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View Full Version : Pantone HueyPRO Review


Digitalwave
10th of April 2007 (Tue), 23:31
Let me start by saying this is my first monitor calibrator so I don't have anything to compare it to. The reason I bought the HueyPRO is because I was looking for an affordable option that could profile a dual monitor setup. The HueyPRO also uses the same hardware as the Eye One calibrators.

I got $20 off with the smugmug promo code, and the package did indeed include the Pantone swatches and 1gb jump drive.

Installation was easy as well as the actual profiling. It took about 15 minutes to do both monitors since I had to run the test more than once on my LCD since the suction cups let go half way through. The hardware was still close to the monitor so I thought it still might work ok, but when it was over the results hadn't changed. I ran it again and I was shocked with the results.

I have an LCD and a CRT that I had eyeballed to look a lot like the LCD. Both of them were extremely off. My old settings were way too blue and also on the bright side. Skin tones are much more pleasant now, and when you compare the two settings side by side, the new settings look more red/warm, but its just becaues of the sharp difference between the two. It only took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to the changes. I set the brightness adjustment to check every hour, but I haven't had a chance to see the true results of this yet.

Overall I am very happy with the product and for the money, it seems like a nice intermediate option from the entry level Huey to the more expensive pro-level calibration systems.

Tsmith
10th of April 2007 (Tue), 23:39
Well good to here your happy with it T.J. It does take a few minutes for your eyes to get adjusted to the calibration but once they do its like someone turn on the light.

Maybe I'll have mine by the end of the week so it can be compared to the regular Huey.

Enjoy and don't spend too much time redoing your work ... ;)

Digitalwave
10th of April 2007 (Tue), 23:51
I actually think most of my photos look better now so I don't think I'll be doing much reediting, though of course its going to be very useful in the future, especially with the weddings I have coming up.

Even with both calibrated I can tell my CRT is showing it's age, it's time to upgrade to dual matching monitors.

Digitalwave
11th of April 2007 (Wed), 09:10
Here's another tip that I learned last night. If you are using any form of software calibration with your video card's drivers, set back to defaults before you run the Huey. I had used nVidia's Digital Vibrance with different settings on both my monitors to try to make them match, and after I profiled them I could see my CRT was much more red. I restored defaults on both and they match very well now.