I’ve written about the review of Huion Inspiroy inexpensive graphic tablets before.
Today, I’m headed in the opposite direction and taking a look at the Kamvas 13 (Gen 3) display tablet, also by Huion.
What makes the Kamvas line different from the entry-level Inspiroy line is the inclusion of a pressure-sensitive screen.
Drawing directly on screen helps to improve your accuracy, especially for tricky selections and masking operations.
Unboxing
The Kamvas 13 (Gen 3) comes in a large white cardboard box with the display tablet, digital pen, pen holder, 3-in-1 cable, USB-A extender cable, tablet stand, cleaning cloth, drawing glove, Warranty Card, Thank You Card, and Quick Start Guide.
The pen holder contains 10 replacement pen nibs and a Pen Nib Clip for removing old nibs.
The stand is adjustable to several levels depending on the way you work and both the tablet and stand will fit nice and snugly into a laptop bag for easy transportation.
Design and Build Quality
The Kamvas 13 (Gen 3) is available in two colors, “Cosmo Black” and “Sakura Pink.” – I went with Pink, but both specs are exactly the same.
It is well built and looks cool! The front is a 13.3-inch glass screen with thin frame.
Down the left of tablet, in order, are the Power Button, 5 programmable shortcut buttonsand 2 dials. On the actual right side of the tablet are the 2 USB-C ports for connection.
Flip the tablet over and you’re presented with the 4 ‘anti-slip mats’, conveniently located in all four corners…
Display
The 13.3-inch is a nice size to work with a FHD 1920×1080p resolution that provides sharp detail, and the screen is vibrant and vivid with 90% Adobe RGB/99% sRGB color gamut.
Like a standard display, the Kamvas 13 (Gen 3) can be calibrated using normal tools like the ColorVision Spyder, Pantone huey, or X-Rite i1 Display. Color accuracy out of the box was excellent, but I was able to improve shadow detail slightly with a new calibration.
Due to the IPS panel, It comes with a 170° viewing angle – perfect if you enjoy drawing slightly from the side…
The screen is fully laminated with little to no parallax – there is no ‘gap’ between the pen nib and the resulting line you see on your screen.
It is also has an AG matte etched glass surface to reduce any glare on the screen in use and add a little friction while you are drawing, bringing a nature pen on paper feeling.
Stylus Pen
The PW600L stylus pen is battery-free, has 3 buttons on it. It’s very lightweight and comfortable to hold, feeling very natural in the hand. The 3 buttons are customizable – but I always tend to keep them default settings.
It supports 16k levels of pressure sensitivity and 60° of ‘tilt’ function, which basically means the harder you press the more varied the line will be produced and you can use it for producing a ‘shading effect’ respectively. (Think of it like tilting a pencil).
The most outstanding feature of this tylus is it has the huion’s most advanced PenTech 4.0 that features a low 2g initial activation force that accurately captures even gentle strokes.
The pen only needs to be within 10mm of the screen for it to be registered/recognized by the tablet.
Shortcut Keys
The 5 shortcut buttons and 2 dials on the sides are fantastic for speeding up work.
You can set them up to do any keyboard shortcut, or even a string of shortcuts, and even set up different functions for each program. Personally, I tend to use the dial for zooming, scrolling or changing brush size.
When drawing, I rarely use my keyboard anymore. This also makes it possible to kick back in a comfy chair and have the Kamvas 13 (Gen 3) in your lap, far away from your computer.
Connectivity
In order to use this Huion Kamvas 13 (Gen 3) display tablet, you need to plug it into an external compatible device like a PC, Laptop or Mac etc or even an Android phone – it isn’t a standalone drawing tablet!
The Kamvas 13 (Gen 3) requires more connections than a standard graphics table: using the 3-in-1 cable with a USB-C head up one end and an HDMI head along with 2 USB-A heads on the other.
The USB-C connects the kamvas 13 tablet, while the HDMI connects the computer for video data, one of the USB-A heads is for the power and the other is for the digital pen functionality of the device.
If you are far away from a wall socket, you can use the extra USB cable extension. Very thoughtful design!
The Kamvas 13 (Gen 3) also supports single USB-C to USB-C cable connection, which keeps the connection easy and desktop clean. But unfortunately it is not included in the package, you need to buy it separately.
Install the Driver and Setup
As usual with these devices you need to uninstall any older drivers you may have on your system to avoid any conflicts and then pay a visit to HUION’s website to choose the software for your nice and shiny new tablet.
Once I had the driver software up and running it was time to plug the pen display into my laptop with the 3-in-1 cable. Straight away Windows 11 detected the device, so it was then time to start looking at the driver software pen settings.
You can adjust the pen sensitivity to your liking – I prefer a ‘harder press’ on the tablet to achieve a thicker line, so I tend to drag down the curved line in the ‘Pressure Sensitivity Adjustment’ box. (Dragging up, obviously, means the opposite!) and have a quick scribble in the ‘Pressure Test’ box.
Other settings can made here: if you have a multi-monitor set-up, you can either have both your monitor and pen tablet display exactly the same image and/or desktop, or, as I prefer, have the tablet work as a ‘second monitor’ i.e. both displaying different content – Photoshop on my Kamvas 13 (Gen 3) and youtube on my laptop for instance.
Portability
Though have a built-in screen, The Kamvas 13 (Gen 3) is not a standalone drawing tablet like 12.9-inch Huion Kamvas Slate 13.
It is a supplementary device needing a laptop with a secondary display output (most have these) to work from, and room to set it up.
It’s not anywhere near as convenient and portable as a standalone Kamvas Slate 13 tablet. You need to carry two devices and sometimes may require a wall outlet to work.
Drawing Experience
The thing is fantastic to draw on. I use Clip Studio Paint, Krita, and Photoshop with it, and it mimics real drawing like no other regular tablet.
The added accuracy of drawing directly on the screen improved my efficiency, speed, and quality overnight. I found that I spent far less time fixing mistakes.
I don’t think I could ever go back to a standard Huion Inspiroy tablet – with which i have to look up at the screen, while i draw — which results in lines going in wrong directions.
The stylus pen itself tracks very well, and the line weight varied nicely with no problems or lagging. Even better, The tablet also detects the angle of the pen, which is great for mimicking brush strokes.
You would think the compact 13.3-inch screen would be a hindrance, but I didn’t have any trouble working on it with any but the biggest of images.
However, if you are more serious about your art or currently seeking to become a professional, it probably wouldn’t hurt if you got a larger size like 15.8-inch Huion Kamvas 16 (Gen 3).
The shortcut buttons and dials on the sides are fantastic for speeding up work. Eliminating the need to stop drawing, look for the magnifying glass to zoom in/out, then returning to drawing.
The device is light enough to hold in my lap as i draw if i want. It does get warm, but for me, it hasn’t really been a problem.
when working flat on your desktop, you can Easily rotate your display to find the right position for your hand, or for grater comfort, recline the Kamvas 13 (Gen 3) on the desktop with the tablet stand.
Price
The Huion Kamvas 13 (Gen 3) is surprisingly affordable for a pen display tablet with a list price of $269.00 USD.
The overall performance, feel, and form compare favorably to the Wacom One ($299.95 for the 12-inch non-touch model or $499.95 for the 13-inch touch screen model) at a much lower price.
In Conclusion
Thin, light, and portable, the Huion Kamvas 13 (Gen 3) pen display gives you the flexibility to work directly on screen as you would on paper.
I loved this affordable product and have used it for several months for photo retouching and digital painting. It improve my workflow and the quality of my digital art by about 100% or more.
It’s remarkable enough that I don’t regret the purchase and would recommend it for anyone who does a lot of art and needs to improve their ability to deliver good quality digital work.
If you are looking for a drawing-on-screen experience solution, or can’t afford the larger units or more expensive wacom cintiqs but still want a display ablet for your work, this is the ticket.
