TJM wrote:
I’ve been gettin into Photoshop CS and realize I will need to invest in a graphics tablet.
I been reading posts in here and most diehard Photoshop users seem to swear by the WACOMs. Are they that good….and why?
I am looking for a tablet that is very durable, has built-in WiFi or Bluetooth, and has many capabilities in the pen. Has anyone used a Tablet PC for editing in Photoshop? I was thinking of buying a Tablet PC for other reasons but it seems like it could be capable of being a powerful graphics tablet as well?
Well, that isn’t universally true. I have a Graphire that I have quit using. I used to use it exclusively and it still works.
The real advantage of a tablet (in my view) is relative placement and variable pen pressure. Both of those are great if you are drawing or painting in Photoshop. I don’t do either of those; I just edit photos.
So, I found the relative placement of the pointer to not be that big of advantage. It just didn’t help that much.
The pen pressure feature actually got in the way of my photo editing. I use the Healing Brush and Rubberstamp tools a lot. That is mostly to get rid of spots and annomolies. The Healing Brush for most of them and the Rubberstamp for those on the edges of things. The variable pen pressure always gives you a variable sized hit with these tools. Most of the time I don’t want a variable sized hit and controlling that with the pen wasn’t accurate enough. (Then again a better one than the Graphire might have helped. Also a more artistic hand might have helped too.) I got tired of redoing hits because the first hit wasn’t hard/big enough.
With a mouse, I know exactly how big my ‘brush’ tip is all the time. A simple click will do exactly what I know it will do. I can still quickly change the size with my left hand on the [ and ] keys. I feel I get a lot more control out of my mouse than I did out of the pen.
So, think seriously about how you use Photoshop before you jump into pen use. Think very seriously before you tie yourself to the limitations of a tablet PC.
BTW, most tablet PC aren’t know for their highly accurate LCD colors. They also aren’t very big monitors. I would bet that you would have a lot of trouble with color management with a tablet PC. To me that would be a huge problem.
Also think seriously about getting a Bluetooth input device. I’ve never heard of anyone who likes those. Other wireless is usually much better. I use a Logitech wireless MX700 mouse that is responsive, fast, and accurate. It isn’t Bluetooth.
Clyde