[Digitalis]

I was really uncertain where to post this in the forums, so I'll leave it to the mods..

This is not going to be a traditional laundry list review. It is largely a collection of impressions and remarks about the usefulness and more importantly the functionality of the Wacom Intuos 4 tablet with common photographic editing suites. For the record; I'm not affiliated with Wacom or Adobe, or any other manufacturer for that matter, i'm just a user of this forum like everyone else.

Recently I bought a large Wacom Intuos 4 tablet, there are several reasons for this. The principal one being that I am a musician, I have to be careful with my hands and RSI (which I have suffered from before) can quite literally become a major pain therefore a graphics tablet presented itself as the ideal input peripheral of choice when doing hours of Photoshop work. Although the Logitech revolution MX 5500 blutetooth keyboard+ mouse combination that I use is exceptionally well designed and ergonomic, the mouse simply isn't the greatest for making precision selections. And although the keyboard has many programmable keys that I can customize with macros it isn't as fast as using a device that is dedicated to this task. So after some market research the Intuos 4 seemed to fulfil my requirements and provide the accessories I would find relevant to my work flow.


Wacom doesn't seem to have many competitors, which is a little disconcerting when it comes to the realm of digital imaging. In my experience when there is little or no competition mediocrity,complacency and a lack of innovation can become issues. Thankfully Wacom, haven't fallen into this trap and have learned from their mistakes and improved on their earlier offerings.

Installation was straightforward and simple as you can expect from a USB device. However I ditched the drivers provided on the CD that came with the tablet and downloaded the current drivers from wacom.

The driver applet is extremely well designed, and is well suited to the task of handling the programmable features of the tablet, from altering the pressure sensitivity of the tablet to assigning keystrokes to the single press buttons on the tablet.The multi-purpose jog wheel on the tablet is well suited to image magnification,changing layers and controlling layer opacity and blending effects. They even include a dimmer controlling the brightness of the OLED displays next to the programmable buttons to show what they are set to (these displays are also programmable). I recall users of the intuos 3 tablets using labels attached with sticky tape to achieve a similar effect.


The Intuos 4 Large tablet ships with a standard Grip pen,A pen stand, a three button mouse and a USB cable. The ambidextrous design of the tablet allows for either left handed and right handed use. I'm right handed by habit and thankfully the USB cable is of a generous length. The standard grip pen comes with a buttonless extra grip if you fancy a thicker grip on your pen( I don'tlike thick pens. Incidentally, the buttons are used to emulate mouse clicks). It also comes with an assortment of 4 types of nib which simulate the tactile sensation of using various types of pens. Be warned, the hard felt nibs wear out the quickest. Despite the fact that I am a fountain pen user and typically use a light touch when writing and drawing, in no less than three days the hard felt nib I was using was considerably worse for wear. Though the other nibs proved to be substantially more robust. Also I purchased the Intuos 4 Art pen for my tablet - the art pen is capable of sensing 360 degrees of rotation which means I gain even more control over the dynamics of the brush. Which is extremely handy considering the fact that I do quite a bit of calligraphy and with my more traditional selection of fountain pens,inks, and moleskine sketchbooks is much tidier and less likely to suffer from a disastrous ink spillage. As a matter of fact, I go through a whole A3 moleskine every two months so the graphics tablet should help me cut down on my moleskine habit ( I also use paperblanks journals too, the paper they use in them is awesome)

The wacom intuos 4 ships with a heap of software straight out of the box, I'll spare you the list but I'll remark on the functionality with Adobe products:

With Lightroom 3.3 (64bit) the tablet allows for speedy selections and simplifies applying corrections for exposure,contrast.etc are more organic and quicker using a pen the healing brush is also much easier to use. Though be warned, these tablets do eat up some processor time when in use but thanks to my 6 cored I7Extreme processor such things were inconsequential but it is something people with less beefy computers should bear in mind. Also I get to sign my prints with the watermark feature in LR3 using input from the tablet.

With Adobe CS5 is where the real capabilities of these pressure sensitive tablets really comes into it's own. With 2048 levels of sensitivity these tablets are absolutely ideal for CS5. I don't know if the GIMP offers the same level of integration but really that seems quite unlikely considering how closely Adobe and Wacom work together. I'm sure there would be an additional plug-in for the GIMP somewhere. But Adobe really outdid themselves with the level of functionality with these tablets. The additional control of opacity and brush size that can be varied with the amount of pressure that is applied to the tablet through the pen is extremely useful for making and editing of adjustment layers. The pen makes tricky selections substantially easier than what I could achieve with a mouse. The healing and image enhancement tools are likewise enhanced.

Overall I would recommend the Intuos 4 tablets to anyone who have problems with RSI, chronic carpal tunnel syndrome or those who frequently find themselves spending an inordinate amount of time editing photos. The speed and intuitive control of a graphics pen and tablet really help cut down on the hours spent on image editing. There are many sizes of tablets available from Wacom The reason I went for the large is simply because I use a 28" monitor and a smaller tablet would have been a bit awkward - another thing to keep in mind is there is a big difference between the active tablet area(where you draw on) and the physical size of the tablet for instance the large tablet is 18"x12" but it has an active area of 13"x8" - so having the desk space for one of these tablets is something to keep in consideration.


And how mean would I be if I didn't provide some pictures to embellish my sub-standard writing...

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Last edited by Digitalis; 01-28-2015 at 12:36 AM.

[hcc]

Nice review and useful experience. It is definitely of interest to some of us.

Thank you for sharing.

[v5planet]

As an owner of a Wacom Intuos 3, I can attest to the incredibly intuitive feel of using a pen tablet for input in digital imaging and artwork. I originally used the Wacom for digital painting, where the pressure sensitivity and natural precision movements were a boon to expressive strokes and smooth lines (both in photoshop and elsewhere). I eventually just started using it instead of a mouse for all applications, and as the OP has stated, it is very helpful in photo editing. Precision selection is exactly right, along with any sort of spot editing that has to be done -- it's simply easier with a pen.

One thing I will say though is you can also program the pen tilt to control functions of the brush, along with pressure. I believe photoshop even has support for direction of movement. Can be programmed to affect anything - from opacity to size of the brush, to any of the 10 or 15 other brush settings available in photoshop. Many of those creative applications are better suited to digital painting, but really, it's a versatile tool!

[Digitalis]

One thing I will say though is you can also program the pen tilt to control functions of the brush, along with pressure. I believe photoshop even has support for direction of movement. Can be programmed to affect anything - from opacity to size of the brush, to any of the 10 or 15 other brush settings available in photoshop. Many of those creative applications are better suited to digital painting, but really, it's a versatile tool!

CS5 has so many controls for brush dynamics, it really isn't funny. I am aware of the tilt functionality and it is certainly handy for controlling the broadness of strokes. The brush visualiser that CS5 has allows you to preview the bristles on the brush and the angle/rotation of it so you can see the effect you will get.

I'll also mention that in terms of cable management the large tablet comes with a groove which you can run the USB cable under it to keep things neat and tidy. My computer has about 15 Usb ports (12 2.0/ and 3 3.0) and the back of my computer looks like Medusa on a bad hair day with all the cables snaking around. Wacom offer a bluetooth wireless version of their medium sized tablet, the wireless tablet can also be run in a cabled mode and it was quite tempting but I went for the bigger tablet due to the size of the monitor I work with.

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Last edited by Digitalis; 01-15-2011 at 12:43 AM.

[Frogfish]

Thank you for the very good write-up. I am considering the cheaper Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch (medium) to use with Aperture 3, to help with all the photo editing I'm doing. Hope that version performs just as well for the functions it supports.

[Digitalis]

Just a quick update: Since posting this review and after almost constant use the graphics tablet has helped a lot with photographic editing tasks. I usually blend my HDR images by hand, and the graphics tablet is vastly superior to using the mouse. The Art pen's nibs are much more robust than the thinner ones provided with the standard grip pen, I only wish that Photoshop could internally recognise which pen is in use and apply different settings according to which one was being used. The wacom driver can do this, and you can assign different levels of pressure sensitivity depending on which pen you are using, and you can customise the controls between the two pens, which is just brilliant.

The surface on my tablet is beginning to show signs of wear, but replacement surfaces are available from wacom.

[les3547]

Just a quick update: Since posting this review and after almost constant use the graphics tablet has helped a lot with photographic editing tasks.

Would you find the Wacom Intuos 4 tablet worth the investment if you did all your photo editing in, say, Lightroom 3? I am a clod using my mouse, so I know I want something better; I see Wacom has a "Bamboo Pen Tablet" for substantially less, but it offers about 1/4 the resolution and levels of pressure sensitivity.

[Digitalis]

Would you find the Wacom Intuos 4 tablet worth the investment if you did all your photo editing in, say, Lightroom 3? I am a clod using my mouse, so I know I want something better; I see Wacom has a "Bamboo Pen Tablet" for substantially less, but it offers about 1/4 the resolution and levels of pressure sensitivity.

It does take a lot of getting used to because the pen has a 1:1 relationship with the screen on a graphics tablet...if your pen is in the upper left corner that is where your cursor will be. And that is precisely why I find using the tablet even for work with Lightroom substantially more intuitive with the mouse. If you are clumsy with a mouse a tablet will in be much simpler to use. But these things are expensive, but they do come with some very useful software that helps you learn how to use them with the most efficiency.


I hope this helps.

[les3547]

I hope this helps.

Yes, thank you. I know I want one of the tablets. I have been trying to decide if Lightroom 3 would benefit from the higher resolution and pressure levels of the Intuos 4 or if the Bamboo Pen might do. On the other hand, the small Intuos 4 is more affordable, it looks like a great tool. Thanks for your review, very informative.

[Digitalis]

Yes, thank you. I know I want one of the tablets. I have been trying to decide if Lightroom 3 would benefit from the higher resolution and pressure levels of the Intuos 4 or if the Bamboo Pen might do. On the other hand, the small Intuos 4 is more affordable, it looks like a great tool. Thanks for your review, very informative.

the pressure sensitivity doesn't do all that much in lightroom, but in photoshop it has become an essential feature for my work.

[johnmflores]

Would you find the Wacom Intuos 4 tablet worth the investment if you did all your photo editing in, say, Lightroom 3? I am a clod using my mouse, so I know I want something better; I see Wacom has a "Bamboo Pen Tablet" for substantially less, but it offers about 1/4 the resolution and levels of pressure sensitivity.

Nice review. If I may chime in, I have the Bamboo Pen & Touch. It's a smaller tablet, and I run dual monitors, so I don't have it set up where the upper left of the tablet is the upper left of the screen and the lower right = lower right. If I did, even a small move of the pen would result in a large movement of the cursor - I'd lose fine control.

Instead, I've got it set up like a laptop trackpad, so that all gestures are based on the current position of the cursor. It's a good compromise and allows me to work quickly in Lightroom and Photoshop. In Photoshop, the pen gives me all the control I need to create custom masks.

Being able to put the pen down and use gestures is an added bonus, especially since it works very similar to my Macbook Pro, such as two fingers swipe left = back in the browser.

I still have the mouse on my desk; I avoid RSI by switching my input device regularly. Overall, I really like the Pen & Touch - meets my needs.

[les3547]

Nice review. If I may chime in, I have the Bamboo Pen & Touch. It's a smaller tablet, and I run dual monitors, so I don't have it set up where the upper left of the tablet is the upper left of the screen and the lower right = lower right. If I did, even a small move of the pen would result in a large movement of the cursor - I'd lose fine control.

Instead, I've got it set up like a laptop trackpad, so that all gestures are based on the current position of the cursor. It's a good compromise and allows me to work quickly in Lightroom and Photoshop. In Photoshop, the pen gives me all the control I need to create custom masks.

Being able to put the pen down and use gestures is an added bonus, especially since it works very similar to my Macbook Pro, such as two fingers swipe left = back in the browser.

I still have the mouse on my desk; I avoid RSI by switching my input device regularly. Overall, I really like the Pen & Touch - meets my needs.

I saw that option, I worried the Touch aspect might interfere with pen accuracy (such as if your hand or wrist rested on the pad). Is that an issue?

[johnmflores]

I saw that option, I worried the Touch aspect might interfere with pen accuracy (such as if your hand or wrist rested on the pad). Is that an issue?

Cleverly, no. When the stylus is close to the pad the touching turns off.

[Digitalis]

Cleverly, no. When the stylus is close to the pad the touching turns off.

that is quite impressive.

[Digitalis]

I did some research today,and it turns out that the GIMP has built in support for Wacom tablets as confirmed by the Wacom software compatibility guide