Years ago , when I first jumped into digital photography , I cognize just enough about image editing to be unsafe . After one especially enthusiastic color - correction academic session , I mail off my exposure to an on-line help for impression . They ’d see great on my screen , but the images I got back in the mail told a dissimilar story — my arrant colouring material had become over saturate and infused with orange . I vowed to never use the religious service again . But when I launch the archetype on a coworker ’s screen , it was clear that I ’d done the damage myself . The job , you see , was that I had n’t disoblige to calibrate my monitor .
Most professional lensman and originative types realise the grandness of monitor standardization . The process help make certain you may trust what you see on your CRT screen so your editing decisions are based on the ripe information . But many digital photography newcomers and hobbyists are a harder sell . For one matter , supervise calibrators run to be on the pricy side . One of our favorites , the Spyder2Pro Studio ( ) be nearly $ 300 . For another , the unconscious process can be restrain to citizenry who are n’t clear-cut on what color temperature mean — never listen how it touch their effigy .
I ’m hoping that Pantone ’s new monitor calibrator , Huey , will help change this . Aimed at nonchalant user and featured at this week ’s PMA show , the $ 89 calibrator attempt to take some of the whodunit out of the standardisation process . About the size and shape of your indicant digit , this lightweight machine sucking onto the front of your CRT or LCD monitor . You plug it into your USB port wine , load the software program and then use a simple wizard to begin the calibration operation . Huey runs through a series of test , asks some simple-minded motion about your preferences , and let you compare before and after results .
But because the color on your monitor can appear different under different lighting conditions ( natural light versus florescent lightness , for model ) , Huey also gives you the choice of activating a Room Lighting Compensation feature . When coiffure in this mode , the calibrator continues to monitor the light in your workspace , updating its visibility to gibe the inflammation . You simply range it in a little desktop cradle and then set how often you ’d like it to update from the calibrator ’s preferences .
Huey is n’t the only cheap varan calibrator out there , but it is certainly one of the comfortable I ’ve ever used . And for masses who are getting their foot wet with color issues and who are n’t willing to invest in a more full - boast calibrator , it may be just what they necessitate to finally skip on the coloring - calibration bandwagon .