Why You Need a Pressure-Sensitive Tablet
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Over the years, I’ve found that photographers tend to fall into two categories: those that edit heavily, and those that rarely edit at all. Of course, this is a generalization, and most users do some kind of editing. But in general, it seems like photographers either edit heavily, or they simply try to work with what comes out of the camera. If you’re the type who edits heavily, then you should seriously consider getting a pressure-sensitive tablet. For re-touching, cutting masks, or performing any painting-based edits, a tablet can make your editing process much easier, and even enable some edits that are impossible, or extremely difficult, with a mouse. If you’re not clear why you might want a tablet, here’s a detailed discussion of the advantages, and a look (with video) at the new Wacom Intuos 4 Wireless tablet.. |
Comments
3 Comments on Why You Need a Pressure-Sensitive Tablet
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Photography by Michael Nielsen on
Fri, 19th Mar 2010 9:09 am
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Matt Sullivan on
Sun, 28th Mar 2010 9:44 am
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Ben Long on
Mon, 29th Mar 2010 7:14 pm
I’ve had my Wacom Graphire for close to 6 years, and when I start my Photoshop CS4 it’s so much easier to use a tablet for the editing.
I also use it within Lightroom 2.x and 3Beta – But sometimes it seems sluggish, hopefully Adobe will correct that when Lightroom 3 is released.
My old Graphire (found on another homepage than mine): http://www.dansdata.com/graphire.htm
In my basement I have an older tablet made by Wacom – Its measuring around 12″x12″, and connects to a serial 9 pin port (remember those?). I haven’t used it in years, but I got it around 1997-1998.
And back in 2006 I got a Trust BT446 (http://www.trust.com/products/product.aspx?artnr=14117), a wireless (Bluetooth) tablet – But no driver for Vista/Windows7, so It has been shelved.
Next I’ll get at wireless Wacom, if it performs properly – The Trust had problems when mobile phones lay next to it on the desktop.
Ben,
I’m a long time Wacom tablet user and advocate for all the reasons you mention in the article. I’d like to know your thoughts on the wacom pen touch tablet which combines many mulyi-touch features along with a wireless pen. I’m intriqued since it appears as a retoucher using my fingers in addition to the pen. It looks to have less resolution than the Intuous tablets. Is that a deal breaker?
Thanks.
Hey Matt,
Here’s what Wacom says about using the Bamboo Touch for painting:
“Touch was incorporated into Bamboo for navigational purposes
and to embrace the “touch revolution” within the Mac and PC platforms.
Touch is relative (not absolute positioning) and pressure sensitivity
only rests with the pen right now. Wacom is really interested in giving
users choices.”
So, in addition to lack of pressure sensitivity, the relative-only positioning seems like a real deal-breaker for painting applications.
–Ben
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