Gray screen
A neutral gray field for white balance, uniformity and quiet backgrounds.
Press Esc to exit
Hex, rgb() or a color name
Presets
Or press 1 to 0 once the tool has focus.
On screen:
Other versions
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Color screen
Pick any color and fill the whole screen, with brightness and an optional clock. -
Black screen
A completely black screen you can put in full screen in one tap. -
White screen
A plain white screen: a soft light source, a light table or a pixel test. -
Red screen
A solid red screen, dimmable, for dark rooms and red channel checks. -
Green screen
A solid green field for keying tests, subpixel checks and green light. -
Blue screen
A solid blue field for subpixel checks, keying and a calm background. -
Yellow screen
A bright yellow screen for warm light, checks and a strong background. -
Purple screen
A solid purple screen for mood light, backgrounds and colour checks. -
Pink screen
A soft pink screen for gentle light, backdrops and colour tests. -
Orange screen
A warm orange screen for evening light, backdrops and colour checks.
Related tools
A screen filled with #808080, an equal amount of each primary. Neutral grey is the colour photographers use as a reference: a display showing it can stand in for a grey card when you set white balance on a camera, as long as the panel itself is not tinted. It is also the field where panel faults are easiest to see, because dirty-screen effect, banding and uneven backlighting all show up against a flat mid tone rather than against black or white. As a background it is calm enough to leave on a second monitor all day.
How to use
- Open the page; the screen is already neutral gray.
- Raise or lower the brightness for a lighter or darker gray, or type a value such as #b3b3b3.
- Press Go fullscreen and look across the panel, or point a camera at it. Press Esc to come back.
What it handles
- Equal channels at #808080, so the field is neutral by construction rather than by eye.
- The brightness slider walks through the whole grey ramp in steps of five percent, which makes banding visible.
- Shows dirty-screen effect and uneven backlighting that a black or white test screen hides.
FAQ
Can a gray screen replace a grey card?
Only roughly. A real grey card reflects the light falling on the subject, while a screen emits its own light at whatever white point the panel has. Use it to check a camera's automatic white balance or to set a custom one indoors, but not for exacting colour work.
Is #808080 the same as 18% grey?
No, and the difference trips people up. Photographic middle grey reflects about eighteen percent of the light, which in sRGB is close to #7b7b7b to #808080 in code but not in emitted light, because the encoding is not linear. Treat #808080 as the mid point of the display, not of the scene.
What is dirty-screen effect?
Faint blotches, streaks or vertical bands that appear on a large flat area of one colour, caused by small differences in the panel's layers. It shows most clearly on a mid grey field and during panning shots in sport. Nearly every LCD has some; it is a fault only when it is distracting.
Updated