for the monitor and a calibration disc for the TV, but the TV has too many display modes for me: I wish it would just pick one. For example, if I'm looking at photos and then add a PIP window for a football game, the main photo window gets blown out. Other random mode changes happen when I switch to altogether different video sources, like Blu-ray. I think it tries to make smart choices, but it's not that smart.

I hadn't thought about the mirroring, though, great idea! I have a Galaxy S4, so I'm pretty sure that feature is available to me. I'm gonna try it.

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

My phone is an LG Optimus e970 and it has it, yours should definitely work. One more tip, get the android WiFi file Transfer app. It's free and really works great once you get it to work (assuming you have a wifi connection. It's the first free WiFi app I've used that transfers files really fast. Works nice if you want your photos on your cell for tv or even just for the cell phone.

moroeder

Normally it's best to have 100ppi, check link.

https://www.sven.de/dpi/

davidk2020 Loc: San Diego

Way to undermine your own generalization. I plugged in the numbers I stated above and that site returns this info:

Display size: 47.94" × 26.96" = 1292.58in² (121.76cm × 68.49cm = 8339.22cm²) at 40.05 PPI, 0.6342mm dot pitch, 1604 PPI²

authorizeduser Loc: Monroe, Michigan

I use an HP 27" monitor with a resolution of 1920x1080. Photos look sharp to me.

I guess I could invest in a 27" 2560 x 1440 monitor but see no reason to as what I
have now is fine.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I have been using a pair of 24" HD displays (1920x1200) because I don't care for system fonts that are too small, and font scaling that is less than optimal, which is often the case with larger displays that offer higher resolution. In Lightroom, I use one display for editing, the other for viewing mutliple images, etc. In Photoshop, I use one screen for full-size editing, and the other for all of the Photoshop desktop items.

I prefer 2 smaller displays to one larger.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

It never occurred to me that someone serious about photo processing wouldn't get the largest display they could afford, or even two displays. I figured that people who use tablets or small laptops weren't very serious about working on photos. I often go to a 100% view, and I want to see as much of the whole image as possible. I use a BenQ SW271 and it's a pleasure to work with.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

It it easier to see the full sized image and details you wish to enhance. This includes drawing adjustment masks and luminosity masks to address particular areas of the image. I have been using a 28" 4K monitor for the last 2 years, I would never consider going back to a smaller screen.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey