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"...