Do I need a pen and tablet?

[Paula Sims]

I have scanned several thousand photos in and am now going to use
Photoshop to touch them up. How helpful would a pen and a tablet be or
should I just stick to my mouse? If I should go with the pen and tablet,
which one?

Thanks for your help

[Jim Waggener]

Post by Paula Sims
I have scanned several thousand photos in and am now going to use
Photoshop to touch them up. How helpful would a pen and a tablet be or
should I just stick to my mouse? If I should go with the pen and tablet,
which one?
Thanks for your help
--
Paula Sims
(Remove NO and SPAM when replying

A pen and tablet would make it much easier. Get a Wacom.




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[Gregory W. Blank]

I find the mouse I have is better than the the tablet on my old computer.
Coupled with keyboard short cuts the mouse should be good enough
IMHOP.

Post by Paula Sims
I have scanned several thousand photos in and am now going to use
Photoshop to touch them up. How helpful would a pen and a tablet be or
should I just stick to my mouse? If I should go with the pen and tablet,
which one?
Thanks for your help
--
Paula Sims
(Remove NO and SPAM when replying)

[Charlie D]

Post by Gregory W. Blank
I find the mouse I have is better than the the tablet on my old computer.
Coupled with keyboard short cuts the mouse should be good enough
IMHOP.

Same here.
I have a Wacom and virtually never use it. Just try it once a year or so
and see it doesn't help me. It may be good for painting from scratch,
but for photo touch-up my Kensington trackball does it all. YMMV.

[Charlie D]

Post by Charlie D
It may be good for painting from scratch,
but for photo touch-up my Kensington trackball
does it all.

How does your trackball handle opacity and angle?

With the "O" and "A" user addressable wheels. ;)

Of course it doesn't handle it. I don't "draw" on my photos. I just do
the things I did in the darkroom (plus dozens of others). That never
included airbrushing or other gross changes.

You certainly don't need a tablet for spotting or for the healing brush.

[Mxsmanic]

I don't "draw" on my photos. I just do the things
I did in the darkroom (plus dozens of others). That never
included airbrushing or other gross changes.

Even dodging and burning requires opacity control for best results.

You certainly don't need a tablet for spotting
or for the healing brush.

You don't need a tablet for anything, strictly speaking. Then again,
technically you don't need a mouse, either--you could just do everything
with the keyboard. The difference is about the same between keyboard
and mouse as it is between mouse and tablet, as anyone who has used all
of these will confirm.

[Abrasha]

Post by Mxsmanic
You don't need a tablet for anything, strictly speaking. Then again,
technically you don't need a mouse, either--you could just do everything
with the keyboard. The difference is about the same between keyboard
and mouse as it is between mouse and tablet, as anyone who has used all
of these will confirm.

I guess I'm not enough of an artiste. ;)
Just trying to save someone who doesn't have one some money.
I have one and never use it.

I also have a small 4 x 5" Graphire Wacom tablet, which I got for photo editing
convenience. I also never use it. I found it extremely clumsy to use. I am
much faster and more precise with a mouse.

I didn't even use it for my signiture.

That's about the only thing I did with the tablet that has proved to be useful.
I did have to do the signature over and over again though until I had one that
I could (can) use. I am about to buy a scanner now, and one of the first things
I will most likely do, is redo that signature.

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

[J***@no.komm]

What with wireless optical mice, we've come a long
way -- mice are much more sensitive and accurate
than they used to be.

That must be a recent thing. Last I checked, wireless mice could only
report 50 locations per second; not enough to make me feel connected to
the computer. I run my PS/2 corded optical at 200 reports per second.

[Mxsmanic]

Post by Paula Sims
How helpful would a pen and a tablet be or
should I just stick to my mouse?

A pen and tablet is _mandatory_ for any serious work in Photoshop.

Post by Paula Sims
If I should go with the pen and tablet,
which one?

Wacom.

[Gregory W. Blank]

Post by Mxsmanic
A pen and tablet is _mandatory_ for any serious work in Photoshop.

Thats an opinion & you should state it as such,....the Pro Lab I deal
with and worked for never use any thing but the computer mouse
They; I should add do hundreds of scans a week, for simple
spotting the mouse is perfectly fine and alot less expensive
its also works well for more in depth retouching.

[Mxsmanic]

Thats an opinion & you should state it as such ...

Since I'm not omniscient, it's reasonable to expect others to take
anything I say as opinion. In any case, I'm not going to put IMO at the
end of every statement I make.

... the Pro Lab I deal with and worked for never
use any thing but the computer mouse.

That's their loss, not mine.

They; I should add do hundreds of scans a week,
for simple spotting the mouse is perfectly fine
and alot less expensive its also works well for
more in depth retouching.

That's what I thought, until I bought a Wacom. Now I can't believe the
time I wasted and the garbage I produced because of the constraints of a
mouse.

Preparing scans adequately requires more than just removing a few spots,
too.

[Pat Chaney]

Post by Gregory W. Blank

Post by Mxsmanic
A pen and tablet is _mandatory_ for any serious work in Photoshop.

Thats an opinion & you should state it as such,....the Pro Lab I deal
with and worked for never use any thing but the computer mouse
They; I should add do hundreds of scans a week, for simple
spotting the mouse is perfectly fine and alot less expensive
its also works well for more in depth retouching.

Having used a Wacom Graphire for a number of years now I find it
unbelievable that anyone who has used both could find a mouse any more than
barely adequate in comparison for image editing.

I found the benefit of the pen and tablet to far exceed the price.


Pat

[Mxsmanic]

Bullshit.

They seem to be universal among professional graphic artists and
photographers using Photoshop. There are some operations that don't
really require a mouse, but others mandate it. For example, you can't
get pressure or opacity data from a mouse. Some tools even use the tilt
data from a stylus (Wacom tablets, at least, tell the system the angle
at which the stylus is being held, as well as pressure and contact
data).

[Paul Heslop]

Post by Paula Sims
I have scanned several thousand photos in and am now going to use
Photoshop to touch them up. How helpful would a pen and a tablet be or
should I just stick to my mouse? If I should go with the pen and tablet,
which one?
Thanks for your help
--
Paula Sims
(Remove NO and SPAM when replying)

Personally I only use my tablet for art work, not for day to day
retouching. As it is pressure sensitive it can be brilliant for
manipulating images by hand, but if you're the kind of person who likes
to do things by button presses I wouldn't bother.
If you DO decide to buy one and are not going to use it for serious
artwork then why bother with Wacom when there are cheaper tablets which
would suffice.
I have a Nisis, it was cheap, it does the job I want and the mouse which
came with it was crap, which I understand is the usual case with these
mice.

So, to recap, buy a tablet if you want to work on pictures by hand,
otherwise stick with yer mouse :O)

[borge]

On Fri, 25 Jul 2003 01:59:34 GMT, Paula Sims

Post by Paula Sims
I have scanned several thousand photos in and am now going to use
Photoshop to touch them up. How helpful would a pen and a tablet be or
should I just stick to my mouse? If I should go with the pen and tablet,
which one?
Thanks for your help

If you really want to know, try to sign your signature with a mouse,
It is like using the heel of a muddy boot compared to that of the pen
on a Wacom - however you have to learn and not give up too soon.

Borge
For your information, my stats are:
Win 2000, Pentium 4 2.4 Ghz
1 Gb memory,ADSL
80+40 GB of disc space,Oly C2100 & Optio S
Borge Pedersen :-)
Perth, Australia
mailto:***@SPAMbigpond.net.au
remove SPAM for email

[Antti Heiskanen]

Post by Paula Sims
I have scanned several thousand photos in and am now going to use
Photoshop to touch them up. How helpful would a pen and a tablet be or
should I just stick to my mouse? If I should go with the pen and tablet,
which one?

BTW, can a pen and a tablet be used (or connected to the computer) at
the same time with a mouse? I'm left-handed (I use pen with my left
hand but use mouse with my right hand), so I'd need a tablet that can
be used on the left side of the keyboard, while at the same time
having a mouse on the right-hand side.

I know that many tablets have a wireless mouse included, but I have
understood that those mice are usually not very good. So I would like
to have the tablet but also a separate wired optical mouse connedted
at the same time. Will this result in problems? My operating system of
choise is Windows XP, if that matters.

-Antti

[Mxsmanic]

Post by Antti Heiskanen
BTW, can a pen and a tablet be used (or connected to the computer) at
the same time with a mouse?

They can both be connected and available. If you literally try to use
them simultaneously, they'll "fight," because the pen tries to position
the cursor at an absolute location on the screen, while the mouse tries
to move it relatively to another location. It doesn't hurt anything,
but it serves no purpose.

In contrast, you can switch instantly between them if you want, moving
first the mouse and then the pen, or vice versa. The pen is normally
configured to use absolute positioning so that a given spot on the
tablet always represents the same spot on the display, whereas a mouse
is normally configured for relative positioning, so that moving the
mouse moves the cursor from wherever it currently is, without
respositioning it in an absolute sense.

Post by Antti Heiskanen
I'm left-handed (I use pen with my left hand but use mouse
with my right hand), so I'd need a tablet that can be used
on the left side of the keyboard, while at the same time
having a mouse on the right-hand side.

I have a set up like that, except that I have the mouse on the left and
the tablet on the right. I'm right-handed, so I keep the tablet on the
right for very precise work, and the mouse on the left for simple cursor
operations. It took a bit of getting used to, as I previously had moved
the mouse with the right hand, but now I'm accustomed to it and it works
great!

Post by Antti Heiskanen
I know that many tablets have a wireless mouse included,
but I have understood that those mice are usually not
very good.

Skip the included mouse. Just get the tablet and use your existing
mouse. I have a Wacom tablet at my right and my old, reliable Microsoft
mouse at my left. The mouse is cranked up to maximum speed, so that it
covers the entire screen with about one inch of movement. This works
well for fast operations, whereas I can use the tablet for slow or
precision stuff.

Having two pointers like this also is convenient when you need to type
things at the same time.

In practice, I use the tablet mostly with Photoshop and Illustrator, and
the mouse for most other things, although I use the tablet whenever I
need precise screen movements (the tablet can resolve 100 points per
millimetre and 1024 levels of pressure, so it is very precise indeed).

Post by Antti Heiskanen
So I would like to have the tablet but also a separate
wired optical mouse connedted at the same time. Will this
result in problems? My operating system of
choise is Windows XP, if that matters.

There will be no problems. The two work together just fine.

[Antti Heiskanen]

Post by Mxsmanic

Post by Antti Heiskanen
BTW, can a pen and a tablet be used (or connected to the computer) at
the same time with a mouse?

They can both be connected and available.
...

Thanks for your very informative reply, you answered all the questions
I had about using a tablet! I'm off to purchase a Wacom Graphire 2 (or
Intuous 2 4x6 if I can find a good deal).

-Antti

[Mxsmanic]

Post by Antti Heiskanen
I'm off to purchase a Wacom Graphire 2 (or
Intuous 2 4x6 if I can find a good deal).

All Wacom tablets are good deals, simply because they are so useful.
Their usefulness is remembered long after the price is forgotten (to
paraphrase Gucci).

[Arthur Entlich]

Post by Mxsmanic

Post by Antti Heiskanen
I'm off to purchase a Wacom Graphire 2 (or
Intuous 2 4x6 if I can find a good deal).

All Wacom tablets are good deals, simply because they are so useful.
Their usefulness is remembered long after the price is forgotten (to
paraphrase Gucci).

Hopefully, however, the person will find the tablet more useful than
most of the output Gucci was famed for. ;-)

Art

[Tom Elliott]

Post by Antti Heiskanen
BTW, can a pen and a tablet be used (or connected to the computer) at
the same time with a mouse? I'm left-handed (I use pen with my left
hand but use mouse with my right hand), so I'd need a tablet that can
be used on the left side of the keyboard, while at the same time
having a mouse on the right-hand side.

I have an old 4x5 wacom with a cordless pen.
I love it.
I can have it working with the normal mouse.
I am right handed

Post by Antti Heiskanen
I know that many tablets have a wireless mouse included, but I have
understood that those mice are usually not very good. So I would like
to have the tablet but also a separate wired optical mouse connedted
at the same time. Will this result in problems? My operating system of
choise is Windows XP, if that matters.
-Antti

[pjp]

I've had up to 4 "mice" connected at once on this system.

1 : (PS2) Logitech 3 button plus scroll wheel
2 : (USB) Kensington trackball, 5 buttons and scroll wheel
3 : (USB) Wacom "Graphire" tablet (approx. 6x8") (or whatever it's called)
4 : (Serial Port) Summagraphics large digitizing tablet (approx. 14x14")
with 4 button puck (or pen, have both)

Never had any problems during normal use but some additional comments seem
appropriate ...

Summagraphics was just too large for a desktop plus there seemed to be a
"lag" with detecting button presses.

The Kensington was a pile of junk

Wife loves the Wacom (arthritis in wrist so mouse is a problem over extended
period). She uses it mainly for Autocad stuff

I do NOT use the tablet, I've tried to like it but I can't find a convenient
way to hold pen and use the "side" buttons.

I'm also sure anyone trying to use the tablet in any 1st person shooter type
of game etc. wouldn't stand a chance against someone with a mouse :)

P.S. The "mouse" that came with the Wacom sits on a shelve unused. It only
works on the tablet's surface and although no moving parts is nice, the
mouse itself feels and acts "cheap".

Post by Tom Elliott

Post by Antti Heiskanen
BTW, can a pen and a tablet be used (or connected to the computer) at
the same time with a mouse? I'm left-handed (I use pen with my left
hand but use mouse with my right hand), so I'd need a tablet that can
be used on the left side of the keyboard, while at the same time
having a mouse on the right-hand side.

I have an old 4x5 wacom with a cordless pen.
I love it.
I can have it working with the normal mouse.
I am right handed

Post by Antti Heiskanen
I know that many tablets have a wireless mouse included, but I have
understood that those mice are usually not very good. So I would like
to have the tablet but also a separate wired optical mouse connedted
at the same time. Will this result in problems? My operating system
of choise is Windows XP, if that matters.
-Antti

[John Russell]

Post by Antti Heiskanen
BTW, can a pen and a tablet be used (or connected to the computer) at
the same time with a mouse? I'm left-handed (I use pen with my left
hand but use mouse with my right hand), so I'd need a tablet that can
be used on the left side of the keyboard, while at the same time
having a mouse on the right-hand side.

Yes, I keep the tablet on the left and use whichever mouse is more
convenient at that moment. (Occasionally both at once in a tug-of-war
over the cursor. :-)

John
--
Photo gallery: http://www.pbase.com/john_russell/

[Abrasha]

Post by Antti Heiskanen

Post by Paula Sims
I have scanned several thousand photos in and am now going to use
Photoshop to touch them up. How helpful would a pen and a tablet be or
should I just stick to my mouse? If I should go with the pen and tablet,
which one?

BTW, can a pen and a tablet be used (or connected to the computer) at
the same time with a mouse?

I have the tablet at the left side of my desk area and the normal mouse
sitting next to it. Some tablets have a mouse with them but this usually
works ON the tablet and you'll either like or hate it (I HATE IT!!!)
I often use the mouse to do simple point and clicks, where the pen can
be a little fiddly.

One of the things I hated with my Wacom Graphire, was that the cordless mouse
works only when used ON the tablet. And you cannot just use the pen and then
switch quickly to the mouse. You have to switch the settings in the software
utility first from "pen mode" to "mouse mode".

BTW, the pen is a great deal better if you do a lot of drawing, which is very
difficult for me with a mouse.

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

[JunkMonkey]

I admit the Wacom mouse is awful, but I have never had any problem switching
from the mouse to the pen. I wonder if this is an OS or set-up issue. I
work with WIN ME and use the default Wacom settings.

Post by Abrasha
One of the things I hated with my Wacom Graphire, was that the cordless mouse
works only when used ON the tablet. And you cannot just use the pen and then
switch quickly to the mouse. You have to switch the settings in the software
utility first from "pen mode" to "mouse mode".
BTW, the pen is a great deal better if you do a lot of drawing, which is very
difficult for me with a mouse.
Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com