What is optimum eye-level on a TFT monitor?

[Janice]

How far below the top of a tft monitor are your eyes supposed to be to see correct brightness?

Mine are about 2" when I sit up straight, but once I slouch down and rest my chin in my hand with my elbow on the desk as usual they are about 2" from the bottom of the screen!

Im wondering if that is why my shots dont have quite the punch they should when other people see them and they look a bit light... because I process them when sitting lower down in the chair.

If I sit up straight to check ... will that be the correct brightness?

 

[Steep]

It depends on the monitor, some have a better angle of view than others.

 

[Slapo]

If you think it's because of your position towards your screen, then you're likely to have one of them cheap ones.

Then again, checking the histogram and setting a sensible black point tends to solve issues like this one.

What monitor do you have?

 

[Ross]

In terms of comfort the top of your screen should be level with, or a couple of inches below your eye level when you are sitting normally.

 

[Janice]

Its a Sony SDM HX73 not expensive Im sure!

 

[Slapo]

There are ones that should be sold cheap yet they are expensive

The HX series was a step up from the HS series, but I'm not sure whether the HXx3 models had panels different to HSx3 models.

Their display quality wasn't bad, but it I'm positive there were better ones at the time *touches the sideof his L557 with affection*

Still, checking the histogram is your best bet, I'd say.

If they still see them light with a black point set in your photos... tell them to KNOCK DOWN THE BRIGHTNESS!

 

[Slapo]

Also, this might be worth checking out:
http://www.displaycalibration.com/
http://www.ibiblio.org/mal/MO/philm/colortest/
They're the first links from a google search, but they seem to be usable.

 

[Steep]

Specs for that model say Max vertical view angle is 160deg which is pretty good and should mean that you can see a clear bright image over most of that range. If you're not maybe the specs are not as accurate as they could have been.

/edit that's the same as my Samsung and I see little difference top to bottom until I get near the extremes.

 

[mole2k]

This is one of the reasons I love my 2004 fpw dell, It doesnt has as 180 degree viewing angle, it acts just like a crt when viewed at from an angle.

 

[Slapo]

One note:
many manufacturers published specs of viewing angles for contrast ratios of 5:1, instead of the more fair 10:1
It makes quite a difference and often some older models that weren't from the top line were worse than they should have been.

 

[Damian Brown]

Noticed this problem when I started working mainly on a Samsung TFT. First batch of work resulted in being too bright overall once i'd got he proofs up. Realised my viewing position was too low, now I'm after a new sensible chair to sit on when i work, so i can be rested at a correct eye level. The CRT was so much more forgiving of my relaxed seating style