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- Provides: Monitor Calibration (and control with changing light intensities)
- Developer: Pantone
- Minimum Requirements: Mac OS X v10.3
- Leopard Compatibility: Yes, but if you install Leopard after installing hueyPRO, you will need to reinstall hueyPRO
- Retail Price: $129.00
- Availability: Out now
If you don't care if your monitor is calibrated and/or you do not care if your photograph prints match what you see on your monitor, save your time and energy—stop reading this review. On the other hand, if you already do calibrate your monitor and/or have been thinking that calibration is a good idea, check out the Pantone® huey™PRO. The one feature that makes the hueyPRO stand out is that it changes your monitor brightness as the room's brightness conditions change.
If you are unfamiliar with monitor calibration, or the need for it, go into any store that has a series of televisions all set on the same channel and notice that they all appear either a bit (or a lot) different. That's why you need to calibrate monitors. Admittedly, flat panel monitors tend to have less variations than cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors, but they will have some. The issue is that if an object is supposed to be blue, is the screen displaying the right blue. In other words, your computer is sending information to your monitor that a given object is supposed to be blue, but if the monitor isn't calibrated, the blue you see on your monitor might be printed as greenish-blue or a reddish-blue. You won't know until you print. Calibration lets your computer look at the monitor and verify that the blue it's sending to the monitor is the same blue that the computer is seeing on the monitor (via the calorimeter). Calibration provides an electronic handshake between the computer and the monitor so that they are in sync.
Calibration has the reputation of something like washing dishes or doing laundry. At some point, you need to do it. If you think not, consider the alternatives. The reality is that calibration is neither painful nor tedious. Once I had the basics established, it took 3-4 minutes to calibrate my monitor with the hueyPRO, and then I was done for several weeks. Yes, it does need to be done on some kind of repetitive basis because monitors, both CRT and flat panel, do age. And as they age, their color profiles change. So, while not as exciting as fixing an image in Photoshop, once you've calibrated your monitor, your Photoshop images will be as intended. And that's a good thing.
When you receive your hueyPRO, the blister plastic pack is filled with a variety of stuff. There is the hardware calorimeter (a 4 inch long thin device with LEDs on one side and small suckers on the other), and a 30 inch long USB cord is attached to the calibrator. There is a stand that will hold the calibrator, and, if the 30 inches of USB cord isn't long enough, there is a 48 inch USB extension cord. The software comes on a CD (there is no installer, as the software is simply dragged to your Applications folder). There is a sample of the 100 most commonly specified Pantone Matching (Solid Coated) Colors (since the huey is a Pantone product, this is a logical plug). What was a pleasant surprise was a sample Klear Screen kit. If you are going to spend any time calibrating your monitor, adjusting your images and creating great art, why do it with a monitor that has fingerprints, dust, sneezes, and who knows what else on the surface. I've seen and used several calibration devices, and this was the first that presented and provided the obvious.
The only paper manual supplied is a Quick Start Guide that is one of those multi-lingual sheets with large images and 6 different languages explaining how to do each basic step of the setup. Included on the CD is a PDF manual that is redundant copy of a browser-based help accessed from a the program. The manual information is terse and to the point. Do not bother going there for any in depth information.
The huey software has an interesting design/dynamic. Shaped like a stretched-out hockey puck, the built in guidance (not the help, that's different) is pulled out the right side by clicking on a "?." There is a minimal formal menu system, as most of the interaction is following the wizard process initiated by the Start button on the bottom. If you want to quit, you can use the File menu, Command-Q, or press the "Q" button seen to the left of the start button.
You start off by placing the colorimeter in its stand in front of the monitor to let the built-in sensor read the ambient room's light. (Sorry for the strange monitor colors—that's what you get when you photograph a CRT monitor.)
The next step in the process (if you have a CRT) is adjusting your monitor's Brightness and Contrast. There is a description of what you are supposed to see, but there was no image showing you what it was supposed to look like. This step was (for me) the most difficult part of the process. What Pantone wants you to see are three different dark arcs in the upper left and two light arcs in the upper right. In the image below you can see the light grays, but not all three dark grays. These alterations are done by manually adjusting your monitor via the monitor's controls. [I also tested this on my wife's MacBook Pro, and the process was mostly the same except for the contrast/brightness adjustment step, which was excluded.]
If you don't see what hueyPRO wants you to see, they add two steps. The first one deals with the top right side of the image seen below, and the second step deals with the top left side. At one point they want you to bring the Contrast to 100% and the Brightness to 50%. Then they want you to lower the brightness until the top and bottom appear similar. This event never occurred for me. But then they tell you "If the display gets too dim, just set the Contrast control to about 75%, or to a level that you like." I'm sorry, but we are trying to obtain accurate calibration. If we can ignore this step and simply place the Contrast to 75% or what looks good, why try to obtain an accurate calibration in the first place? Regardless, I continue.
The next step in the process is the color calibration of your monitor. For this, you stick the colorimeter to the monitor by the suction cups on the back side of the colorimeter. There is an image of the calorimeter on the monitor, and you stick the real calorimeter on the image. (Again, this poor image is simply due to photographing a CRT.)
After clicking the Next button, you sit back as the region where the colorimeter is is bathed in 29 different colors and hues that are known colors to the hueyPRO, and the colorimeter is seeing what the monitor is displaying. To the left, you see the equivalent of a progress bar. As each color under the calorimeter changes, a new blue light is displayed above the circle. When all the blue lights are lit, you are done...almost.
Before finishing, you have to set your monitor's Color Temperature at D50, D65, or D75. This is shorthand for 5000 K (for Kelvin), 6500 K, and 7500 K. That's warmer to cooler; the middle is, well, halfway. A warm temperature makes images look a bit reddish while cool temperatures make things look a bit bluish. You can also set the gamma, which for all monitors now should be 2.2. For years the Mac had a gamma of "1" but has gone to the industry standard of 2.2.
Lastly, you name your monitor's profile. It's probably good to name it with the device you used and the date so you can easily identify it as needed (e.g., "monitor-huey-thedate"). This profile will be stored at your home folder/Library/ColorSync/Profiles, and your monitor will automatically be switched to that profile as you complete the calibration process. If you wish to see what your monitor looks like under different profiles, open up your "Displays" settings in the System Preferences and select the "Color" tab. There, you will find a collection of "icc" profiles. Click amongst them to see how much your screen can vary. Because you named and dated your profile, it should be easy to get back to the profile you just finished creating.
But all of this is very similar to many other monitor calibration system. What makes the hueyPRO different is that it can also alter your monitor's brightness based on varying light condition on the fly or by your request. After running hueyPRO software the first time, a new icon will appear in your menu bar. The icon is a very small version of the program's green icon seen in the very beginning of this review.
The options are very straightforward, you can turn on and off the Room Lighting Compensation or Adjust the Room Light Now. You can also start the program if you feel you need to calibrate your monitor that moment or start the hueyPRO Preferences (which are located in the Preference Panes of your System Preferences).
As can be seen below, you can adjust the frequency of the Room Light Monitoring, and that's probably a good thing. Consider that while you work away on your computer, the sun sets. It's asking an awful lot for the user to remember to adjust the settings while he is working on a project. I know if I'm very involved in what I'm doing on the computer, I may forget to eat until I'm very very hungry. So, by checking every ten minutes or so, your monitor will keep up with the sun's passage.
However, let's say someone has come into the room and turned on a light to read a book, and you want the monitor adjusted now. That's when you use the menu bar control. When you select "Adjust for Room Light Now" after about two seconds the four red LEDs on the bottom of the colorimeter go "bink-bink-bink-bink" up and then down. Then, about two seconds later, your monitor will make an adjustment. That's it.
I did some tests on how much variation was accomplished when you turned on or off the lights: there's not a lot, it's subtle, but there's enough to see subtle shades of gray whether the lights are on or off—after adjusting.
What the hueyPRO cannot do is alter the actual hues on the monitor based on the colors of the light in the room. Here's the deal; the color blue your computer is sending to the monitor is no different if you have tungsten, fluorescent, or sunlight lighting your room. However, your perception of the blue could very well be different. The only option you have for alternative lighting condition in a room is either (1) only work when one light condition is present (e.g., night time), (2) create a variety of calibrations and change them as needed, and/or (3) get a hood to do all of your color work within. (By the way, I'm not kidding here; these things do exist.)
One of the other strengths of hueyPRO is that if you have multiple monitors, you can calibrate them independently by setting the focus of which monitor is being calibrated by dragging the hueyPRO control from one monitor to the other.
When color monitors were just starting to become common, colorimeters were very expensive: hundreds of dollars. Now, at a more reasonable $129 list price, correct colors can be common for anyone. The Pantone hueyPRO is simple, and good.
My main complaint is that setting the brightness/contrast on a CRT monitor is not well done. Despite that, it is possible to set this option in a satisfactory manner. As it turns out, CRT monitors are becoming less common. Since this step is not necessary for flat panel displays, it's a moot issue for many users. Another small complaint is the stand; to keep the cord from getting in the way, Pantone provided a false top to the stand so the user can wind the cord around at least half-way. This also lets the cord "leave" the stand from the back as opposed to the front and be out of the way both visually and physically. However, during the calibration process, you need to remove the calorimeter from the stand and place it on the monitor. Let me simply say it's very easy to forget to unwrap the cord from the stand as you take the calorimeter out. I fear that in too short a time span I will pull the cord out of the calorimeter.
One surprising issue came up; after two days of intensive calibration for this review, when I came to my computer to finish the review I received a reminder that I was due to once again calibrate my monitor. There is a setting in hueyPRO's preference to be reminded every one-to-fourteen days. I had this set to 14 days. I do not know why the reminder came on after only two days, but it did.
Overall, hueyPRO did as fine a job calibrating my monitor as my Gretagmacbeth colorimeter. Plus, hueyPRO has the added feature of ambient light adjustment. I was hoping to take some screen shots to show this review's readers of the subtle, but profound changes that occur after calibration. Turns out the subtle changes are too subtle to show on a small screenshot. But, trust me; while it's subtle, it is also profound. And yes, your prints will significantly be closer to what you see on the screen (based on calibration of printer and paper in addition to calibration of the monitor).
By the way, it turns out that "huey" is a whimsical play on the word "hue." Now you know.
___________ Gary Coyne has been a scientific glassblower for over 30 years. He's been using Macs since 1985 (his first was a fat Mac) and has been writing reviews of Mac software and hardware since 1995.
Tags: Reviews ď Audio/Video ď Graphics/Design ď Hardware Reviews ď
