Graphics Tablets - Toy, Useful or Essential?

[wendyg]

OK Santa has allocated me about £150 this year - not enough for a lens or other lovely stuff, but a designer friend said that a graphics tablet would be a great buy.

I do spend time processing and adjusting images, and I do sometimes find the mouse control inaccurate, but really is a graphics tablet worth it?

If it's a good thing, any recommendations in my budget area?

Thanks for your help, Wendy


PS What I really want is about £150 quids worth of talent, but I an't find that shop!!

[andy-xr]

Wacom Bamboo = much less than £150

Worth it as well, A5 sized so leaves a bit more space on the desk. I've probably used mine 1 in every 50 photos though. I dont do a lot of retouching, more colours/levels and a bit of cloning/patching thats usually OK with a mouse

[gingerpaul]

Believe or not Aldi were doing A4 graphics tablets about six months ago for ridiculous money (£20 or £30) so I decided to take a punt and see what they were like. Compared to a Wacom one I have tried since it's pretty good, especially considering the difference in cost. I'd keep an eye out for a similar deal and see if you can pick up a bargain before buying a more expensive one in case you find that either cheapie is fine or you don't really use it much.

In terms of usage mine gets the same as Andy's by the sound of it. It lives in a drawer 95% of the time but is very useful when it's out.

[sevros1981]

Far more useful of you are doing illustrations with Adobe Illustrator, or drawing in Photoshop.

[Yellabelly]

I agree with the Wacom Bamboo, get the 'Fun' A5 tablet, I use one most of the time.
Don't be tempted by the Bamboo Touch they are 'reputedly' crap and more expensive than the ordinary Bamboo Fun

YB

[dumbfunk]

Essential. I've used one for 10 years for everything computer related and have never suffered the slightest arm strain despite a decade of eight hour "mousing" days.

Unless you're doing real detailed illustration, get a small A5 sized one - you need to be able to go from far left to right without shifting your arm position. I have an A4 and scale it down.


dumbfunk

[Dogsey]

I've never used a tablet, but ...

wendyg said:

... I do sometimes find the mouse control inaccurate ...

... I do use a mouse that has on-the-fly adjustability, hold one of the side buttons in and scroll the wheel and one minute it's flying around the screen and the next it's moving fractions of an inch.

There are a few around, but personally I use a Razer Diamondback, approx. £40 when I bought it a couple of years ago.

[andy-xr]

If you still have change and want to use it up, would also recommend a Spyder 3 or similar if you dont have some kind of calibration device already

[jon-]

I have a wacom intuitous 3. I'm no artist but I do know my way round aphotoshop. As above I use it on maybe 5% of photos, but when I do get it out, it's invaluable.

You can get adjustable mice but you'll never find a pressure sensitive one which is one of the big pluses with tablets. Also, I'm a lefty but use the mouse with my right hand, so drawing shapes is much easier with the tablet, especially curves.

[flat-planedCrank]

An Essential for me

Just installed a new machine, tablet drivers were one of the first things installed
I use it for everything apart from playing games, find it much more 'relaxed' than moving a mouse around.

I have a slightly ageing A5 Wacom Graphire, will probably replace it with an Intuous at some point.

Can take a bit of time to get used to using a tablet, but once you do its really a revelation especially for graphics work in packages like photoshop.


Cheers.

[wendyg]

andy-xr said:

If you still have change and want to use it up, would also recommend a Spyder 3 or similar if you dont have some kind of calibration device already

I have a HueyPro for screen calibration, but nothing for the printer as yet. As i'm now technically a student, (student card and everything!) I thought I might save up for the student subsidised ColorMunki!


Helpful advice from everyone though, are there any downsides to using it all the time i.e. actually replacing a mouse?

[flat-planedCrank]

wendyg said:

Helpful advice from everyone though, are there any downsides to using it all the time i.e. actually replacing a mouse?

Not for me, you get used to the differences pretty quickly. Then again I have a mouse plugged in as well so I can just swap whenever.

Actual downsides? Er, takes up more desk space than a mouse Actually, if you end with an Intuous model - iirc - they contain both mouse and pen.



Cheers.

[4hero]

Definitely a must have for photo re-touching, so much more accurate/quicker than a mouse. I've had my wacom sapphire for years, couldn't live without it!