Wacom tablet for retouching?

I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a wacom tablet to use while retouching photos. Is anyone else using one? Please share your thoughts/experiences.

I have a semi-old Wacom Intous 4. It works fine in Win 7/64-bit as well as in Ubuntu and I can use it in RT, The Gimp &c.

I would say that if you are used to drawing/painting with pens, pencils and brushes, then you will like a Wacom tablet for design, retouching and the like. If not, a good mouse and mouse pad is sufficient.

What size to pick? Do not buy the smallest one, and probably not the largest one either. Remember that you must also have room for keyboard, mouse pad and mouse in front of the monitor(s).

Do you find yourself needing to do movements that would best be handled by a pen/brush?

I don’t, for instance, even though I actually have an old 4x6 wacom intuous. I still tend to normally only use a mouse for most things.

To put it another way, I wouldn’t miss the tablet if you took it away… :slight_smile:

I’ve been finding that the extensive time holding down the mouse button in order to paint a mask in gimp is giving me pretty bad muscle fatigue.

I’m also left handed but use the mouse with my right hand, I thought the wacom might feel more natural and be easier on my wrists/hands.

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I have a Thinkpad keyboard that has mouse buttons on it. Often, I’ll use those buttons but still use the mouse instead of the trackpoint. Much less fatiguing.

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Short answer: I have an intuos 4 too, I use it for doodling/sketches and in some cases doing math. I don’t use it as a mouse replacement.

[quote=“paperdigits, post:4, topic:1319”]
I’m also left handed but use the mouse with my right hand, I thought the wacom might feel more natural and be easier on my wrists/hands.
[/quote]I knew a designer that switched to one for that exact purpose. He was very happy about that switch. I had my own fair share of wrist/muscle issues and it didn’t work out for me.

So I guess if you can try one, do.

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I have one, but mine suffers from brush lag on Gimp right now. So, I don’t use it as much as I would like.

I am lefthanded too, and have bought a Wacom Bamboo tablet. Its very cheap and has an ok size for retouching.
If you are often paint masks, dodge and burn or in general use the brushsystem it is really a good solution.
I often paint things out of the background which is so much easier than with a mouse.
Its worth a try.

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I have a small Bamboo One, and the things allowed by pressure sensitivity have no equivalent with a mouse. This doesn’t mean I use the tablet very often when retouching…

The drawing tablet helps you being more precise and faster, but it won’t make you edit your photos really much better.

I was skeptical at first, but now it’s fundamental in my workflow. Medium and small XPPen Deco Pro version are both brilliant. I started and got comfortable with the Medium size, and have recommended 4-5 friends the Small size, and all have been impressed with what the Small option offers. The small would’ve been enough.

Space is a large consideration to take, you can get the fine movement with a larger tablet is just brilliant for cloning and retouching.

You just have to find a comfortable button configuration. I have the touch ring set to toggle between brush size and zoom. Buttons are for cycling between dodge/burn, duplicating layer, curves adjustment, merge layers, spot heal brush, and save. Saves a lot of finger finger contortion on hotkey combinations.