Huion Kamvas Pro 19 4K UHD Review: Affordable and Accurate Pen Tablet
Since using my first pen tablet over a decade ago, I found that working with display tablets provided an extra level of precision to my work since I could see exactly where my pen strokes were connecting on the screen. This let me be more precise and creative with my edits, but most of these tablets were either incredibly expensive or overly large. The $1,099 Huion Kamvas Pro 19 solves both these problems.
Initially revealed during CES 2024, the Huion Kamvas Pro 19 is designed for budget-conscious professional illustrators and retouchers by offering a proper 4K (3840×2160) resolution screen with improved color accuracy and multiple pen styles for an “affordable” price.
The new touch-enabled tablet boasts an “industry first” 18.4-inch canvas glass display area with significantly improved level of pen precision and performance while offering color performance and resolution that will help users see and create even the most refined level of details with their images.
The company says the new tablet offers a “desktop-sized display while still maintaining a comfortable level of portability that won’t take up too much space on a users workstation, and can conveniently travel when needed.”
The new tablets from Huion seem to target industry leaders like Wacom and XenceLabs offering users an affordable alternative for those seeking higher resolution and color accurate pen display tablets for their creative work.
Setup and Customization
The Kamvas Pro 19 is a rather straightforward setup with everything you’ll need contained right in the box, including the customizable Bluetooth KeyDial Mini K20 tool. The box includes the Kamvas Pro 19 display tablet, two battery-free pens (the PW600 & PW600S), and a selection of additional nibs inside of a case that doubles as a pen-stand. Users will also find a power adapter with USB-C to USB-C power cable (denoted by the red end) as well as a “3-in-2” cable, a standard USB-C to USB-C cable, the quick start guide, warranty card, cleaning cloth, and a surprisingly comfortable padded drawing glove.
Do you need to use the drawing glove? If you plan on using the multi-touch features of the tablet then wearing the glove may be in your best interest as it could be pretty easy to accidentally press an unwanted command or window while lost in an edit. However this is currently only an issue for Windows/PC users at the moment.
When we asked Huion if this feature will be available for macOS users we were told that yes, it will be available for Mac users but they couldn’t confirm a specific time-range other than sometime this year.
Getting started is rather straightforward as well. Users must simply connect the USB-C cable from your computer to the top USB-C slot on the tablet, and then plug the other USB-C cable into a power source. Voila.
Adjusting and fine-tuning the settings of the Kamvas Pro 19 is the same as with other Huion tablets, through the use of the Huion Tablet Driver Interface where users can make adjustments and customize settings for the Display, Pen, and KeyDial shortcut tool (which can be used over Bluetooth or connected using a USB-C cable).
It’s also worth noting that the pen display has a built-in menu that users can access by holding the power button for three seconds that gives control over the brightness, color space modes (native, sRGB, AdobeRGB, DCI-P3 or a user custom mode (which is where I did my testing)), contrast settings, pressure sensitivity controls, and more.
Design and Build Quality
The Huion Kamvas Pro 19 features an all-new Canvas Glass panel that has a full lamination for a surprisingly effective anti-glare screen. It has a smooth aluminum case along the backside of the device, where you’ll find the VESA mount slots, should you want to mount it to an arm of some kind, and the built-in kick-stand which offers users a 20-degree angle. While the angle is not adjustable, it’s still a pretty great feature to have included so you don’t need to always have the tablet laying flat on your desk or connected to a separate stand.
On the right side of the tablet, users will find the two USB-C ports (both of which support data and video transmission) and a 3.5mm headphone/speaker jack. This felt like an odd thing to include since nearly every device one would use this tablet with would already have a speaker or headphone jack built into it, but then again, most monitors include some for of speaker/headphone connection as well so its easy to just move on from and think of it as an added bonus should that “main” port be someplace not easily accessible.
Like most of Huion’s recent tablets, there aren’t any buttons on the Kamvas Pro 19, likely keeping the cost down a little but the system does come with the KeyDial Mini K20 device that has a jog-dial and 19 customizable buttons (one of which is in the center of the dial) that more than covers most needs.
The KeyDial itself is rather lightweight with rubber feet on the back to prevent slipping, and also works well to seat it on the pen display itself when in use for easy access. The only thing I don’t like about these KeyDial is you really have to remember what button is what when you have so many on the device. It would be nice if there was some sort of label (like with the Xencelabs systems), but I imagine that would drive the price up significantly as well.
The USB ports are seated in a nice little “grip” (with a matching grip without connections on the other side) for easy handling, carrying, and a place to hold onto when in use either right or left-handed. The tablet itself only weighs about 4.4 pounds (two kilograms), making it pretty easy to carry and use. It could even travel nicely in a large camera/computer bag, giving users a pro-level tablet device they can use on the road.
One of the nice improvements included with the Kamvas Pro 19 is its Power Delivery protocol that allows for reverse charging of up to 40W for connected computers, phones, and tablets, when used with the included 65W PD power adapter. When testing with my laptop this feature was kind of great since I could use a single power supply to keep the whole combination running, and yes, the Kamvas Pro 19 supports Android 6.0 (or later) and Linux (Ubuntu 20.04 LTS) devices as well.
Kamvas Pro 19’s Screen
The first thing I noticed about this particular tablet, is while the color accuracy and resolution was great, the 220-nit max brightness was merely adequate. In most home office situations, the brightness is admittedly more than enough, but it would be so much better if it could come up a bit… or even a lot more. That being said, let’s get into the details and the other good parts about this particular setup.
The first thing you see when you open the Kamvas Pro 19 is a calibration data sheet included for the very pen tablet you pull out of the box is an included calibration test result (using a Konica-Minolta CA310) that says the devices has about a 98% coverage of the sRGB and 94% Adobe RGB color space which, from my calibration with the latest Datacolor Spyder Elite, was pretty accurate.
However, to ensure each of the other color spaces work and display properly, users will have to manually change the color space by using the built-in menu on the tablet itself for each mode (Native, sRGB, Adobe RGB, DCI P3, and the custom user mode). If you plan on working in a custom user mode and work on colors specific to the Adobe or sRGB space, the results may not be as accurate as you hope. As from my testing in each manually selected color space, the other color spaces seemed to fall a little bit short, sometimes even dipping as low as about 71%. That performance isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s not great either. Thus, while strange it has to be done manually, users should be very aware of the intended and working color space and be sure to manually change the settings on their tablets, especially if you really need accurate colors in that particular color space.
Returning to the new Canvas Glass, Huion says it “provides a 1000:1 contrast ratio, minimizes reflection, reduces eye fatigue, and brings an excellent and natural experience while drawing in bright conditions.” From my testing, it achieved these promises despite the calibration results above. The fully laminated etched glass of the new tablet adds a nice level of friction between the pen and the tablet and proved resistant to scratches that can happen during normal use with a tablet.
From my experience with the tablet, the screen is clearer than many of the other anti-glare systems I’ve used, and the colors are a little more pronounced at each resolution setting despite being a little dim. There is also no parallax whatsoever no matter how hard I pressed the pen to the tablet.
The Battery Free Pen with ‘PenTech 4.0’
The pens included with the Kamvas Pro 19 give creatives a reactive 16,000 level of pressure sensitivity with tilt auto-alignment which provides an impressively reactive and precision level of control when retouching. Out of the box with the default settings, the pen is very responsive. Granted with every pen tablet I always recommend running the built in calibration for maximum efficiency.
After making a few manual adjustments, the pens felt even better to use. At times, the pens felt so natural it was almost like I was actually painting my adjustments to my images like some sort of 3D real-life artist. Believe me, I am not, but the pen was just that precise and intuitive to use.
Like pretty much every recent pen and display tablet, the three-button PW600 and two-button PW600S pens have practically zero lag or jitter. But what makes the experience even more enjoyable is that both pens include an eraser for easy corrections on the “top” of the pens, a feature that had been sadly missing from a lot of tablets recently.
Diving into the technical details of the pens a little more, the PenTech 4.0 effectively means the pens have a “lower initial activation force (IAF)”, meaning users can start drawing with even lighter strokes for an incredibly real-feeling system.
In addition to these changes, the pens with the Huion Kamvas Pro 19 feature a much more linear pressure curve for increased control and precision in use. This improvement is included and covered even to the very outer edges of the screen where some previous generations have fallen off a little.
Overall, these pens had some of the best and most natural feeling usage outside of the very top models I’ve tested from Huion.
An Impressive Jump From Consumer To Pro Tablet
While the big names in the tablet world still dominate the industry for professional level pen display tablets, the newcomers are certainly leaving their mark by providing some very pen- and color-accurate tablets at surprisingly affordable prices.
The 18.4″ Kamvas Pro tablet gives users a new size range to work with that is in the “Goldilocks” size — not too big and not too small. It also delivers just the right amount of color accuracy and brightness to make it worthwhile.
While larger than several other pro tablets, it’s still compact enough to travel in several camera/computer bags (though I’d still recommend getting a protective case if you plan on hitting the road with it). Basically it fits right in the middle of the road for creatives seeking something a little better than the standard pen display, but don’t need the precision color accuracy and brightness and aren’t ready to drop the big bucks like that of a larger Cintiq or Xencelabs Pro.
Are There Alternatives?
There are quite a few alternatives in the tablet market from the usual suspects that range in price from about $300 to $4,000. First up are the “1080p” options, including the XP-Pen Artist Display 22 R Pro that costs $479, the $339 Veikk VK2200, and the “2K” resolution Artist 24 Pro from XP-Pen which costs $899.
Wacom has a lot of options too, of course, including the Wacom Cintiq Pro 16 that runs $1,500, the Wacom Cintiq Pro 17 4K UHD Display for $2,499, and the Wacom Cintiq Pro 24 for $2,000. The 13-inch Wacom One (1080p) comes in at $400, or you can jump over to the pro-level Xencelabs Pen Display 24 for $1,899.
Additional display tablets worth considering are the slightly less expensive and smaller Huion Kamvas Pro 16 (4K) for $829, the Huion Kamvas 22 that costs $549, and the Kamvas Pro 24 4K for $1,299.
Should You Buy It?
Yes, if you’re looking for a capable, portable pen tablet that is pleasant to use and you don’t need a bright display. The $1,099 Kamvas Pro 19 may not be the cheapest 4K tablet on the market, but for users seeking a professional-level pen display tablet that has an accurate pen and (mostly) good color performance, it is worth the investment.
