Recommendations for Tablet

[Warren]

I just recently upgraded to the Creative Cloud promotion where Adobe with give you the ability to use Adobe CC and Lightroom 5. I have been watching some tutorials on the website, and the instructors seem to all be using some sort of tablet with a stylus to assist in the post editing of the photos.

My question: Does anyone out there use those? Are there any decent ones that you might recommend for $100-$150 US?

I am a photohobbiest, also looking to improve my final product. Up until now, I was using Photoshop Elelments 8 and 11.

Any help would certainly be appreciated.

Warren

[davidedric]

Wacom are the most widely used tablet. They have a wide range of sizes and prices. I use a Bamboo which is one of their cheaper offerings, it's around £75 in the UK so should be well within your budget. I use it mostly with Lightroom and it works well. If you search around there are a few tablet threads on here.

Dave

[FrankMi]

Hi Warren, I've been using the Wacom Bamboo for a couple of years now and haven't found a need to get anything more expensive. The model CTH-460 was $85 when I bought it.

[dabhand]

I use the Bamboo 470 - about US $80 - simple no frills tablet which is what I wanted.

[Donald]

Yep - Fourth cheerleader for the dear little Bamboo. Mine's so old (in relative terms) that you can't find it on a website any more. But it purrs along very nicely.

[Manfred M]

I expect that you will find that most of the users on the training videos are using the Wacom Intuos tablet (this is up to model 5; although I still am using my rather ancient Intuos 3). These are likely to be outside of your price range. The Bamboo tablets have similar functionality, but tend to be a bit smaller and less sensitive. In any case, whether you look at a Bamboo or full blown Intuos, these tablets do have a learning curve and you can expect to get quite frustrated while you learn to use one. Once I have mastered them you will wonder how you ever managed without one.

That being said, tablets are not necessarily for everyone. If you edit by doing fairly basic adjustments; exposure, colour correction, cropping, etc. you may find that a tablet is overkill. If you get into advanced selections / edits, especially if you are using the pen tool or are using layer masks and making selections by painted on them, then the fine control delivered by a tablet is the only way to go.

[Geoff F]

Warren. Most people who have used some form of tablet like them. The main decision is over what size to use.

And this depends on exactly what you will be doing with it. For example, fine tuning of selections or masks becomes much easier.

Having used a variety of sizes, and different price/ quality I find that the smaller sizes, around 7 x 5 ins just aren't sufficient for me. I would sooner have lower quality than smaller size.

At the moment, I have an old secondhand Wacom which is 12 ins square and suits me perfectly. But a new version wouldn't be cheap.

With regards to whether it is necessary to have a tablet; try writing your name using a mouse then compare that to writing with a pen. Although in my case, even writing with a pen looks terrible!

[Warren]

Thanks for the advice. As for my editing, I have been doing basic adjustments thus far, primarily because it was so difficult for me to select the part of the photo that I wanted with a touch pad on my laptop. I was hoping that a tablet might also push my editing skills a bit.

Someone told me that, even the cheapest tablet is better than the most expensive mouse, lol.

Warren