A digital drawing tablet is the ultimate tool for a digital artist. This market segment used to be dominated by a limited number of options that charges a premium pricing, rendering most of the young artists to settle with an entry-level drawing tablet that limits their potential.
Thanks to the advancement in the manufacturing industry, we are seeing more brands offering high-quality drawing tablets at a competitive price tag. Huion is one of those players and we are no stranger to their drawing tablets after reviewing the Kamvas 16.
Today we have received a new product from Huion – the Kamvas Pro 13 (2.5K). While Huion sent in the product for free, however, they have no directives in our review as we believe in honest and transparent reviews. Heck, we even need to pay for the import tax and clearance fees because the sample comes from another country. Let’s find out how this tablet helps with my everyday work of dealing with photos in Adobe Lightroom Classic and Photoshop.
What’s in the box?
- The Kamvas Pro 13 (2.5k) pen display
- Pen PW517
- Pen Holder PH05A
- Pen nibs (5x standard, 5x felt)
- Nib clip
- USB-C to USB-C cable
- 3-in-1 USB-C cable
- Extension cable for the power cable
- USB charger cable
- Adjustable stand ST200
- Artist glove
- Cleaning cloth
- Manuals
Artist glove
The package also includes an artist glove to reduce the friction between your hand and the drawing surface. Indirectly, it also protects the display surface from getting smudged with sweat and dead skin cells.
PW517 Pen & PH05A Pen Holder
The pen holder is a nice little round puck that supports either the vertical or horizontal placement of the pen. The additional nibs are stored in the pen holder. There are two types of nibs – standard nibs & felt nibs (rough and paper-like writing experience)
The PW517 pen features PenTech 3.0 which has a faster response time and provides a steadier drawing experience. It has 8192 pressure point detection with up to 60-degree tilt support. The two buttons on the pen can be customised for different operations with the Huion desktop software.
ST200 Adjustable Stand
Since the digital tablet is a standalone display, the package has included an adjustable stand to pair with it. The stand uses two different length of metal supports and the notches to adjust the tilt angle.
Nothing spectacular with the adjustment method, you have six adjustable angles from 20-degree to 45-degree. Those who want to fine-tune the display angle might need to look for an alternative stand.
Kamvas Pro 13 2.5K
The Kamvas Pro 13 is a compact sized digital tablet that weighs around 1kg and 1cm thick. The display surface has a matte finish to reduce glare and provides a pen-on-paper feel when drawing on it.
A total of seven buttons to customise according to your usage. The profiles are bound with each individual software so the tablet will adapt according to what you’re doing on it. All of these are configured on the Huion software.
The digital tablet includes two USB-C ports. One for display and another for the power. They have included all the cables you need to set up the drawing tablet, either for Windows/Mac or Tablet/Phone.
Left to right
- USB-A (male) to USB-C (male) power cable
- USB-A (male) to USB-A (female) power cable extension
- USB-C to USB-A + HDMI + USB-A (power)
- USB-C to USB-C data cable
For Windows or Mac setup, You will only need cable #3 and the #2 extension. For an Android tablet/phone, you will need to use cable #4 to connect your phone to the digital tablet, and then cable #1 to join the digital tablet to the power adapter.
This is how it looks like once you got the tablet running.
Software
Quite a comprehensive software suite that allows you to change the function of digital tablet’s onboard buttons as well as the buttons on the pen. You can even map the key layout according to different applications so it will adapt accordingly.
User Experience
Huion has claimed the display is rated with a 99% sRGB colour gamut coverage, however, the anti-glare protective film will affect the viewing experience slightly, especially on the clarity itself. Hence it is advisable to have another monitor to be used as a preview while you working on the Kamvas. Generally, it is not really a huge problem since plenty of artists will use multiple monitors to verify their colour work before publishing.
The screen is a 60Hz 1600p QHD panel. that should be sufficient for most of the use cases. Honestly, this 13.3-inch 1600p resolution panel looks way better than their previous Kamvas 16 that has a larger 15.6-inch but only comes with 1080p resolution.
The customisable buttons are extremely useful to quickly access shortcuts in your favourite apps. As always, I was just hoping to see a rotating dial on a tablet.
Although the tablet is primarily marketed towards digital drawing artists, since I have experience using a drawing tablet (wacom bamboo) with my photo editing works, I personally find this device to be excellent at handling photo editing tasks as well. The pen is precise and I can do content masking with ease. Having the ability to mask and edit on the fly is a game-changer no matter if you’re a drawing artist or a photographer.
Conclusion
Before we move on with the pricing, let’s not confuse the Huion Kamvas Pro 13 (2.5K) with the other model – Kamvas Pro 13. As the name suggests, the (2.5K) literally means the tablet has a 2.5K display resolution. That’s why they have a huge price difference – the older FHD model retails for MYR1099 while the Kamvas Pro 13 (2.5K) is selling for MYR1799.
If you were to compare with Wacom, surely you will be surprised with the price difference. Perhaps there isn’t any model that could match this 13.3-inch 2.5K panel. Then again, Huion has a wider product range when it comes to small-medium size pen displays that covers different resolution and sizes at a competitive price point.
If you were to ask me, Huion is the perfect starting point for beginners and even veterans who are looking for a pen display that doesn’t break the bank. Frankly speaking, all you need is a capable tool that could help you hone your skills.
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