[Summerleft]

I have a phillips 170c monitor funnily enough i did have a 19inch one but you know one night it found its way over to my other 1/2s desk to sit with another 19inch monitor and mine was replaced with a 17

Any way

Ive gone through calibrating it and faffing with brightness etc but I still get contrast problems which are amplified if I ever get to look at my images on his Mag's HD monitor as then I just go 'how out was I'!

Anyway should i chuck and get another or am i missing something?

[silkstone]

How have you tried to calibrate the monitor? If it's old and knackered you won't get it right whatever you do, but it should be possible to get a decent screen fairly accurate manually.

Take a look at....

Monitor Calibration Tests

Photo Friday: Monitor Calibration Tool

The second one is a very good starting point, and then see how you do with the first.

[Summerleft]

thanks SS, I can see a difference starting at 3 with the first one so it isnt that bad? I did do a calibration test from another site and it all seemed fine, with the second I have difficulty finding any difference between Y and Z.

So maybe its my crap judgement? lol but whenever i post a pic I think is too bright it gets a thumbs up :S

[silkstone]

If you can see a difference at 3 on the first one, that's very good and suggests that the black point is probably OK. You should really see the difference between Y and Z in the second, and usually that can be altered by adjusting the Contrast setting. As things stand you're not seeing some of the highlight detail because lighter tones are going to white, which is possibly why other people think they're OK.