Plain Screen
EN / 中文

Grey — #808080

Grey screen.

Mid grey, #808080. Not 18% grey, whatever the photography forum told you — but close enough to be useful.

01 — Panel

The panel

Any hex works. Patterns are drawn in CSS, so nothing blurs when the panel goes fullscreen.

#808080 · Flat · 1920 × 1080

Colour
Any hex works. Patterns are drawn in CSS, so nothing blurs when the panel goes fullscreen.
Pattern

Link to this colour

The address bar already holds the colour and pattern. Send this to someone and they get the same panel.
02 — Uses

What this colour is for

White balance
Put a grey panel in frame and you have something to balance against that isn't a sheet of paper with a colour cast.
Neutral backdrop
For phone product shots, a grey screen behind the object beats a wall with a shadow across it.
Banding
Flat grey is where a cheap panel shows gradient steps first. If you see stripes, that's the panel, not the file.
The dirty screen effect
Grey is also the colour that makes a smeared panel look worst. Useful before a shoot, annoying the rest of the time.
03 — Step by step

Testing a screen with it

  1. Match the room

    Grey looks different under tungsten and daylight. Decide which one you're matching.

  2. Fullscreen, no chrome

    Any white UI element ruins the reference.

  3. Meter off it

    Spot meter, then adjust. It's a reference, not a standard.

04 — FAQ

FAQ

Is this 18% grey?

No. #808080 is roughly 21% reflectance in sRGB, and 18% grey is a densitometer convention rather than a hex code. For exposure the gap is about a third of a stop.

Why does grey look green?

Because your eye is comparing it to the white point of the room. Give it ten seconds and it stops.