8 replies to this topic

[DAVID E]

I'm having a few problems getting acclimated to Vista. I hooked everything up according to the instructions today to included the new flat panel wides screen monitor. First question is about the monitor software...wont work. I put in the CD and after autorun started up. A box came up with "User Guide" and Webcamsetup" below it. When I clicked on User Guide, another box came up that said, "Windows cannot find E:\monitor.htm. Make sure you typed the name correctly and try again." I didn't type anything in-just clicked on the User Guide. I basically wanted to change the brightness as it seems pretty bright but see no manual controls on the panel. This monitor is a16:9 ratio and I do hope I can change that to normal 43:1, I think it's called as photos look a bit strange with it. Bubba, my Corgi's pictures make him look longer than he is.

Another problem is my card reader won't work. It's a compact flash from Sandisk and upon looking at the soft ware there's no mention of it supporting Vista. Is this usual since Vista has been around awhile and this is new software?

[Berton]

DAVID E, on Feb 14 2009, 06:51 PM, said:

I'm having a few problems getting acclimated to Vista. I hooked everything up according to the instructions today to included the new flat panel wides screen monitor. First question is about the monitor software...wont work. I put in the CD and after autorun started up. A box came up with "User Guide" and Webcamsetup" below it. When I clicked on User Guide, another box came up that said, "Windows cannot find E:\monitor.htm. Make sure you typed the name correctly and try again." I didn't type anything in-just clicked on the User Guide. I basically wanted to change the brightness as it seems pretty bright but see no manual controls on the panel. This monitor is a16:9 ratio and I do hope I can change that to normal 43:1, I think it's called as photos look a bit strange with it. Bubba, my Corgi's pictures make him look longer than he is.

Another problem is my card reader won't work. It's a compact flash from Sandisk and upon looking at the soft ware there's no mention of it supporting Vista. Is this usual since Vista has been around awhile and this is new software?

First, there seldom is any need to install the monitor software, last couple I looked at had only the user manual on the disk.

Second, some of the LCD Flat Panel monitors have controls on the edge of the case, similar to the LCD Flat Panel TVs.

Third, you won't be happy with the 'standard' 4:3 ratio display, the Native Resolution is usually best.

Fourth, Vista doesn't need software to allow Windows Explorer to read the contents of memory sticks in a Card Reader. If particular software came with the camera for working with the pictures you'll need to go to the maker's site to see if there's new software compatible with Vista. I prefer just transferring the images to the HDD then use a graphics editor of my choice to work with them. For simple viewing Vista has Windows Photo Gallery, rather similar to Windows Picture and Fax Viewer in WinXP.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-v...to-gallery.aspx
Apparently part of the reason for the change from Windows Picture and Fax Viewer is that Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium do not have built-in Fax support [Vista Business and Vista Ultimate do].

[DAVID E]

It took a while, Berton, but I got it squared away. I overlooked the obvious. I had all connections made(I thought) and looked at the back of the tower and discovered there was a USB cable dangling there. It was from the monitor. http://www.smartestc...tyle_emoticons/default/blush.gif After hookiing it in like I shold have everything worked. Theres some touch controls on the right bottome side that covers brightness, contrast, resolution etc. I'm not use to touch controls and it was a learning experience. Ever so gently do ou have to touch the menu to change it and make settings. I found out how to make photos displayed look normal instead of stretched so, all is well in that area. I can't believe the difference in the new monitor and the old CRT I had...day and night in all respects.

Photos I take culdn't be viewed in Windows Picture and Fax reviewer nor can they be viewed in the Photo Gallery because I shoot in RAW(or NEF as Nikon calls it). Once on the HDD I have to open them with Capture NX2, make any post processing changes if needed and once I'me satisfied with the image I can change it to jpg for the web or send the file to a printer for enlargements. Each photo is about 16mb as compared to around 4-5mb for a jpg using a 10 megapixel camera. Any other type of picture will open ok but not the NEF files from the camera. You can shoot in jpg to eliminate all this but you're shooting compressed files with little room to work and maintain a good picture. One thing I haven't quite understood yet is why photos viewed with the new computer look about a stop or so overexposed as compared to the viewwer on the camera. That makes it hard to judege whether you need to reduce the brightness of the monitor or cut back on the brightness in post processing. Maybe there's an easy/cheap way to calibrate the monitor...have to look into that.

[GRS]

Would not using clear type have an effect on the pictures?

[Broni]

I agree with Berton. You shouldn't be playing with LCD monitor settings. You should stay with default settings.

BTW...congratulations on the new machine :)

[DAVID E]

Broni, on Feb 16 2009, 11:51 AM, said:

I agree with Berton. You shouldn't be playing with LCD monitor settings. You should stay with default settings.

BTW...congratulations on the new machine :)

That's what the touch controls are for, Broni...piddling. The screen was way bright for my liking so I tweaked it down a bit. It was set on about 72 and I lowered it to 65. The contrast was high as well and I lowered it a few points. I'm wondering if photos just naturally look brighter on an LCD vs CRT type of monitor. If so, that makes post processing digital photos difficult as you don't know if you've shot overexposed or not and if you lower the brightenss in post processing and send that photo out to have an enlargement made it may come back underexposed. That's why I was wondering about proper calibration. I had heard anyone doing post processing needed to have their monitor calibrated-not sure what all that entails, however. You want the photo you're having an enlargement made of to look like the photo you've seen on the monitor. Elsewise, you may be in for a surpirse when you go to pick it up.

So far this machine is a real hummer when it comes to multi-tasking and doing post processing work taking a mere few seconds to do something whereby before, it's was taking minutes with my other system. Now-had it only come with XP http://www.smartestc...tyle_emoticons/default/sad.gif

[dobhar]

I agree on the Monitor software...I only install the drivers so that xp or vista knows what brand of Monitor I have installed.

GRS is also correct...set yourself up with "Cleartype"...it does make a difference at least it does for me...

You can setup 2 ways...
1) Right from MS - http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleart...uner/step1.aspx

2) MS PowerToy => http://www.microsoft...pePowerToy.mspx

[DAVID E]

I thought Clear Type was to mostly sharpen up the image/text you see. There's no problem with that. Text is tack sharp. My problem is how bright it shows a photograph in My Pictures folder. It's overexposed compared to what the other monitor shows and I know it's not and should be showing it like the 2.5 inch window in the camera does. The same photo just looks too bright in the new monitor like it was overexposed a bit.

Judging from my earlier post, I think I need spell checker!!

[dobhar]

Hi David...

Microsoft said:

With Windows Vista and Windows XP, ClearType delivers improved font display quality over traditional forms of font smoothing or anti-aliasing. ClearType improves readability on color LCD displays with a digital interface, such as those in laptops and high-quality flat panel displays. Readability on CRT screens can also be somewhat improved.

Forgot you had Vista...You can still use the WinXP PowerToy (other post above) with Vista
- http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ClearT...tuner/tune.aspx