Review: Macro Photo Editing with the HUION KAMVAS Pro 13 2.5K and the Keydial Mini K20

15 Nov Review: Macro Photo Editing with the HUION KAMVAS Pro 13 2.5K and the Keydial Mini K20

When it comes to retouching and editing my macro photos, it is crucial that my workflow allows me to save as much time as possible and lets me work effortlessly.

Alongside the editing software and my personal approach it is the hardware that can bring great improvement and optimization.

I recently started using a tablet and pen again, instead of using my mouse only for my post-processing.

The HUION KAMVAS Pro 13 (2.5K) has long been on my list and i finally decided to give it a go.

To complete the setup, I added the K20 Keydial Mini.

My hope was to speed up my workflow considerably.

Here is how it went.

The HUION KAMVAS Pro 13 (2.5K)

The build quality of the pen tablet is top notch.

Everything (the textured aluminum back in particular) feels solid, there are no sharp edges or loose parts.

The packaging looks and feels high-quality as well and everything is packed up nicely and well organized.

On the technical side, the Kamvas 13 Pro 2.5K offers everything a professional tablet should have.
As there are tons of technical reviews out there and you can find all the specifications on the HUION website, I will only run through some of them quickly.

While working with the bigger versions of the screen tablets will be even more convenient from a user-experience-perspective, I chose a more compact 13 inch version, which i can also take for travelling if I want.

The 286,5 x 179mm display area has a contrast ratio of 1200:1 and a 178° viewing angle (IPS).

The Kamvas Pro 13 2.5K Display shows brilliant colors (with 145% sRGB color gamut) and reflections are reduced to a minimum thanks to its anti-glare etched glass, and full lamination.

To simulate a paper texture effect better, the lamination creates a more realistic screen surface friction.

A 2.5K QHD+ (2560×1600) resolution and QLED technology bring both your art and photographs to life.

With 16.7 million (8Bit) color depth even the finest color gradations show on the compact display.
Looking at the fascinating and sometimes mind blowing colors and forms of the small world´s inhabitants in all their glory will never get boring for me.

Working directly on the photo and drawing right onto it, kind of connects me even more to my macro shots and subjects.

This combination results in 226 PPI (Pixels Per Inch) and double the clarity when compared to FHD.

The battery-free pen runs on Pentech 3.0 which has been improved compared to the predecessor version.
8192 levels of pressure sensitivity, combined with 5080 LPI pen resolution, result in a very smooth feeling while using the pen and allow for the finest of lines.

For actual drawing in particular, the pen´s ±60° tilt range enable natural drawing gestures and movements.

On the just released, latest version of HUION Gen 3 tablets, Pentech has been upgraded to 4.0.
The new Gen 3 13″ tablet now even has some built-in dials – supercool!

One of my intentions with getting the tablet and keydial combination, was to use my keyboard less.

I rely on keyboard shortcuts to speed up my workflow a lot, though.

So, getting rid of all the potential keys and their functions, was no real option.

The Kamvas Pro 13 2.5K screen pen tablet has 7 shortcut keys on the left side, which can be assigned with different functions and keyboard shortcuts.

It makes sense to assign one button with a function to switch display screens and all those you use the most, when working with your editing software.

In combination with the keydial, this gives me a wide range of functions to work with, but takes away less space from my desk than my keyboard.

Attention: make sure you do not flip the dual USB-C plugs on the 3-in-1 cable, or your tablet will not get an input signal.
Little icons indicate which one is the power port.

Accessories

The tablet comes with all the essential accessories you will need.

This may sound logical, but believe me, it is not.

My WACOM tablets definitely had less cable-options and also less drawing tips/nibs.

The only thing you will have to buy additionally, is a power adapter (your USB-C phone charger will do as well though).

With the HUION KAMVAS Pro 13 (2.5K) you will get:

• Standard Nibs x5
• Felt Nibs x5
• Nib Clip
• Battery-Free Pen PW517
• Pen Holder
• USB Power Cable
• USB-C to USB-C Cable (1m)
• 3-in-2 Cable
• USB Extension Cable
• Drawing Glove
• Quick Start Guide
• Cleaning Cloth
• Foldable Stand ST200

KAMVAS Pro 13 (2.5K) Pros

While I do prefer a bigger tablet for concept art drawing and painting, for photo editing the KAMVAS Pro 13 2.5K is big enough while still being compact.

In comparison to my older tablets without an actual display, being able to see your photos ON the tablet screen is a huge improvement.

This way, you can see your work both on the tablet and the main screen, if you want.

You can also control the display behaviour on the two screens via the operating system options.

• Compactness
• Great Contrast
• 2.5K resolution
• Smooth drawing experience
• Additional shortcut keys (7) on the tablet side
• One-cable-connection for better desktop organization

KAMVAS Pro 13 (2.5K) Cons

• I could hardly find any, but there is always potential for improvement, when it comes to resolution, colors and brilliance.
  The latest Gen 3 versions seem to have been improved even more.

The HUION Keydial Mini K20

Small but powerful – this is how I would describe the K20 Keydial Mini.

The device uses a Bluetooth 5.0 or USB cable connection and its 1200mAh battery allows for 70 hours of work before recharging.

What I liked, was the angled USB connector for better stability and compactness.

It does not take much space on your desk (weighing 115 g at 10,8 mm height) but gives you a considerably better and quicker control over certain functions.

Rubber stoppers on the underside prevent the small keypad from slipping away.

My favorite part, without any doubt, is the dial.

Moving the sliders or switching between display-options in Adobe Lightroom is so much more precise and easy when using the dial.

The 18 keys of the K20 can be assigned with shortcuts and speed up the workflow as well.
With the Driver you can choose the sensitivity of the wheel as well.

My only gripe with the dial controller is, that it feels a bit too lose for my personal taste.

It could run smoother and and also be tighter (with more friction) for me.

However, the Keydial Mini is the perfect combination with the KAMVAS Pro 13 (or a tablet, or even a standard keyboard in general).

You have to set it up and program it properly though, to adapt it to your workflow.

A small but nice detail is the HUION logo, that glows red when charging, and blue, when you have the keydial connected and work with it

An alternative, which I also had in mind, would be the TourBox Elite.

This one offers even more controls but it comes at almost 4x the price of the Keydial Mini, so i opted for the HUION Keydial Mini.

Also, I did not want to run into any compatibility issues and stayed inside the HUION ecosystem.

The Keydial Mini K20 is a bluetooth updated version of the KD100 and has won a Red Dot Design Award in 2022.

Macro Photo retouching and editing with the KAMVAS Pro 13 (2.5K) and the Keydial Mini (K20)

I am mainly using the Kamvas Pro 13 with Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop.

My typical macro photo retouching workflow in Photoshop includes clean-up of the photos and removing dust, drawing masks for adjustment layers and format-changes,

I sometimes also use the layer align and focus stacking options inside Photoshop, which also include a lot of clean-up and working with masks afterwards.

Lately I prefer Helicon Focus over Photoshop, when it comes to Focus Stacking, as this is a lot more reliable and also faster to work with.

Regarding masks, drawing them is a lot more convinient with an actual pen.

Making selections with the mouse can rarely be as smooth.

Aside from the actual retouching, I edit my macro photos in Adobe Lightroom first.

This is, where I inspect them, make my selections of favorites and do most of the adjustments.

While I sometimes work with masks here as well, it is more about the sliders, than the drawing.

Both in Photoshop and Lightroom, the tablet buttons on the left side help speed up the process and replace the keyboard-buttons.

Since I zoom in and out a lot and then move over the photo, the second last button replaces the space bar of my keyboard.

When I hold it down, i can freely explore the photo and move it around.

With the HUION driver software you can adapt the diferent buttons to your personal preferences.

My personal Bonus

As I have been doing Concept Art long before I started with photography, I really enjoyed getting back into that from time to time recently.

My old WACOM tablet was no comparison to the Kamvas Pro 13, which plays in another league, if not dimension.

Being able to draw directly on the screen intensifies the feeling of “real drawing” a lot.

The pressure-levels enable you to draw precise and smooth lines.

Conclusion

Using a digital drawing tablet for photo post-processing and editing is a good idea anyways.

It has a lot of benefits, especially when it comes to actually drawing selections or masks.

Quality wise, the HUION Kamvas Pro 13 2.5K delivers and comes with everything you need.

Operating the tablet works flawlessly and its reaction time and pressure sensitivity are wonderful.

Extending this setup with the Keydial Mini was, what gave me the biggest benefit and I do not want to ever edit my photos without a control dial anymore.

The bluetooth option of the Keydial Mini K20 makes it a compact and portable solution, which i can also take with me on travels and use with my laptop.

Buying the HUION KAMVAS 13 Pro 2.5K, the HUION Keydial Mini or other HUION products

Official HUION store (US) : https://store.huion.com/products/kamvas-pro-13-2k

Official HUION store (EU)：https://store.huion.com/eu/products/kamvas-pro-13-2k

Amazon HUION store: https://amzn.to/3FT0h27

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