Two monitors for Photoshop

MC
Posted By
Mark_Cawte
Oct 10, 2003
Views
816
Replies
28
Status
Closed
I use a 19" flat panel monitor for my computer work which is fine normaly until I start using Photoshop for detailed work then it gats a bit cramped even though I have reduced my pallettes to the minimuim.
I have read somewhere about someone using a 15" monitor as a second monitor and set up the palletes and toolbar on that display.
Is this possible and easy to do?

Mark

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NB
Norbert_Bissinger
Oct 10, 2003
Very easy. I am very happy with this setup, all palettes are on the 15 incher to my right. <http://www.matrox.com/mga/multidisplay/home.cfm>
PH
Photo_Help
Oct 10, 2003
Mark,

You could always just press the Tab key if the pallets are your only concern. Having 2 or more monitors is always nice though. You have so many more options with more monitors. You can have a zoomed view on one screen and display the entire canvas on another. See and use multiple applications at once.
RL
Robert_Levine
Oct 10, 2003
Piece of cake. Two monitors are like a broadband internet connection. Once you have it, you’d never go back.

Bob
MC
Martin_Coleman
Oct 10, 2003
I use a second monitor with my laptop. I used to PS just on the laptop which was like viewing through fog! I just had to use a second monitor at first, only to be able to see proper colours. But now the benefits of having your image window on its own – it’s just great!

Martin
HP
Helen_Polson
Oct 10, 2003
Me too Martin- I have a nice colour cabibrated monitor which I use in the office. However I do like the laptop flat screen for other work.

Mark, I’m using XP and it sees to be built in that you can use 2 monitors (that right dave m?) but I’m not sure with other OSs. I think then it depends on your graphics card.
DM
dave_milbut
Oct 10, 2003
mark, very easy, especially if you have a seperate monitor already laying around. get a cheap graphics card (i got a $20 no name n-vida pci card) and install it. not sure about your os, but windows xp picks it right up and loads the drivers and off you go.
QP
Q_Photo
Oct 10, 2003
Mark,
Working on two monitors is the only way to go. You will never be sorry. I started with a 17” & a 15”. Next a 19” & 15”. Went to 19” & 17”. Finally two 19’s and I love it. The following is just a recommendation but something which I think you may want to consider. While most people with two monitors seem to believe that the video card really doesn’t matter much I disagree, somewhat. I have found that when working with certain filters and styles that it pays to have a reasonably fast card as it “rewrites” the screen faster. It (they) don’t have to be high priced, but I’d recommend card(s) in the middle price range. Or slightly below. Trust me, you will end up with something larger than the 15 inch…
DM
dave_milbut
Oct 10, 2003
true qp (card price) but if all you’re doing in ps is popping your palettes on the second card then it’s not a big deal. are you able to get a pic open on each one? only way i can do that is to extend the app across both desktops and I find that annoying (when using the menu’s and option bar, etc.). I keep ps open on the main monitor (21" nokia crt) and use the 15" nec lcd for palettes and the tool bar.

how do you do it? maybe there’s a better way!

dave
QP
Q_Photo
Oct 11, 2003
Dave M,

This is my dual monitor setup. Main 19” directly in front of me and the second set to the right side. Every time I open Photoshop I do have to drag the right side of window to the 2nd monitor. This takes only a second to do and now is second nature to me. That is the only thing that I need to do because I have my own “work space” set so my palettes are always in the same location. That is to the extreme right on the 2nd monitor. The palettes take up about ¼ of the area of that monitor. At times a little more. The rest of the space (2nd monitor) I use to see a second window of the photo that I’m working on. This is usually at 50% to 100% percent. This gives me a good vision of what my edits are actually doing to the photo. On the main monitor I have a window of the same photo but at much larger size. Maybe 200% to 300%, or more. This is great when using tools like lasso or erasure.
Concerning options bar: I keep it at bottom of window, directly above status bar. The status bar contains my most used palettes. I have both monitors at 1280 x 1024 so my options and status bars now extend all the way across both monitors. When I used a smaller second monitor these bars were set the same way but of course you could not see them on the 2nd monitor because the resolution was lower on it. That was when I bit the bullet and bought the second 19 inch.
And Dave, I’m envious of your 21” monitor. At the same time I must say that the setup of two 19” monitors is ideal for me. It serves my purpose well, fits into my limited space, and my even more limited wallet.
Also, thanks for backing me on the subject of video cards. Before I got better cards it would drive me nuts to sit and wait those few seconds for the screen rewrite. I think very good cards can be had today for a very reasonable price.
DM
dave_milbut
Oct 11, 2003
I think very good cards can be had today for a very reasonable price.

that’s true. Thanks for describing your setup. I’m going to have to try monitor spanning again.

thanks, dave
DM
dave_milbut
Oct 11, 2003
hmm… ok that is interesting. i’m going to leave it like that for a few days to see if it "grows" on me. dual 1280×1024, palletes to far right. snapping the option bar to the bottom is especially interesting. definately has possibilities. the nvida dual display sw adds a maximize to both desktop button all apps to so it makes it easy to spread it across both monitors. pretty cool.

thanks again!
dave
QP
Q_Photo
Oct 11, 2003
Dave M,

Glad to be of some help with suggestions concerning dual monitors. No doubt you will find the exact layout of palettes and so-forth to fit your needs. It gives me a good feeling to assist someone in the forum after all the info I have gained in the last few of years from you and so many of the “regulars”. I owe many of you a big thank you. I never posted any questions, just went to forum and started reading.

This forum a truly great service that Adobe provides to us. I think that in many cases it is under appreciated. Photoshop is an extremely useful and creative program. Perfect? no. But, damn near. I’m a photographer and, now get this; I can have two photographs of a bride. In one photo the pose, gown, smile are all perfect. BUT, her eyes are closed. Second photo no smile, poor pose, eyes open. I can actually combine the open eyes into the better photograph. Seriously, is that cool or what? After nearly five years of working in Photoshop I still am amazed by it. Can you tell?
DM
dave_milbut
Oct 12, 2003
No problem q. you’re very welcome, and thank you for the monitor tips.

It gives me a good feeling to assist someone in the forum after all the info I have gained in the last few of years from you and so many of the “regulars”

I know exactly how you feel. I lurked here for about 6 mos. before I gained the courage to start answering questions. It’s a good feeling. This is indeed one of the best places to learn PS on the net. So many pros. I feel privaliged to be able to answer when I can. My main expertise is in HW/SW/OS (I’m a programmer) and I enjoy helping out where I can. I knew next to nothing about REALLY using PS until the pros here showed me the light. Now I know HOW to use it… I’m just not that good at it! 🙂 (And BTW, I didn’t see the "Talent" filter on the list of improvements for PS CS! What’s up with that?!!)
IL
Ian_Lyons
Oct 12, 2003
And BTW, I didn’t see the "Talent" filter on the list of improvements for PS CS! What’s up with that?!!)

It didn’t make the cut. We tried hard but too many beta testers found it difficult to use 🙂
DM
dave_milbut
Oct 12, 2003
We tried hard but too many beta testers found it difficult to use

<Charlie Brown>
UGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!
</Charlie Brown>
NB
Norbert_Bissinger
Oct 12, 2003
Wow!
EB
eddie_booth
Jan 30, 2004
I have Photoshop 4.0.1 on XP with 2 monitors (matrox550 card, 1g ram, 2.6 p4)

My question is I can move the photoshop window and working picture onto screen 2 but none of the pallets. (Painter 5.5 has similar prob) The only advice I can get is that if its a MS DOS prog then it cannot utilise the two screens.

Because PS4 is a Win 95 program and the fact half of it does display over two screens I’m trying to confirm that this is a problem only corrected by an upgrade to XP compatable software?

please tell me there is a patch or something!
Cheers, Ed.
JS
John_Slate
Jan 30, 2004
Hey Eddie:
JC
Jean_Chartrand
Jul 25, 2004
I am looking to go the dual monitor mode. I am running XP home edition what is a good and very good video card to use.

Thanks

Jean Chartrand
DM
dave_milbut
Jul 25, 2004
if your primary card is agp it’s easy to get and install a cheap 2ndary. get a 20 dollar pci card with good drivers (nvidia, martox, etc) and slap it in and plug in a monitor. it doesn’t need to be a great card because the image won’t be over there, it’s just extra space for your palettes and tools.
CK
Christine_Krof_Shock
Jul 25, 2004
And it’s a nice place to float the navagator palette when you are working with channels!
BS
Bernd_Schneitler
Jul 25, 2004
I use a 21 inch for the image and a small 15 inch to my right with all the palettes.

I love it.

Bernd
ND
Nick_Decker
Jul 25, 2004
Jean, you might want to consider something like the Matrox G550, which allows you to plug both of your monitors into the same card. If you want to spend more money, have a look at the G650, but the G550 is what I use and it’s an excellent card. (About US$100.)

Nick
JR
Jon Rodman
Jul 27, 2004
Hi Nick,

We have similar setups. I am using one of the old Matrox G400 dual monitor cards with a 24" Sun Microsystems monitor and a 19" Envision. If I were to do it again, I would get a 21" instead of the 24" What seems to be happening is that I get a slight flicker in the corners of the 24" Sun monitor when using the Matrox G400. When I take that card out, and put a single monitor card into the AGP slot the flickering goes away, but I have only one monitor. When I put in a second video card into a PCI slot, I get an IRQ conflict. I cannot resolve the IRQ conflict because the box under the Resources tab is grayed out where people check or uncheck to Use Automatic Settings. I cannot seem to manually select the IRQ to use.

I am using XP Pro. Should I spend the money for a newer Matrox Dual Monitor AGP card, or is there a way to adjust the IRQ settings.
Thanks,
Jon

wrote in message
Jean, you might want to consider something like the Matrox G550, which
allows you to plug both of your monitors into the same card. If you want to spend more money, have a look at the G650, but the G550 is what I use and it’s an excellent card. (About US$100.)
Nick
BM
Brett_Moss
Jul 30, 2004
I’m casting my vote for the two-monitor setup. Once you’ve done this you can’t go back. I have the DoubleSight dual-15 LCD monitor. It’s so great I wrote a review about it. Main work area on one screen and tools (or another program) easily and always accessible on the other. No more tabbing.
CF
Clay_Fowler
Jul 30, 2004
I love using both monitors! the only thing I’ve had to remember to do is work with my other Adobe programs minimized when they are in the background. Otherwise I have a sea of palettes behind the active ones in Photoshop and it is easy to confuse the active palettes with the ones from InDesign and Illustrator and find my computer switching over to one of those programs when I hit the wrong one.
EL
Ervin_Little
Aug 1, 2004
For those who might want to go a step farther, you might consider the Matrox P750. The P750 will permit both monitors to be calibrated separately. If you have two ‘Good’ monitors that can be really nice. It will support analogue and/or DVI.

I have the P750 and like it. I have had no problems with it.

Erv
JR
Jon Rodman
Aug 2, 2004
Hi Erv,
I currently have a Matrox G400 and am going to upgrade soon. Do you know the differences between the G450, G550 and G650? Pricewise, they go right up. The G450s cost less than $20 on eBay, the G550s go for around $60 and the G650s cost even more.
The G400 does not seem to appreciate the 24" Sun Microsystems workstation monitor I have. It works, but could be better. I also have an Envision 19" monitor. The G400 works great with the Envision monitor. Someone mentioned that the P750 enables people to calibrate each monitor individually. That sounds like a great feature, but the 750 just will not fit in my budget right now. I am going to buy a G550 but would like to know what the advantages are of the G650. Maybe I should be getting the G650. Any thoughts?
Jon

wrote in message
For those who might want to go a step farther, you might consider the
Matrox P750. The P750 will permit both monitors to be calibrated separately. If you have two ‘Good’ monitors that can be really nice. It will support analogue and/or DVI.
I have the P750 and like it. I have had no problems with it.
Erv

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