Pantone Huey Pro Review

[Snowyowl]

Originally Posted by wolfie

Dan, I've never heard of this before.

I use an LCD monitor, but could not get Adobe Gamma to work on my PC, hence my search of the web for software calibration and discovering the "Monitor Calibration Wizard".

Harry

It was a surprise to me. I had been trying to calibrate my LCD monitor that way until I accidentally ran across the info. while I was reading about calibration on the Canon forum.

[Canis Vulpes]

I agree with Yelvertoft, calibration is a must for an LCD type screen.

[Saphire]

The Pantonne Huey pro has arrived.

I have set up my monitor and it looks all washed out and very light. I couldn't get the brightness and contrast anywhere near what they suggest so went for the default values. Is this normal, am I seeing it look wrong because I was used to things being a lot darker.

[yelvertoft]

Christine, how were you setting the brightness and contrast? If you adjust them using the hardware buttons on the monitor you should be able to get it pretty close. I found that using the software based adjustments via the video driver (the only way I can adjust things on my laptop) was more problematic.

I certainly can't get the settings anywhere near right using the "default" suggested values, I had to do some fairly extreme adjustments on my flat panel screen(s) to get the brightness/contrast even close to right. The CRT was a doddle in comparison.

Duncan

[Saphire]

Duncan, I reset the monitor with its own buttons to its preset settings then tried adjusting them with the huey at the side.
I tried brightness then the contrast sliders but still couldn't get the whites to adjust down to give two shades. I gave up and set the brightness and contrast to what I thought looked okay and continued with the calibration. I have tried a number of brightness and contrast settings to see if it made any difference to the final result but it doesn't, I also notice a slight blue cast..

[yelvertoft]

Adjust the settings using the hardware based adjustment controls directly on the monitor. Get them as close as you can even if they aren't perfect. Remember that it's the contrast control that adjusts the white point and the brightness control that adjusts the black point. Having said that, turning down the brightness may well allow you to see the two shades of white on the contrast adjustment screen. By adjusting the two controls in a cycle of one after the other you should be able to get it right.

If you can't see the two shades of white, turn down the contrast to its minimum and if that still doesn't allow you to see the two bits of white turn down the brightness a long way until you can. Then fine tune on the contrast control.

As for the blue cast, what colour temp have you set the monitor to (on the monitor hardware)? 6500K is the norm.

D.

[Saphire]

Duncan, I did the adjustments on the monitor not software, even with contrast and brightness at zero there wasn't two shades of white just the one.

The way I had to set it before I bought the Huey was to adjust the hue and saturation in the graphics card profile. That is now set to defaults so it doesn't conflict. I have also checked that adobe gamma isn't loaded.

It may look out to me now because I am so used to it being wrong.

I am using a 22" Acer Monitor AL2216W, it only has a setting for warm, cool and custom it doesn't give temp like my old monitor.

[andy153]

Sorry Christine - but I think it's a bummer - the following link to a review of this monitor shows there is no temperature adjustment available on this model apart from warm or cold so any fine adjustment you need is not there -

http://www.trustedreviews.com/displa...een-Display/p1

[Birdsnapper]

I installed Huey Pro a couple of months ago ater getting new computer and have had the same problems as Christine. The colour calibration didn't seem to make any discernible difference. Has anyone used used Huey and found that it did make a difference and could they post before and after photos? I'm not convinced that Huey actually does anything except to get the user to change the brightness a tad.

[Canis Vulpes]

A Huey makes a massive difference to LCD monitors. Colours are spot on so if you are looking to make any colour changes then it needs to be done on a calibrated monitor or your photos risk showing a colour cast.

Lets say your monitor has a deep blue cast. When changing white balance or selecting a grey point to look correct on the bad monitor an opposite amount of red would have to be present in the photo for the monitor to display a 'true' representation of the real scene captured in the photo.

If this editted photo with an unnatural red content were to be displayed on a calibrated monitor it should be obvious there was too much red.