Pixel Pitch And Enlarged Mode

If you're finding photo descriptions and other small text hard to read on your current monitor and are considering buying a bigger model to fix the problem have a read of this article first. Why? Well a big monitor size doesn't always mean the letters on your screen will get any bigger and this is down to something called 'pixel pitch'.
 

What Is 'Pixel Pitch'?

Pixel Pitch is the distance between the pixels on your screen. For LCD users pixels sit right against each other so in this case 'pixel pitch' refers to the size of the pixels. All you really need to know is that the higher the pixel pitch, the bigger an image is displayed. So the appearance (size) of the letters will change according to the pixel pitch of the monitor you are using.
 

Why Is This Important?

If you go out and purchase a bigger monitor which has a low pixel pitch letters / images will appear smaller than they would on a smaller sized monitor which has a higher pixel pitch. Take a look at the images to the right as an example. 

The diagram on the left side shows the display from a monitor with a high pixel pitch and the one on the right side is from a monitor which has a lower pixel pitch. As you can see, both feature the same number of squares yet the diagram on the right is smaller with the lower pixel pitch.

Pixel pitch gives a general idea of the monitor's ability to produce sharp images; the smaller the pixel pitch, the sharper the image.

What Should You Do If You Want To Use Larger Letters?

If using an LCD you can select the enlargement function which sets the computer output to a lower resolution than the monitor's recommended resolution, as a result the computer data is enlarged in the monitor and displayed.

You can use your operating system (Windows, for example) to alter sizes of icons etc. and there are zoom functions available on web browsers as well as in word processing and photo editing software  that will enlarge the text / graphic you are working with.

If you use an EIZO monitor you'll either have a 'full-screen mode' option or the following three options available: 'Full-screen mode', 'Enlarged mode' and 'Normal mode'.

Normal mode - This displays an image in the set resolution. Use this mode when the aspect ratio of the monitor's resolution is different from that of the resolution set in the PC.

Full-screen mode – This enlarges an image to the native resolution when its resolution is lower. Even though it enlarges the image care needs to be taken as the image can be warped if its resolution has a different aspect ratio to the monitor you're using.

For example, when a circle is displayed on a monitor with a 1920 × 1200 resolution, the image will appear correct if the computer's setting is also 1920 × 1200. However, if the computer's setting is 1280 × 1024, both figures will be enlarged and as the aspect ratio is different the image will be displayed as an oval rather than a circle.

Enlarged Mode – This enlarges low resolution images to the maximum size possible to be displayed on the monitor but the aspect ratio is preserved.

Please note that the image will become bigger but you may find that the edges of letters or images may appear blurred, lines may look uneven and rough. There is a smoothing function available on some monitors which applies corrections to make letters and lines that were blurred in Enlargement mode clearer.

Visit EIZO for more information.