Wacom for me?

I've developed tendinitis of my index finger and thumb using a mouse in PS to edit photos. Would the Wacom tablet help me avoid this, or is it more for illustrators?

I would get the Intuos line.

Not sure, can you hold a pen without pain? Also, there are buttons on the pen as well. However, using a tablet is great for photo editing especially heavy duty pixel level type editing. LR stuff, not so much so.

I use my tablet all the time, for Ps, Lr, web surfing. . . . . . .. Granted being left handed I can use the pen and the mouse at the same time which makes editing in Lr much faster If you can pick up a pen and write you should be fine with a tablet. You'll be kicking yourself for waiting so long.

I love using a Wacom tablet for editing. Don't know if it would help your situation or not, there are things to click on the pen. See if you can hold one of the pens at the store and decide if it will work.

Have actually tried the pen at Adorama as suggested, and it's a totally different motion than using my trackball, very much like using a regular pen. I was told that whatever you do with a mouse on the computer, you can do with a tablet, and with greater functionality.

I'm pretty much convinced now to get it, especially since I will probably be doing much more project editing, which may be a setup for the same tendinitis if I don't do something about it now.

Purchase one immediately. Then wait a week until you get used to the fact that the area of the pad directly relates to the same area on the screen. Then have a big grin on your face like I did when I got my first one--they're amazing.

Fyi--I'm not an illustrator and only use it for editing photos. I don't use it outside of Lightroom and Photoshop--it's not comfortable as a "navigator" for me. But man, when you want to use the adjustment brush in LR or do some targeted adjustments in Photoshop or masking, holy smokes does the thing impress. I'm sure I'm not quite utilizing to its full potential, which I will be looking at in the near future.

tvphotog wrote in post #16063096
Have actually tried the pen at Adorama as suggested, and it's a totally different motion than using my trackball, very much like using a regular pen. I was told that whatever you do with a mouse on the computer, you can do with a tablet, and with greater functionality.

I'm pretty much convinced now to get it, especially since I will probably be doing much more project editing, which may be a setup for the same tendinitis if I don't do something about it now.

And after you've used a Wacom for a while going back to a mouse for editing will feel very clumsy to use, like trying to write with a bar of soap.

I bought a tablet when I started to get symptoms of mild RSI in my wrist due to heavy photo editing and lots of online gaming. You'll pick it up quickly... I use mine for everything from web browsing to video games to photo editing. I have two Wacom tablets... an older wired Bamboo which I use on my laptop for editing at work, and a newer Bamboo with the wireless thingy for my desktop. I have a mouse pad that velcros to my chair arm and put the tablet on top of the mouse pad so I don't have to hold my arm out towards the desk while I'm editing. The whole setup is pretty comfortable

Thanks to all of you for the advice. I bought the medium Intuos5, and have used it over the past three days. What a major change. Best thing I've done with my computer since I began using one in the mid '80's.

The PS editing is now like night and day. No hand or finger strain. It's fast and accurate, way more so than editing with the mouse. I put my trackball in the drawer.

If you don't use an image program, I guess there's no reason to have a tablet. But now that I have one, there's no reason to go back to a mouse.