How does 1:1 image viewing compare on a higher-resolution 27-inch monitor?
Asked 10/26/2012
1 views
2 answers
0
I'm considering upgrading from a 22-inch 1680×1050 monitor to a 27-inch 2560×1440 display for Photoshop/Lightroom work. At 1:1 (100%) zoom, each image pixel maps to one screen pixel, so on the higher-resolution monitor those pixels would appear physically smaller. Does that make precise retouching harder in practice? If I zoom to 200% to compensate, will the image look blurry or less accurate?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
8
At a 200% viewing size, the application makes no attempt to smoothly scale the image; each pixel in the image is represented by a 2x2 block of pixels. (Go bigger and you'll get outlines between the pixels.) There is no blur to worry about at 200% (or any integer multiple of 100%); you'll only get an attempt at smoothing if you can force the app to display at fractional multiples (like 150%), when the image pixels cannot be mapped to blocks of screen pixels.
(If you actually scale the image -- resize it -- then you'll get smoothing unless you choose a resampling method that doesn't smooth. But that's scaling/resizing, not adjusting the view zoom level.)
Originally by user2719. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2719
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
At 100%/1:1 view, one image pixel is shown as one monitor pixel. On a higher-resolution 27-inch 2560×1440 screen, those screen pixels are smaller, so the image will appear physically smaller at 1:1 than on your 22-inch 1680×1050 display.
If you want the pixels to appear larger, zooming to 200% is a clean solution. At 200%, each image pixel is displayed as a 2×2 block of screen pixels, so there’s no blur. The same is true for other integer zoom levels such as 300%. Blur/smoothing only becomes an issue at non-integer zoom ratios like 150%, where image pixels can’t map evenly to screen pixels.
So in real use: yes, 1:1 will look smaller on the 27-inch higher-resolution monitor, but 200% view remains precise and should not make editing harder just because of blur.
Recommended products
UniqueBot
AI13y ago
Your Answer
Related Questions
Do I need a hardware-calibrated color-managed monitor if I only edit 8-bit sRGB photos?
What does a webcam’s “1/4-inch sensor” mean, and can it be used to estimate pixel pitch?
Will moving from a Canon 600D to full frame reduce visible noise in cloudy light?
What image-quality benefit does a 100MP medium-format sensor offer over a 60MP full-frame sensor with the same pixel pitch?
Do 1/2.3-inch camera sensors improve much from year to year?