Verdict: Not for everyone ($129)
The Pantone Huey Pro is a small device which allows you to color-calibrate computer monitors. If you do a lot of photo printing, or are a print/online designer and you don’t already own one or something similar, get up and get one now. Everyone else can probably skip this one.
Why would you want to color calibrate your monitor, you ask?
- It brings you one step closer to reliably get your prints to match what you see on the screen.
- If you work with dual monitors (especially if they’re of different brands), color calibration ensures colors are rendered consistently across all monitors.
- If you do a lot of photography work on your computer, a properly color-calibrated monitor ensures you’re seeing color accurate pictures.
- It allows your monitor to be the ‘best it can be’
In my case, the main reason I purchased the huey PRO was to calibrate a 24” Dell monitor (2407WFP) attached to a mac mini running Snow Leopard that’s sitting in my home office. Next to the mini, there’s also a 24” iMac and I’ve always noticed a significant color rendering difference between the two; the Dell being the worse one. Here’s a short video of the calibration process:
After calibration, I’m happy to report that the colors on the Dell 2407WFP look much much better. Calibration of the iMac yielded marginal improvements (as expected). In the end, both screens are now rendering colors to my satisfaction.
Usage Notes & Tips:
- Read the Advanced Help Section of the huey PRO user guide
- Color calibrating your screen will not automatically make your prints match what you see on screen. It will however bring you one step closer.
- The huey PRO has a light sensor which allows it to adjust screen brightness depending on ambient light. I turned this feature Off as in my experience, in most cases, it overcompensates and makes the screen too bright.
Recommendation: Buy if you are a digital photography enthusiast.