Wacom. Which one? I am considering the purchase of a Wacom tablet for editing photos. What are your thoughts? I don't understand the different features of their Bamboo and Intous...

aggiedad Loc: Corona, ca

I am considering the purchase of a Wacom tablet for editing photos. What are your thoughts? I don't understand the different features of their Bamboo and Intous lines. Which would be best?

Erik_H Loc: Denham Springs, Louisiana

I can't tell you anything about the Bamboo, but I have the Intous small tablet and I like it a lot. I believe that it replaced the Bamboo models. It takes a little getting used to if you've never used one, but it's great for making fine selections in PS.

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

aggiedad wrote:

I am considering the purchase of a Wacom tablet for editing photos. What are your thoughts? I don't understand the different features of their Bamboo and Intous lines. Which would be best?

The Bamboo is more of a hobbyist's tool while the Intous line is more sophisticated and meant for more serious jobs. The Intous has more features, but it's biggest advantage is its much better pressure sensitivity and precision. It's buttons are programable, so you can set buttons for <Control> and/or <Cammand> keys to make toggling while in Ligthroom or PS easy. The touch wheel makes changing brush diameters on the fly a breeze. IMHO, the Intous is the better model for photo editing.

Qbert Loc: Virginia

aggiedad wrote:

I am considering the purchase of a Wacom tablet for editing photos. What are your thoughts? I don't understand the different features of their Bamboo and Intous lines. Which would be best?

Switched to the Intuos 5 Medium, Now called the Intuos Pro, for lightroom and Photoshop. Its work area is large enough with enough resolution for professional level editing. I cannot work without it now. I dont even have a mouse attached anymore. The touch and gesture features are far superior to anything else Ive tried. and the pen just works! also, there are no batteries in the pen, unlike some other brands.

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

I have the Wacom Intuos pen and touch "small", it works great and it's all most people need. I got the small size because of some reviews from people on here and glad that Is did, the med would have been too awkward to use.

PalePictures Loc: Traveling

Contrary to what you might think the Intuos small is the professional choice.
I have a few professional retouchers friends and they all use the Intuos small.
Those same people remap the small to only use 1/4 to 1/8th of the total pad area. I would actually wish that Intuos would come out with the super small.
The reason why a smaller area and tablet works is related to pen movement mechanics. You can be much more accurate in selection and brush strokes when pen movements are limited to the wrist. Sadly many people never discover this. They move there entire arm on many movements when those movements would never be needed with a remap of the Intuos. You can remap the large or medium to only a small portion of the Intuos surface area as well.
The small is also much easier to carry. I can easily fit it in my laptop case.
In this case bigger a not better. Save yourself some arm fatigue and get the small.

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

PalePictures wrote:

Contrary to what you might think the Intuos small ... (show quote)

Pale, your past post on this was actually the main reason I went with the Intuos small size and man I am glad I listened, the med would have been way too much movement for me.

PalePictures Loc: Traveling

Racmanaz wrote:

Pale, your past post on this was actually the main reason I went with the Intuos small size and man I am glad I listened, the med would have been way too much movement for me.

Sadly I made the mistake with the Intuos iii and got the large.
I ended up getting the Intuos 5 small several years ago after meeting some retouchers who do this for a living.
Aaron Nace over at phlearn.com (a super retoucher) uses a small and created a video on setting up the small along with how to remap it.
To find the video go to phlearn.com and search the video archives.
His setup is how a professional retoucher does it.

Trentc Loc: Denver, CO

I recently purchased and started using the Intuos Pro and it is a fantastic tool. I went with the medium and, although I love the functionality of the tool itself, I am beginning to think I should have gone with the smaller one. I had never used one before, so I didn't know better, but now that I have had a chance to spend some time with it, I am discovering that larger is not better. I am going to have to look into the remapping process, as mentioned by PalePictures, and try taking it down to a smaller size. Whichever size you choose, though, you will appreciate the improvements in your photo editing that you get with it's use.

OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey

PalePictures wrote:

Sadly I made the mistake with the Intuos iii and got the large.
I ended up getting the Intuos 5 small several years ago after meeting some retouchers who do this for a living.
Aaron Nace over at phlearn.com (a super retoucher) uses a small and created a video on setting up the small along with how to remap it.
To find the video go to phlearn.com and search the video archives.
His setup is how a professional retoucher does it.

Russ...what a terrific web site, Thanks ...( http://phlearn.com )

Also in checking out the site I came across the video regarding mapping Wacom tablets you mentioned earlier for whoever needs.
http://phlearn.com/use-wacom-tablet

Racin17 Loc: Western Pa

This is really informative. Im not a tablet user yet i thought they would be too small memory wise to use a PP program and process photos. How does it work compared to a laptop?

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

Racin17 wrote:

This is really informative. Im not a tablet user yet i thought they would be too small memory wise to use a PP program and process photos. How does it work compared to a laptop?

Different type of tablet. This is an input device that is loosely analogous to your mouse, trackpad, etc. no memory; no comparison to a laptop computer. . Rather than moving your cursor around via a mouse, you use a pen type stylus on a "tablet" base sitting on your work surface. It's advantage for photo editing is that it is much more precise than a mouse.

Racin17 Loc: Western Pa

Photographer Jim wrote:

Different type of tablet. This is an input device that is loosely analogous to your mouse, trackpad, etc. no memory; no comparison to a laptop computer. . Rather than moving your cursor around via a mouse, you use a pen type stylus on a "tablet" base sitting on your work surface. It's advantage for photo editing is that it is much more precise than a mouse.

so if nothing is stored on it, does it use your current computer somehow?

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

Racin17 wrote:

so if nothing is stored on it, does it use your current computer somehow?

Yes, it's an input device. It may connect via a USB port, or wirelessly, depending on the model. Think of it as a pen type replacement for a mouse. But, whereas a mouse works on your regular work surface, the "pen" is used on the surface of the "tablet" that is on your desk. It's much like the touch pad on most laptops, but instead of using your finger to move the cursor, you use a pressure sensitive stylus.

Don't confuse it with a tablet such as an iPad, which is more computer like.

redhogbill Loc: antelope, calif

Racin17 wrote:

so if nothing is stored on it, does it use your current computer somehow?

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