do i need a tablet?

[howard b. schwartz]

<p>i am a photographer who does landscape, still life, and occasional portrait photography. i do not do any radical changes to my photos, but i do use cs4 for post-processing enhancement. i was reading about tablets for use with cs4, but i really do not know anything about them. any thoughts? thanks.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>If your mouse-using hand isn't permanently disfigured into a painful, claw-like bit of misery from your post production work, and you're not finding yourself constantly wishing for more control over drawing your layer masks and whatnot, then... nah. Not a necessity. Some people find them very natural and comfortable - even absolutely essential, and others find them to be desk clutter. Ideally, you'd visit a computer store that happens to have them out on display and actually working, and give one a test drive. You'll almost immediately see that it's a good ergonomic fit for you, or not.</p>

[Brad_]

<p>It's a personal decision - some people like them, some don't. You need to try one to see if it's right for you. Not much more can be said.</p>

[beartooth1]

<p>Exactly what Matt said....if you go there you probably won't ever go back....they are so natural to use....I hardly ever use a mouse for anything anymore....even regular desktop work is more comfortable once you have the buttons configured....and Wacom just introduce the Intous 4.....looks pretty slick....</p>

[bob.velkov]

<p>In addition to what others have said, tablets use absolute coordinate for input while a mouse is relative. Some people find it more quick to position the pointer using a tablet.</p>

[jcoffin]

<p>Actually, you may well find that a tablet is a complete waste of time, effort and money, and go running back to a mouse the first chance you get. BTW, anybody want to buy a (minimally) used tablet? :-) Seriously, I got one and found it to be quite uncomfortable for me. The problem is that touching the tip of the "pen" to the tablet acts roughly like a mouse click, so when you want to move the mouse cursor around, you need to move the pen holding it close to the tablet, but not quite touching, or you'll do something you didn't want to. At least for some people (me, for one) this is <strong>extremely </strong> fatiguing -- I can't stand using the stupid thing for more than a few minutes at a time.</p>

<p>In theory, the accuracy is better -- they're certainly very sensitive to small movements. In reality, at least for me, that remains mostly theory. The problem is simple: the pen is extremely sensitive to small movements -- so when you're moving it from the almost-touching to the actually-touching distance, you need to move it at exactly a 90 degree angle to the tablet, or it ends up moving slightly and hitting someplace you didn't intend at all -- and, as I said before, when it does touch, that acts like a mouse click. The result is that you can frequently end up having to try two or three times before you can actually get the cursed thing to do what you originally wanted to at all (and undoing each of the messes it made from the failed attempts). Worse, as you're trying to undo the accident it caused, you can easily cause still further damage -- to the point that as often as not, your best course of action is to drop the pen, and use the mouse to click "revert", because undoing the problems it has caused is more work than the tiny amount of useful editing you've managed to accomplish with it.</p>

<p>After a few weeks of this nonsense, I came to my senses and realized that I was simply a lot better off using a mouse and forgetting that the tablet even existed. The sad part is that a decent design is entirely possible -- they simply need to make it so you can move the cursor with the pen touching the tablet, and only take actions based on a harder press (by strong preference, with a <strong>very </strong> slight click to give tactile feedback). Right now, I'd say 90% of the tablets I've seen have been nearly equivalent to hanging a diploma from a prestigious art school on the wall -- used primarily as proof that "I'm a graphics professional", but virtually never for any real editing or anything like that. They work well as status symbols but poorly as tools.</p>

<p> </p>

[bob.velkov]

<p>Btw, the only useful tablets are the Wacom Intuos3 or Cintiq, everything else like the Bamboo, etc is just for fun.<br>

Jerry, which tabled did you use? You can actually configure whatever button on the pen or tablet on the side to act as whatever you want including left click. A tablet is *extremely* customizable so that you can make it suit *every* need. However it is a different tool and requires a learning curve as with the mouse some 40 years ago. </p>

[godfrey]

<p>I have a small Intuos3 tablet which I occasionally use for its pressure sensitive capabilities with the brush in Lightroom and Photoshop. It's certainly not an essential, but it's proven to be useful. </p>

<p>I've used a mouse for 20+ years in my daily work, many hours a day, and have yet to experience any carpal tunnel syndrome or wrist pain. </p>

<p>Godfrey</p>

[mihir_shah]

<blockquote>

<p>i was reading about tablets for use with cs4, but i really do not know anything about them. any thoughts? thanks.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Hey Howard, i don't know whether this is a right forum for this. You should really ask your doctor. I usually require a ibuprofen after hours in front of screen trying to learn photoshop, but so far it has just helped me go to sleep rather then getting more proficient. Hope this helps. Good luck. :)))</p>

[john_latimer1]

<p>Hello,<br>

As to Jerry's reaction to the tablet above, it is a common feeling of frustration. I happen to be an expert at this particular issue, as I am a professor at RIT in the school of photography. I have converted more people to tablets than anyone else I know. Jerry if I could have 10 min.'s with you I would fix your frustration and you would love the tablet. You do need to learn how to hold the pen in relation to the tablet surface and it is not uncommon for people to do this in unnatural ways that are in some cases painful and at the least frustrating. As several users have mentioned once you use it you may never go back to the mouse ever. The main benefit is the precision of masking and other "paint" oriented tools ie. healing etc. I obviously am in favor of tablets, good luck.</p>

[markd2]

<p>I'm a recent tablet convert. I spent a half hour in a paint program (not photoshop - it's too complicated for this. Acorn on the Mac is ideal) just learning how to move the stylus and what effect different pressure on the pen has. Once I mastered that, then I use it in photoshop.</p>

<p>I really like the pressure controlling the size of the healing brush. Makes doing a scene clean-up a lot easier, not having to manually change the brush size. I also like it when editing layer masks. I find that using Nik filters with the tablet is frustrating, and use the mouse for that.</p>