Editing using a Graphic Tablet?

Hey Guys

Does anyone on the forum use a graphic tablet and pen for RAW processing and editing in photoshop or Lightroom?

If so could you help me decide if it's a route I should take.

I've been looking at a Wacom INTUOS4 in a medium size and I must say it looks the real deal, however I don't know anyone who has one to ask if it's worth the investment.

Is the wacom the right tool or are there better tablets on the market?

How easy are Tablets to use and is there a significant advantage over a mouse?

Your help and advice as always is much appreciated

Nige Wade

I've been using a Wacom 4 Medium for the last month. I love it! The pen gives awesome control over selections and pressure sensitivity even helps when cloning out backscatter! I use the mouse when browsing pages but the pen definitely when in CS5. You can customize the tablet's behavior to the application you're using it in.

Pretty sleek looking too.

Stu

I use a Wacom Intuos3 9 x 12 inch usb tablet, and I love it. I also had a Calcomp tablet previously to this one. Calcomp no longer makes drawing tablets as far as I know.

It's not great for actually moving sliders for white balance, exposure, black levels and that sort of thing and for Lightroom it's not that great.

It is superb for retouching though.The tablet will shine any time you have to change a raster image at the pixel level. Once you try removing backscatter with the pen on a tablet, you will never want to go back to using a mouse.

Wacom is the market leader in this segment. The only thing better, is to step up to one of their Cintiq displays. With these Cintiq displays, you actually see the image under your pen, so hand - eye co-ordination is second to none. Hand - eye co-ordination with the regular Intuos tablet is easy to adjust to as well.

Each Wacom tablet comes with a pen or stylus, a mouse, and function strips on the sides of the tablet.

But it gets better.

By using the accompanying software that comes with the tablet, you can customize all your Wacom mouse clicks, pen clicks and tablet function bar buttons as well. This may not sound that great, all and by itself but, I have set mine up so that I can access all my retouching tools without ever having to reach for the keyboard to change tools. Works in Photoshop and Corel Painter as well.

Hope this helps.

Feel free to PM me if you do decide to buy and you need help setting up the custom mouse clicks.

If you do a fair amount of editing that involves local image adjustments like brushing, creating masks, any kind of tracing then a pen and tablet are great. I use a Wacom Cintiq screen which is even better because you are drawing directly on the image, but of course is not portable.

On the other hand if you only do global image adjustments, and some spotting, then a pen is of limited use, and I find I can work just as fast with a mouse and keyboard.

Thanks Stu, Paul & Jeff,

That about answers my questions, Looks like the Cintiq is the Alpha Dog but I've just ordered a Wacom INTUOS4 from Amazon UK, it's within budget and for starting out on this journey looks perfect.

Can't wait to give it a try, I'll let you know how it goes.

Paul, I may well drop you a PM when I need some help with the set-up Thanks a million for the offer.

Wetpixel ... What a fantastic community!!

Nige

Enjoy your tablet. I cannot edit using a mouse anymore, especially when doing selective work like sharpening. The mouse is just way too precise. I like to scribble using low opacity brushes.

That about answers my questions, Looks like the Cintiq is the Alpha Dog but I've just ordered a Wacom INTUOS4 from Amazon UK, it's within budget and for starting out on this journey looks perfect.

I wish I'd seen this earlier, I'll give you a call tomorrow - Stevie has a Cintiq that's fathering dust, I'm sure he won't mind you using it to see what you think.

heh, humorous typo there, that should be Gathering dust...

I have the same question in December 2014 as Nige Wade had in 2011 ...

Santa is coming to town and asking if I want a GRAPHIC TABLET for editing in Lightroom / Photoshop. I'm the queen of backscatter - so thought a TABLET might be helpful.

Any thoughts about which is a reasonably priced, easy to use tablet for use with Adobe Creative Cloud.

I'm not a power use - so easy is good!

Thanks so much!