wacom tablet

Intuos 4, A5 wide.
Great. Pen pressure is very useful for brushing, cloning and stuff like that.
If you got the right size, it's great for drawing paths as well. (Had a 4x5" before, that was too small to use for drawing a precise path)

Helps with prevention of RSI as well.

I use it for photography, and pen pressure is definitely a plus when you feather edges and use masks etc...Working with Photoshop will require both, the tablet and the mouse depending on what you are working on. In my opinion, working with a pen is more reliable than working with a mouse. I find it pretty easy to remove backgrounds using the pen tool and of course the tablet...but one main factors of why i find it easy is because i work with the plugin mask pro 4. In short, using a tablet will make your work easier and faster, of course after you have learned how to use it. When you sit on your computer just think about the time you spend every day retouching, etc... if that's what you do for a living, you might want to consider finding ways on how to shorten the amount of time you spend retouching...as bucket772 previously said, the tablet will give you grater control over details as well, so you might consider that too for professional looking pictures.

I just bought the Intuos4, medium and I'll tell you one thing It's a curse
The ability to have control over image processing is excellent, but now I spend extra time refining my images. They look so much better, but now I can't stop at just minor PP. It's become an obsession to make my images look as best as possible. I really like the Intuos4 and would recommend it to anyone with at least CS4.

Is the Intuos4 a touch pad as well?

ChrisMc73 wrote in post #10624446
Is the Intuos4 a touch pad as well?

It has a circular finger touch control, but the main pad is controlled by the pen.

http://intuos.wacom.co​m …P2d-fCSkaMCFRxEgwodkjsHoQ

I can't imagine doing graphic/photo work without a good tablet. I use an ancient Gen 1 Intuos 6x8 I bought refurbished in 2000 or so.

I've read a lot of complaints that the Intuos 4 goes through nibs a lot faster than previous generations and that the screen texture wears out unevenly with use - something to consider. I haven't had to change my nib yet in 10 years of daily use with the Gen 1 because the tablet screen is very smooth. I'd love to upgrade to the Intuos 4, but the texture/nib issue concerns me.

drdiesel1 wrote in post #10625081
It has a circular finger touch control, but the main pad is controlled by the pen.

http://intuos.wacom.co​m …P2d-fCSkaMCFRxEgwodkjsHoQ

So the new Bamboo versions that do have the touch pad, is this considered better?
What makes the Intuos4 better than the Bamboo?

ChrisMc73 wrote in post #10625643
So the new Bamboo versions that do have the touch pad, is this considered better?
What makes the Intuos4 better than the Bamboo?

Pressure sensitivity. The scroll wheel, customization of the function buttons and radial menu, better software...

I tried the Bamboo Pen & Touch (1024 levels of press sens) for a week, then decided to just bite the bullet and go with the Intuos4 small. Well worth the extra cost, for all the reasons I listed above.

Pressure sensitivity, ok...gotcha, more important than the touch pad/gesture stuff...especially for photo editing...?

ChrisMc73 wrote in post #10626654
Pressure sensitivity, ok...gotcha, more important than the touch pad/gesture stuff...especially for photo editing...?

The pen function is the touch pad part of it. Touch pads like those on a laptop, are useless for photo edit work.
The Intuos 4 has the best pressure control of any tablet. You need at least CS4 to take advantage of it. The tablet really shines when using the brushes in CS4/5

Ok cool, thanks, I have CS5, does it work with LR3 and/or Aperture 3?

ChrisMc73 wrote in post #10626690
Ok cool, thanks, I have CS5, does it work with LR3 and/or Aperture 3?

I don't use that software, so I can't answer that question It might work with LR3 because it's an Adobe product.

It'll work.

I occasionally use a Wacom with LR2.7
I always use a Wacom with PS

Does it work with GIMP?

Why wouldn't it?
It's just a mouse-replacement...