Graphics tablet? Yes or No?

Cockney

Cockney

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Brian
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Yes
For use with Lightroom and some Photoshop.

Is a graphics tablet a good addition?
Any thought or recommendations?
 
Yes definitely, it takes a couple of weeks to get used too, but after very few people go back to a mouse, it's more natural using a pen, and you have the added advantage of having pen pressure on a pen, which you can't get on a mouse. As for which one to get, I used Wacom for a few years, but I had the chance to get a Huion display tablet a couple of years ago, and I have to say it's great, then I tried a Huion pen tablet, and it's just as good as a Wacom in my opinion, others may think different, but that's my experience, and Huion pen tablets are less than half the price of Wacom.
 
Yes, Wacom Intuos, latest version, mine is ten years old :)
 
For Photoshop absolutely a big yes. For lightroom I actually barely pick mine up because sliders and controllable adjustments I find are easier with mouse. I still use apple magic mouse even as I moved to a pc.
 
I have used graphics tablets in the past but I don't now, and I don't miss them. I suppose it all depends on what you are going to use it for.
 
I bought one off this fine site a few years ago and IME they take quite a bit of getting used to. I don't do very much in PS so I tend to default to the mouse even when I have the tablet in front of me.
 
My answer was brief last night as I was on my way to bed so I thought I’d expand a bit after some other comments.

Some people use a tablet for everything. Once they get used to it, they never pick up a mouse again.

I can’t use it as a day to day pointing device. I just can’t get used to it and find my mouse so much quicker and that’s probably down to using a mouse for the past 30 years or so. The muscle memory is set in for good.

Even in Lightroom, as LLP stated, I still use my mouse for sliders but as soon as I need to do any brush work like brush masking, dodging, burning I pick up the pen. It far more natural than a mouse, you can use pen pressure to adjust flow or brush size, it’s much more accurate.

A quick tip though. Don’t think bigger is better. I made the mistake of buying a large tablet many years ago but this just increases the distance you have to move your hand in order to cover the screen. Yes you can scale the surface down but then you’re just wasting all that spacehat you paid for. I think the larger tablets are probably great for an artist (digital drawing or painting) but a small tablet is more than enough for photo editing.
 
I tried one, didn't work for me and sold it on here.
Bought a Loupedeck + a while ago, forgot all about it until i gave it a try this week.
Very good from first impressions, just another thing to throw in the mix
 
ecoleman said:
I can’t use it as a day to day pointing device. I just can’t get used to it and find my mouse so much quicker and that’s probably down to using a mouse for the past 30 years or so. The muscle memory is set in for good.
Click to expand...
I think the key point in certain scenarios is that you can have mouse stable and resting when you gently press either button or scroll. That's just not possible to do precisely with pen or touchpad. So that's your sliders and selection tools in particular. Right click is just so not great with pen. But anything to do with brushes, pressure sensitive input and they have no substitute.
Living with just the pen is hard. When I boot into Linux that's the reality I face because Bluetooth mouse only works with one os, and it's too much hassle to go through Bluetooth stacks hacking it again and again. Basically it's not fun particularly with right click, selecting text or scrolling. Tablet mode is fine in windows but in Linux it's just not quite there with basic gestures not working most of the time
 
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I have tried tablets a couple of times and just couldn't get used to them. A little while ago I bought a Loupedeck+ on this fine forum and absolutely love it - it has improved (and speeded up) my processing and allows for much finer adjustments than the LR and PS sliders. The programmable controls are a pleasure to use and after just a few hours of use I could find the major ones without taking my eyes off the screen.
 
It depends a lot on what you're doing. I've had a Wacom tablet for ever. I do occasionally use it for image processing but find there's very little I can do with it that I can't do with the mouse. But your processing techniques may be very different to mine. I don't use LR/PS for a start. Also the mouse you use may or may not help. Mine is small, light and sensitive, and I use it on the desk, not on a mat. I do some digital sketching and that's what the tablet gets used for. Even then I find it very far removed from using a graphite stick on paper. Even when I am using the tablet I use the mouse, often in my other hand, for the menus etc, because using the pen for that is a PITA.
Long story short, if you're struggling with a mouse try a tablet and be prepared to spend a bit of time getting used to it. If your mouse is happily doing everything you want, save your money.
 
ecoleman said:
A quick tip though. Don’t think bigger1 is better. I made the mistake of buying a large tablet many years ago but this just increases the distance you have to move your hand in order to cover the screen.
Click to expand...
I made exactly the same mistake, my first tablet was an intuos pro large, I soon found out that was overkill, particularly as I do like mapping my space, I map it to about 6ins square, reason being your only moving your hand slightly across the tablet, I moved to a intuos small, and now I use Huion, as they are so much more improved now, and a 3rd of the price of Wacom, and I can't honestly see any difference.
 
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