Review Klein K-10 meter user review

[eddiscus]

After about a year of good use from my I1pro I decided that I wanted to add a meter to my toolkit. Looking at the direction displays are headed I figuired an instrument that was good at doing low luminance readings of grey scale would be welcome.

After looking around for a while I decided to purchase the K-10 meter. I made the purchase through Shawn as he is a Spectracal dealer and a nice guy as are the crew at Spectracal.

Here is a link to the meter spec's:
Klein K-10

I have only had a chance so far to use it on my own Pioneer 150 and a small Sony LCD flat panel. I will say this meter is fast, in the LLH mode of Calman readings take less than 10 seconds once above the LLH setpoint readings are instant. Put Calman in auto sense mode and you have your readings as fast as you can press the next button on the remote.

I have also paired it with an Accupel 4000 when doing an input without a BD/DVD player. This is the way to calibrate, click on the button for a complete set of readings. The accupel brings up the correct patterns when requested and the meter takes the reading then moves on. Now the only step left would be integrate ControlCal and have the adjustments done automatically.

As far as repeatable accuracy goes I have taken several readings on my 150 a day apart and the meter returned identical readings day after day. When trying this with the I1Pro I would always be tempted to do a 1 click adjustment. Not with the K-10, day after day it returned the same results within spec. As far as color readings go so far I have not seen any issues that would make me question the returned results.

The meter is well built. It has the option of being used as a non contact meter if ambient light is very low or as a contact meter by adding an extension tube and soft rubber ring to the meter. In non contact mode you can activate an LED focus ring to get the meter the correct distance from the display. If you are using Calman software there is a maximum light reading screen during meter setup to optimize meter position.

Probably the best feature is no dark calibration required.

I will add to this post if there are any odd occurences as I get more displays under this meter but so far so good.

Here are some pictures of the meter in use.

Meter in non contact config with focus LED ring active.




Close up of LED focusing ring.


Meter in contact config, with extension tube and soft ring installed.




I1pro CIE readings overlayed ontop of the K-10 CIE calibrated points on a Samsung Series 9 LN46A950

[Turbe]

This one is looking better all the time.. Until you told me, I didn't realize it had the contact option... very nice!

[D-Nice]

Nice review. I'm looking at getting either this meter of the Orb. How is the color measurment accuracy? Equal or better than your i1pro?

[eddiscus]

Originally Posted by D-Nice

Nice review. I'm looking at getting either this meter of the Orb. How is the color measurment accuracy? Equal or better than your i1pro?

Since I don't have anything better than the I1pro to compare it to I will have to say equal. According to the NIST certificate the K-10 was referenced to a PR-650 and was right on the money. Tomorrow i will be doing a couple of displays and will get some CIE readings with the K-10 and I1pro for comparison. But would really like to have a Reference meter to be the final judge.

The K-10 does not seem to have any drift like the I1pro (ever so slight)

I think the K-10 and Orb would make a nice semi affordable set of calibration tools.

[Turbe]

Stephen Cooper just purchased the K-10 and I asked if he would write a review as well (in a new Thread )......

Ed, I can't remember.. are you in NY or one of the states south of NY?

[scooper750]

Until I post my review I will say a couple things. As eddiscus has said, this meter is very fast and the fact that there is no dark calibration definitely speeds up the process. The K-10 has 2 options for providing power to the meter, either through it's own separate power supply or via a USB port. My laptop unfortunately couldn't push the 5v necessary so I ended up having to use the power supply. Not a big deal, just one more thing to plug in. The brief testing I did last night was on a Samsung DLP. One minor issue I had in my case was the fact that I could barely see the focus ring on the DLP screen. Wasn't really an issue since the meter was only a few inches away from the screen, but I see this limiting the meter from being stepped back further (at least in my case). It's possible the screen material affected this because in eddiscus's picture he seemed to have a fairly bright focus ring. Anyway so far it seems to be a great meter. I did some comparisons to my i1Pro also and the 2 were very pretty close. My i1Pro probably needs recalibrating though. Klein did provide a certificate of QC which compares your Klein to one of their reference PR650s. The K-10 was right on the money. The largest deviation was 1.5%. Anyway, one thing I would recommend and need to do myself is to purchase another one of those extension rings to prevent you having to lean the tripod into the screen. Anyway, more to come soon.

[eddiscus]

Originally Posted by Turbe

Stephen Cooper just purchased the K-10 and I asked if he would write a review as well (in a new Thread )......

Ed, I can't remember.. are you in NY or one of the states south of NY?

NJ, close.

[eddiscus]

Originally Posted by scooper750

Until I post my review I will say a couple things. As eddiscus has said, this meter is very fast and the fact that there is no dark calibration definitely speeds up the process. The K-10 has 2 options for providing power to the meter, either through it's own separate power supply or via a USB port. My laptop unfortunately couldn't push the 5v necessary so I ended up having to use the power supply. Not a big deal, just one more thing to plug in. The brief testing I did last night was on a Samsung DLP. One minor issue I had in my case was the fact that I could barely see the focus ring on the DLP screen. Wasn't really an issue since the meter was only a few inches away from the screen, but I see this limiting the meter from being stepped back further (at least in my case). It's possible the screen material affected this because in eddiscus's picture he seemed to have a fairly bright focus ring. Anyway so far it seems to be a great meter. I did some comparisons to my i1Pro also and the 2 were very pretty close. My i1Pro probably needs recalibrating though. Klein did provide a certificate of QC which compares your Klein to one of their reference PR650s. The K-10 was right on the money. The largest deviation was 1.5%. Anyway, one thing I would recommend and need to do myself is to purchase another one of those extension rings to prevent you having to lean the tripod into the screen. Anyway, more to come soon.

Don't know about a second extension tube as the one tube and the ring are just the perfect distance to put the LED ring in focus. Might want to double check with the Guy's at spectracal or Shawn. Don't know if adding that extra 4 inches to the meter would reduce it's performance (focus).

[Turbe]

Do you mean a tripod adapter with a longer horizontal frame?

[scooper750]

Good point there eddiscus. A tripod adapter would work even better. Maybe the Spectracal guys will come out with something for it like they have for the i1Pro and C5.

Originally Posted by eddiscus

Don't know about a second extension tube as the one tube and the ring are just the perfect distance to put the LED ring in focus. Might want to double check with the Guy's at spectracal or Shawn. Don't know if adding that extra 4 inches to the meter would reduce it's performance (focus).

[eddiscus]

For those concerned about CIE capability of the K-10 I took a set of readings with my I1pro (6 months to go before calibration) and overlayed it ontop of the points calibrated to REC709 using the K-10. This was on a Samsung Series 9 model LN46A950.

[derekjsmith]

Originally Posted by scooper750

Good point there eddiscus. A tripod adapter would work even better. Maybe the Spectracal guys will come out with something for it like they have for the i1Pro and C5.

Good idea. I was looking into this. A flat bar version of what we have now. So you can attach a tripod to one end and a meter to the other.

[scooper750]

Okay, just to let you guys know that I haven't forgotten about the Klein review.
Been bogged down with the day job and haven't had much time to play.
Got some more calibrations coming up so will do my review on one of those jobs.

Off the subject, but this is for Derek. Whenever you guys have a tripod adapter for the K-10 let me know so I can pick one up.

[LBDiver]

Have you looked at a tripod solution like the Gitzo Explorer. You can get as low as 4" with it, and extend the arm horizontal towards the screen. It also has a hook on the back end of the extension arm for hanging counter-ballast if you have a heavy sensor/camera way out there. I own one for photography, along with their off-center ball head and find it indispensable, it is the most versatile solution (every position angle/imaginable) I have found and is a solid piece of kit.

[gerianne]

I am evaluating several colorimeters for future purchase, and I saw the discussion here about the K-10. How do most of you feel about this meter? Do you think it is as accurate as some of the more expensive instruments, like the CS-200?

I'm finding it very hard to compare the specs on the different instruments and was hoping for some input by those of you who have used the K-10 and/or other instruments for a while.

Thanks!

[Turbe]

I have the K-10 here.. I believe it's the best meter under $6-$7K, it's fast, very accurate (tracks very well vs the CS-200, PR-655 according to the Pro's I have spoken to several Pros who have compared the K-10 to those) and works with LED backlit displays. Several Pros (2 posting above) have gone this route including Tom Huffman who uses his in the field as his primary calibration meter.

I know of a few Pros who are simply saving up/budgeting to buy the K-10...

[gerianne]

Thanks so much for the input, Turbe - that's good news! A lot easier, I think, to budge for that vs. the CS-200.

I was speaking to a Sencore rep today and he said the fellow who manufacturers (?) the meter was hesitant to recommend recalibration since the meter appeared to remain very accurate over time. That, too, would be a savings over the CS-200 which seems a bit more costly to maintain.

[Turbe]

I heard that (or similar) by one Pro as well...

BTW, PM sent