Graphics Tablet?

Marcel

Marcel

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Marcel
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I've been thinking of getting myself a graphic tablet.
Do you use one? Do you prefer it?

From what I read, apparently once you use one, you never go back to a mouse for brush work, and some people liken using a mouse for brush work, to attempting to draw with a bar of soap.

Anyway, I'm only after a cheap one (especially for the amount of use it would get), so would like some recommendations :) (The cheaper the better of course ;))
 
I have one somewhere, really couldnt get use to it :( Just seemed WAY to sensative. Think I needed a bigger one tbh. I can bring mine over for you to play with sometime if you like? see if you are more taken with it than I was. If I can find it that is!
 
I've got a cheap one (made by Trust I think). After trying to use it for a while, I simply didn't get on with it. My mate however swears by them. One word of advice I can give though; Get one bigger than A5. The bigger the better. :)
 
I've got one which is only A6 size for design work with creating websites and to be honest I never really used it as it was either too sensitive or not sensitive enough - despite changing the settings and calibrating.

I think A6 is a bit small and A5 or A4 size would probably be better although the price goes up quite considerably. I may get it back out now to see what it's like for airbrushing which I'm currently trying to develop on - will probably be quite good for that!


EDIT: just to expand on what I found difficult was when applying pressure to replicate pointer movement and more pressure to replicate a left click could be tricky and often it would left click before I was ready to do so! Probably because it wasn't the most expensive tablet in the world.
 
Yep I went out and got a Wacom and couldn't get on with it either, gave it away in the end
 
I went out and splashed quite alot of money on a graphics tablet and it really annoyed me with when my arm touched the other end of it it would jump the brush right down the picture.

If you have got big hands i wouldn't go near them if i was you (y)

Tony
 
I use a Wacom Intuos 3, which is great but expensive. Have a look at Wacom’s Bamboo selling for less than £50. If you want something even cheaper you can occasionally find Medion’s A4 size tablet at Aldi. It’s a big tablet for not much money (£25ish), however, as the pen carries a battery it’s a bit heavier and less elegant than the Wacom. Whichever one you buy, after the initial strangeness you will soon find that you will never want to clunk around with the mouse again.
 
I absolutely love my graphics tablet & really couldn't go back to just using a mouse - they drain all creativity out of me! I do have an A3 Wacom one though that am still thinking about downgrading to an A4 as I just don't have the space anymore :(

They are well worth the time & investment if you ask me & I'd 100% recommend getting a proper one.
 
I bought my daughter an A4 wide intuios 3 Wacom jobby. It is impossible to use, I really don't like it. Maybe the smaller one might be more useable but you have to move your hand too far to get from one place to another on the screen.
 
Graphier 4. I Use it when I need to do any real retouching. For that I wouldn't be with out it. Not a mouse substitute and if you use it like one I can understand people not liking it. Takes a little while to get use to, but it's amazing what you can do and not leave a trace.

The camera may not lie.;)
 
I got one when I got he Mac and I use it all the time even for normal computer us I just find it easier and the programmable button are really good.

Nigel
 
i bought a really cheap one (made by Trust) for £21 from Asda last week just to try see if i liked it before buying a better one, am finding it quite difficult to get used to though
 
djbolf said:
...makes my drawings like a 50p
Click to expand...

Wonderful quote :LOL: (y)

To the people that own tablets but don't use them, you should try going back to basics with it - start with a blank canvas & draw a few simple stick figures/characters faces, write your name in capitals, etc. Try to do this without looking once at where your drawing hand is on the tablet.

Once you can pinpoint pretty much where your screen cursor is in relation to your hand, you'll be sorted & as the pen is an extension of your hand (arty quote there :LOL:) it's much more natural to control than having to move your whole hand like you have to with a mouse.
 
I have an A5 one which I've had for years and rarely use it. Artistic types will love it for for the freedom of drawing/painting type actions, but it's no substitute for a mouse for drawing difficult masks - the mouse being a far more stable, accurate platform to work from.
 
Look on Ebay for Aiptek A4 tablets. You'll get one for £60 - £70. Great fun. To me A5 or A6 are too small for photo editing.
 
I've an A5 Graphire4 and use it all the time in PS.
As complete counterpoint to CT I find it far better than a mouse and the preasure sensitivity adds sooo much more creativity and control.
 
Ah, I forgot about the pressure sensitivity and especially Photoshop's compatibility with such. I think I'm going to dig out my tablet again!
 
I love tablets - I couldn't work without one. What a freedom. Get yourself Wacom (don't even look for anything else) and try. Even the cheapest Volito will do. Just try it. It will blow you away :) Corrections in Photoshop, advanced drawing... All sooooo much easier.
 
Without my tablet I'd pull my hair out try to get decent masks and selections. The only thing is I wish I'd bought a better one, mine being the Graphire A5 type... not bad but just not good enough considering the resolutions we all use, so now I want an Intuos3 A4 (wide if possible) but don't want to have to pay all that cash.
 
I have an older Wacom intuos tablet that I only use if I need to do extensive image manipulation - for basic stuff I find it quicker/easier with a mouse than with a pen. I am also too lazy to learn all the shortcuts etc.

However, I bought my ex-wife a top of the range new wacom intuos and she took to it straight away - basically gave up on using a mouse. She used it mainly for "drawing"/"painting" rather than photo editing, and the results were amazing. But then she was artistic/creatively minded, so the pen is a natural tool for her to work with. To really make it work though, you need to set it up to your natural style (pressure, angle etc.) and learn/setup all the shortcuts, tabs etc so that you do not need the mouse or keyboard.

I struggle with the larger tablets because I have to move my hand such a (relatively) long distance (my mouse is set up very sensitive/fast), but I also struggle with my smaller tablet because I am to lazy to learn how to zoom/move/drag with the pen! I have also played with other makes than Wacom, but the top of the range Wacom ones really are in a class of their own.

Hope this helps you Marcel!
 
It does help, thanks!

I'd love to turn my hand to a top of the range Wacom, but finances tell me otherwise, and I'm not sure if I'd take to it.
I'll take a look at the Aldi / Medion ones if they appear soon.

I'm just wondering if it would be worthwhile trying one of the cheap Trust ones from Asda or something. Yes I understand the adage of buy cheap buy twice, but I really don't think I'm going to use it *that* much, just something to give a try and learn more advanced photoshop techniques.
 
Marcel said:
It does help, thanks!

I'd love to turn my hand to a top of the range Wacom, but finances tell me otherwise, and I'm not sure if I'd take to it.
I'll take a look at the Aldi / Medion ones if they appear soon.

I'm just wondering if it would be worthwhile trying one of the cheap Trust ones from Asda or something. Yes I understand the adage of buy cheap buy twice, but I really don't think I'm going to use it *that* much, just something to give a try and learn more advanced photoshop techniques.
Click to expand...

I used to have a Wacom Graphire and found it absolute rubbish, then 2 years ago I invested and bought a Wacom Intuos 3. What a difference. It's absolutely brilliant - I use it all the time at home for graphics. The worst thing though is when I go out to clients premises, (I teach graphics packages) I have to use their mouse and it's sheer hell. If you buy a cheap one don't be put off by its bad response. You just can't compare them to the Intuos.
 
I have the Wacom Bamboo and find it's great when doing PP detail work. It's so much easier to get exactly where you want to and follow lines than with a mouse. And hey, for around £50, get one and if ya don't like it, flog it. How much you gonna lose?
 
From my experience, unless you have a natural talent for drawing etc, the cheaper tablets will only put you off useing them. I started with an older, but still good, wacom and struggled. My ex-wife could see the potential though; she tried a top of the range one at focus a couple of years ago, the credit card came out and she never looked back.

Note that it is MY limitations, not the tablet, that stop me useing it proficiently......:bang:

Actually I think that applies to all my camera gear as well.......:thinking::thinking::thinking:
 
I have an old wacom A3 tablet but wouldn't be without it. The bigger the better I find for masking especially.
 
Got an aiptek 12000u off ebay the other day. Put in a best offer of £53.00, inc postage. Well pleased with it. Delivered next day. Had to download Vista drivers for it. Took about 5 mins to get going. Have not tried seriously in CS2 yet.
Richard :D
 
Marcel said:
It does help, thanks!

I'd love to turn my hand to a top of the range Wacom, but finances tell me otherwise, and I'm not sure if I'd take to it.
I'll take a look at the Aldi / Medion ones if they appear soon.

I'm just wondering if it would be worthwhile trying one of the cheap Trust ones from Asda or something. Yes I understand the adage of buy cheap buy twice, but I really don't think I'm going to use it *that* much, just something to give a try and learn more advanced photoshop techniques.
Click to expand...

It does sound like a good move. Try it out, if it doesn't work sell it on and you've only lost a few pounds in the process.

The only way you'll find out is to try. You can always keep the packaging and pass it off as a birthday/ Christmas present to a friend or relative.:LOL:

Pity you didn't get to try them at focus, But then I'm sure we all found out something we missed
 
I had a play at the Wacom stand at Focus on Imaging, not a priority right now but I can see myself getting one in the future.
 
Hi, I'm a webdesigner, when it comes to editing photos or graphics, i'd be lost without my Wacom Graphire, great bit of kit. Speeds things up no end!
 
Well thanks to Shutterman, I finally got my grubby mitts on one.
It's a Medion A4 jobbie from Aldi.

Its taking a bit to get used to but I'm getting there!
The only gripe I have is that I don't feel it's sensitive enough. I can feel/hear the pen on the tablet, but it sometimes doesnt register until I press more.....It's just a case of getting used to the sensitivity (and it has 1024 levels, which is nice).

Any online tutorials to teach me how to use it perhaps?
 
I bought one years ago and then found it was not compatible with my computer. Got it out again when I knew I was going to have my spinal op. to see if I could use it with my laptop and now I would hate to be without it. It is one that you can use either A5 or A6 and I find A6 is great - any bigger and I would probably get wrist ache. I use it for hours a day and now find a mouse very clumsy.
 
It takes practice. I bought a small 4x5" Wacom tablet and I use it now and then for painting masks and selective work and the such. Even though I have very steady penmanship, it takes a lot of getting used to. Also, size is usually not a big deal (in fact, tablets that are too large are a bit cumbersome). A 4x5" tablet is perfect for most people -- the thing is, by going from a 100% to 200% zoom in photoshop, you're effectively doubling the size of your tablet, so whenever you need more physical space, it's just a matter of zooming in.
 
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