Touch pens

thequeenscheese

Senior Member
Hi do any of you use any of the touch pen tablets like the Intuos photo by Wacom etc? Looking at having one in my Christmas stocking lol..

is is the small one too small any other better options, any other hardware devices to look at for editing?

cherrs..
 

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
What photo editing software are you using? Some software works better with a touch tablet than others. Also, you should have a strong working knowledge of your software before getting a touch tablet. A touch tablet is not a magic wand to improve your editing skills.
 

PapaST

Senior Member
The type of software you use is something to consider as Bikerbrent mentioned. I use a Wacom Pro Medium about 40% of the time. The other times a mouse is just fine. Is small TOO small? This is how I looked at it. The motion you use is 1 to 1 in respect to what is on your screen. So if you consider physically having to move your stylus over the entire area of the touch pad then that might help you decide. I'm speculating, but I think small would be good for people that just edit photos. And the larger touch pads for people that do designs.

Finally, I major reason I got one is because using a mouse for certain edits (like selections and brushing) actually causes pain in my wrists, maybe I have carpal tunnel. Either way editing with the Wacom has alleviated that pain. I know some people that like touch pads so much they use it exclusively as their input device, even when they're not editing.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Hi do any of you use any of the touch pen tablets like the Intuos photo by Wacom etc? Looking at having one in my Christmas stocking lol..

is is the small one too small any other better options, any other hardware devices to look at for editing?

cherrs..
I do use a Wacom tablet routinely so I'll point out a few things for your consideration...

1.) A smaller tablet is actually better than a larger one, in my opinion. Not only for the considerable cost savings but also for ergonomic reasons. It's hard to put into words but the tablet, even if it's only say, 12cm across, relates to your monitor screen the same as it would if the tablet were 24cm across. With the smaller tablet, however, you do a lot less work because with the smaller tablet you need to move your wrist and pen around only half as much. That's the best I can describe it, once you start using a tablet (if you do) you'll know immediately what I mean and you'll be glad you have the smaller tablet. This size consideration might sound trivial but I assure you, it's not. It's probably the single biggest consideration next to what brand to buy (more on that later). I have a Wacom Intuos Pro, size small, myself and it's plenty big. Sometimes I wish it were a tad smaller, actually. Fortunately you can remap the working surface to use a smaller section of the tablet.

2.) A pen and tablet is great, really great, when you're doing a lot of tedious, detailed editing or retouching; partially because the pen is pressure sensitive partially because you have a much, much finer degree of control with the pen than you do with a mouse. If you work on a more global scale you may want to take a pass on a tablet. It's a very personal decision of course but I find I'm faster using my mouse and keyboard/keyboard shortcuts for global edits.

3.) Learning to use a pen and tablet will, most likely, frustrate the hell out of you until you master the eye-brain-hand coordination it requires. In short, there WILL be a learning curve and it WILL be steep. Trying keep a foot in both worlds (mouse and keyboard on one side, pen and tablet on the other) will only prolong this agony. Dismiss all of this if you're artistically trained in drawing or painting since you'll already have the eye-brain-hand thing figured out which will flatten the learning curve considerably.

4.) Stick to Wacom brand tablets. Just my advice but there's a reason Wacom is the industry-standard tablet; durability being the primary consideration.​


Edit: My tablet is a "small", not a "medium"...
 
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thequeenscheese

Senior Member
Thanks for replying, I would only use it for photos and I probably will go with the small I just wanted to check that, that wasn't an error in choice.
I'm far from a master with the camera or editing but I do find with the he last mouse I purchased it can be awkward and clumsy especially with detailed fine editing in Photoshop and lr and have thought a few time I wish I could trace this lol, for the hand eye coordination I think il pick that up pretty quick as I'm pretty good with that.

intuos small it will most likely be then, is there any reason to choose the photo over the art etc I presume they just have different software bundles?
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
thequeenscheese said:
... intuos small it will most likely be then, is there any reason to choose the photo over the art etc I presume they just have different software bundles?
I'm only familiar with the Intuos Pro. If I had to guess, though, the differences are probably cosmetic for the most part. If this particular model is not wireless, I'd suggest checking if there's a wireless kit available for it. Having your tablet tethered kinda sucks.
 
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