Tablets: Looking for affordable tablet for retouching?

[santoro80]

What affordable tablet for retouching could you recommend me? I have no experience with tablets, so I really dont know anything about them.
This tablet is well priced... will it be ok for retouching:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...al_Tablet.html
5.8 x 3.6" Active Area. Is this size ok for retouching in Photoshop?

[Boneappetit]

Hi santoro: It works, that's the least expensive Bamboo tablet, and the one I use... Certain tablet doesn't make any one a good retoucher, a tablet only makes your life easier... The way i see it is: buy the most comfortable tablet you can afford, if that's the one you can afford, go for it... A piece of advice: If you get it, use it only for retouching, and try to use it with soft strokes, that way you save nibs... You can use your mouse for everything else.. Hope this helps !

[santoro80]

I know that tablet doesn't make any one a good retoucher. The problem is I never used tablet, so I really cant tell what is the most comfortable one. Should I buy this cheapest and smallest one or should I wait, save more money and buy a bigger size?

[Boneappetit]

Again, if you can wait and buy a most comfortable one that's good... Many retouchers buy more expensive tablets because of comfortability... If you'd like to check my gallery go here: All those works are done with the cheap Bamboo tablet... http://boneappetit.deviantart.com/gallery/

[kav]

Bamboo = good for learning. If you find you need something more, you should go straight for one of the big ones. The most common one among professional retouchers, pro level photo labs, ad agencies, etc, would be an intuos large. I don't think the medium is worth it. I'd suggest you go for basically the bamboo or go straight to the intuos large skipping the medium. You can find a used intuos3 large for under $100, but they're no longer a popular format as displays are all basically wide screen formats now (1900x1200 24" displays as opposed to 1600x1200 21" displays, roughly the same height but wider).

If the feel is wonky, try force proportions.

Edit: I'm saying if the bamboo feels unacceptable, nothing below the "large" is likely to be satisfying long term. If it does feel good, then just stick with the bamboo. $70 now, sell for maybe $30-40 later if you decide you need something bigger, but imo the medium is a waste of money.

[lurch]

kav prefers the larger size, but that's just his preference. I use a Bamboo Fun, smallest size, and find it just right, sizewise. It works fine for me driving a 24" monitor. My daughter has a large Intuos 4, but has only a very small area mapped to her monitor. She finds the large size unwieldy. Bottom line is, start small and grow. kav has good advice there. If you don't like the Bamboo, go straight to large.

[tebphotos]

I would also recommend starting with the Bamboo. It is a great introduction to using a tablet to see if you like working with a tablet. Some people do, some don't.
The large Intuos4 takes up a lot of desk space which is a problem for me.
Regards, Tom B.

[shift studio]

@ kav I used the medium size for years. I think it's the perfect size. With a bit of use, I think you can get used to any size.

[kav]

Originally Posted by shift studio

@ kav I used the medium size for years. I think it's the perfect size. With a bit of use, I think you can get used to any size.

I've used pretty much every size. I thought going with the medium was a mistake once I got the large. I owned a small one when I was in college. I didn't actually say starting out with a bamboo was a bad idea. I mentioned that they're popular enough that if you don't like the size you can sell it pretty easily to switch up .

[shift studio]

Okay - gotcha. When you go back to a smaller one, can you get used to it? Just wondering. For me, after a couple of hours with a new size, I feel comfortable with it (surprisingly)

[kav]

Originally Posted by shift studio

Okay - gotcha. When you go back to a smaller one, can you get used to it? Just wondering. For me, after a couple of hours with a new size, I feel comfortable with it (surprisingly)

Not really personally. I tested this before selling the old ones. The closer I can get to 1:1 mapping, the easier it is for me to draw accurately and trace lines just by knowing how to move it. When they're too much out of proportion you really have to watch that cursor tracking where I like to go by feel. Going by feel with a small one has a tendency to offset my work slightly and I can't really get my brain to adjust without working at a much slower pace which is an issue for me as my budgets often suck. I can work relatively fast if I'm confident in whatever I am doing to the image.

I actually considered purchasing a cintiq a couple years ago, but I didn't like looking down at the display or the obstruction of my view caused by the pen. What I did like was that it was 1:1. Also I know by hand you'd have that same issue to a degree, but these wacom pens are more obstructive to viewing than a fine brush. I know this as I have spotted prints by hand before (over a decade ago but it still counts).

I guess the thing is even once I felt used to a size, the sort of displacement effect still affected my work, and that was a big enough issue to kill any interest in using a smaller size. I used a larger one at first at a studio while I had a medium at home. On the larger one I found that I had fewer mistakes where something was offset a little, and I could work faster.

Okay that got kind of long.... ending post here.

[Andrew B.]

I did fine with the smallest one. I was used to making small movements on a mouse pad, and the small tablet gave me much more control. Going with a larger tablet would have meant getting used to a different method. OTOH, I know people who got used to using a sketch pad to draw, and used to making large movements. So they preferred a large one.

[frankecu77]

this one is the one I have and its great, it is in your price range...
Click here