Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Any experience with the Wacom Bamboo Fun or the smaller Bamboo Pen and Touch tablets? Interested in Photoshop and Lightroom mostly, but replies pertaining to other software welcome as well.

There's a discussion here: http://tpmg.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11445

Thanks Eric that was very useful.

I have a Wacom intuos 3 in 4X6. I bought the smaller one so I could travel with it in my backpack. And it was part of a discounted bundle with Silver Efex Pro.

I love it. Its far more accurate and subtle than using the mouse. If you are working with tools like the lasso to do selections it is perfect. For doing mask work on the image it is outstanding. And for working on images where you are doing a lot of cleaning of spots and such it is priceless.

My advise is buy the largest one you can afford as I find the small size constraining. I am looking at the intros 4 medium size as a permanent set up at home and keeping the 3 for travel and school.

DG

From the other thread Eric pointed me to I feel I need to go from the Bamboo series to the Intuos series for the smother surface, but the higher price will put the purchase on hold for a bit. I would like to hear from those who have experience with both the bamboo and the intuos, with respect to the rougher vs smoother surface.

I've used drawing tablets since the mid 80's, and the one benefit the Bamboo has over all the other (current) tablets is being able to use your fingers. It's something I had missed since the days of the Koalapad (which came out in 1984, it only took 20 years to make a comeback).

Personally though I have a laptop which allows me to use either a stylus or my fingers on the screen to draw, so it's like a portable Cirtiq.

The Bamboo has it's place (especially aimed at kids), but you have to decide if it's right for you or not, and you can only decide that by trying it. If you're not happy with the Bamboo/stylus feel, and don't need the finger capability, then you need to look at either an Intuos, or find an older Graphire.

I've heard really good things about Intuos. I bought a Bamboo 6 months ago for about $60 (pen only - no touch) just to see how I would like it. I use it a lot! I would actually never go back to just using the mouse for post processing. The one thing I've definitely found is that it might be nice to have a bigger one for my home computer... but the size of this one is pretty good as it's portable.

If you want to try it Futureshop has them on sale right now (the pen only version, 5.8" x 3.6") for $55.

I haven't tried the Intuos so I can't say anything about the smoother surfaces.

I've got a http://www.wacom.com/cintiq/cintiq-12wx.php that you might be able to pry out of my hands.

I am trying to decide between the Intuos 4 small vs. medium. I like the idea of the wireless tablet but it is only available in medium. I will use it primarily for PS and LR editing.

Any thoughts on this?

Medium. You'd rather have more; than not enough.

I'm with Eric on this go medium. See my earlier post in this thread for reasons.

I started with the small and still have it for a travel unit with my lap top, but at home I am just setting up a Intuos 4 medium that I recently bought.

DG

The more pixel precise you want to be, the bigger you will end up. I'm comfortable with a 9x12. If I had to choose a different size I would go bigger. There have been times where I have had to redraw hair, strand by strand

Go with as large as you can afford/will work with your travel plans. I have a 4x6 Graphire which I love but a larger surface would have come in handy countless times.

The only drawback I've experienced is when you have dual monitors and prefer to keep screen area matched to tablet area.

Note that Dell.ca has a 72 hour sale of the Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen and Touch Tablet - Includes Photoshop Elements for $120

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/product ... u=A3488173

How does a tablet work with dual monitors?

My Intuos 4 has a few modes - you can toggle it to represent one display or the other or have the whole tablet represent both displays - much the same way as a mouse behaves with two monitors.