[WOODY]

After Spending Many Hours, Over The Last Few Days, Trying To Get More
Control Over The Spot Healing Tool, Also Clone Tool.

I Have Been Considering Buying A Wacom Graphire 4 .

I Have Read Rob Barons Review On This, I Have Also Read Dabhand And
Charlottes Reviews On A Similar Make.

Any Suggestions And Advice Please. Thank You

[silkstone]

Some people love graphics tablets and others don't get on with them at all. I have a Wacom Volito (cheapo) which is no longer made, but you may like to look at...

WACOM Bamboo

That's relatively inexpensive and may be a good low-risk option.

[stepheno]

Like Silkstone I have the Wacom Volito 2 since mine was a freeby. It is not a substitute for the mouse but it is handy to have, particularly when using the brushes. Have a look at the reviews of it here.

[john crossley]

I have a Wacom Graphire 4 (A6), and it is so easy to use. It makes re-touching photos very easy, as it is like using a pen, so it has a much more natural feel to it then a mouse.

[GainfulShrimp]

I've used Wacom tablets before and was impressed. Specifically, the pressure sensitivity is far more accurate than I expected and I loved the ease of use of having an eraser end of the pen so you can just turn it over and correct your mistakes just like a proper pencil - very intuitive!

Recently I've been too busy buying other gadgets to get a tablet but it's on my wishlist (together with a Mac Pro, decent monitor, calibrator, etc, etc)...

[silkstone]

Mac Pro? Going over to the Dark Side eh? Next thing you'll be buying a D300.

[P-E]

I finally decided to purchase Wacom tablet via Santa last year and enjoyed using it since

[WOODY]

Thanks For Your Help And Advice Everyone.

I Think I Will Have To Have A Look At Some, To See Which Will Suit Me.
Will Probably Go For A Cheap One To See How I Get On With It.

Thanks.

[GainfulShrimp]

Originally Posted by silkstone

Mac Pro? Going over to the Dark Side eh? Next thing you'll be buying a D300.

Well now you see I'm rather stuck on the fence on this one...

For years I ignored the whole Mac thing because I knew PCs well and had a big sense of meh about the supposed advantages to Mac. Then there was the compatibility thing - I knew that I could do most things I wanted with a Mac, but what about the rest?
And the emulators were really not fast enough because of the vastly different architecture.

But then over recent years there have been a few changes:

- Macs are Intel now
- Macs have Bootcamp now for those occasions when only XP will do
- Macs are sometimes reasonable value now (certainly compared to PCs of good build quality)
- The advantages of Mac such as colour management for the whole OS (not just certain CM aware apps), nice design touches, quiet well built hardware... all look more attractive and relevant to me now than they used to.

So I'm seriously considering a Mac for my next major upgrade I reckon.

But there are a few other issues for me, too. Like the news I keep reading about Apple's nasty anti-consumer behaviour... e.g. deliberately breaking iPhones which Apple's own customers have unlocked so they can use them on their favourite network (doesn't seem very nice - just petty and desperate).
Oh, and the silly way that iPod=iTunes and those Apple updates to iTunes which render third party database managers useless.

I like Apple's kit, but their petty shenanigans to squash competition makes me worry that I might be a victim of such behaviour too, in the future.

In other words, Apple are in danger of becoming Sony - forgetting what customers actually want and sometimes deliberately stamping on what customers want, in their quest to keep profit growth in double digits. I don't want to be locked in forever to some third rate software when I buy a piece of kit, just because the manufacturer deems it so.
I'm happy for Apple to give me advice on the best way to use their products, but not for them to force me into using their stuff and even less deliberately breaking alternative products that I might choose to use.

Thus, I'm watching Apple carefully before I make a decision and in the mean time I might find some sort of cushion as I've been on this fence for quite a while now and it's getting uncomfortable.

[WOODY]

Well The Verdict Is, I Went For The Wacom Graphire 4.

After Initial Problems With The Install, It Is Now Working Fine.
First Impressions Very Good, Don't Like Having To Go Through Adobe Reader
For The User Manual, But I Will Probably Print It To Make It Easier.

I Think Overall This Will Be A Great Help To Me. Seems Very Easy To Use.

Will Obviously Take Time To Get Used To.

[Lee_118]

How are you finding the size of your wacom? Was it just the cost that put you off going for a larger one or is that all you need? I ask as i am looking to buy one myself but am unsure what size to get.I find myself leaning towards the Wacom intuos3 A4 but not sure if it will be overkill.

[P-E]

Lee, I use a Wacom Intuos A5 over two monitors but I only have a small proportion of the tablet active on my main editing monitor (you can set the size of the active tablet in properties to what area you wish).

I find it much more comfortable to work in a small area for editing rather than my wrist/hand moving the whole width and height of the tablet.

Hope the above makes sense ......basically I'm trying to say A6 should be fine imo

I meant A6 (should be fine) not A3 that I had originally posted

[fionaB]

i couldn't function without my wacom tablet! mine is only A6 and its fine for me, remember the bigger the tablet the more you are going to move your arm, although u can choose the active size, i feel it is a bit of a waste if u spend money to get a bigger one and only use a portion of it.

Fi

[Dabhand16]

I've got a Trust A4, and tho it does require a lot of arm movement if used at full size, the degree of control is better.

The active area can be made smaller, so needing less movement, but if you have an A6, it is not easy to make it bigger!

Seriously, I think the A6 will be fine. I got the A4 because it is not a lot physically bigger than the A6 and was only about £20 dearer. Wacom are the best, but I think Trust are VFM.