I mouse with a hand in pain..wear and tear from my profession has taken a toll.  I wonder if the accuracy of a tablet like the Wacom will be useful in photo editing.   

It is easy to see how the pressure tablets allow more accuracy than a mouse and I can write better than I can mouse nowadays.

If anyone has experience using the tablets in photo editing let me know. I have no clue whatsoever on this; I have never used a tablet and know likely nothing about those things.

Thanks.     TomDart.

Hello,

The best advice I can give you is to test before you buy.
A tablet is a "must-have" for  photo retouching but ... it depends the feelings you will have.
It asks some techniques and practising.

Some effects can't be achieve without a pressure sensitive tablet 'cause you have better control ( over transparency or brush size, useful for "layer masking" ).
And with a tablet, the Pen tool becomes magic ( especially with the control pads on intuos 3 series )

And I won't make advertising here but Wacom is offering the best quality and ergonomics.
I have an old Art Pad II ( still working ) and an Intuos 3 A4-Size. And perhaps I will go for the new Cintiq 12Wx to have the "direct paint on screen" feeling.

But again, try to test one or 2  models before buying ( A5 size is quite enough for photo retouching ,,,  )

Hope that will help you.

Aegy

Aegy, I do respect your thoughts on the pressure tablets.  My use would be for fine detail touch up and such.  Thank you for mentioning the qualities you have considered in the ones you have used. This is a very useful reply and great thankyou.        Tom.

I wouldnt want to have to edit with out one, I have a wacom intuos3 and love it. Like Aegy said I would try one out first as they can be frustrating at first and cost alot to find out you dont like it. Also while wacom does fully support their tablets with vista I still have issues from time to time with the driver failing to load and needing to be reloaded, other than that I love my pad and dream of the day I can afford to work with a CintiQ.

Ok, now a simple newbie question..so if I get one, how does that interact with the mouse used for general computer use?  Connections? Anything special to need here?
   Thanks.       Tom.

It requires only a free usb port. That's all. ( for intuos, bamboo series, cintiq ones need extra power of course )
With some models you will receive a extra wireless mouse ( no batteries needed ).

If you take the trick, you won't use a mouse anymore. ( you will find it too "slow"  ). It's faster to point and click with a stylus in your hand.

Aegy.

Quote - It requires only a free usb port. That's all. ( for intuos, bamboo series, cintiq ones need extra power of course )
With some models you will receive a extra wireless mouse ( no batteries needed ).

If you take the trick, you won't use a mouse anymore. ( you will find it too "slow"  ). It's faster to point and click with a stylus in your hand.

Aegy.

Agreed I havent used a "real" mouse since getting my tablet so much faster, once you get used to it.

I am generally quick with learning curves..maybe this is the way to go.  Amazon has the A5 or I suppose 6 x 8 for about $50 less than Wacom shows..

I feel my credit card walking down the hall toward me at this very moment.  Then again, try it first. Good suggestion but around here there is little choice in where to actually try the tablet.       Tom.

oh Tom, the other thing O forgot to mention is the bigest factore on what size tablet to gt will be how you like to work, in small strokes or long strokes. The larger the tablet the longer your strokes will need to be to cover the same distance on the image as if you were using a smaller tablet. for me I use a 4x6 as it is perfect for me my hands were not steady enough for the larger tablets.

viper, I believe considering the area I acutally use for my laser mouse, a 6 x8 would be a tad larger and large enough. Thanks for the heads up on size.

Tom, you're going to love it and wonder how & why you ever lived without it!!!
I didn't find a place to try mine I just went with Margana/Marlene's high recommendation!!!!! Sounds like quite a few folks already have them & love them!!!!!  Let us know what you think after a month of getting used to it!  Akemi

As suspected, it took a day to make the trip from wallet to the pc but my credit card did come down the hall to this little office/ironing room.  A faint voice was saying "need" over an over!  Knowing soon I truly needed the tablet and that is so much more valid than only wanting something, it is to be shipped on the 22nd of this month.

It will be sometime in February for me to report back as to how I like it.  I got the Intuos3, 6x8.   The price was good compared to other places and worth a few days extra wait.  After all, I don't really know yet what I am missing.

All the fine input is very much appreciated.      Tom.

I have the same and I'm shure you will love it!.
An extra is that using the pen is better for your elbows and wrists than a mouse, which becomes more important when, like you and me, you're older than twenty five.

I have the Wacom Intuos 3  wide version. Whereas a mouse is somewhat erratic, this is superb for the finer details in editing and processing.

Humm..experience has spoken here and it looks like I ordered what I will need.

I got my tablet today and have used it about 30 mins. This is Wacom Intuos3, 6 x 8..   First thing is I did not realize how small an area I had used with a mouse. For the time being, I have remapped the tablet to a smaller size until I get used to it.

Second thing, maybe I have not found the answer in the help stuff but zoom in Photoshop CS2 has been a real problem with the "strips" on the tablet sides.  I can zoom but cannot keep the position of the zoom. Move finger from the strip and it zooms to max.  Can someone tell me how to better use this feature or if using the pen and choosing the zoom in CS2 would be better.

Also, scrolling in my mail (outlook express) simply does not work.  The pen will not grab the bar and scroll or work with the up/down arrows. All jumps right back to where it was.  I may have some fixes to do with set up which I don't yet understand.

As for doing selections in Photoshop, this thing is a dream come true...I just have to get used to the pen instead of the mouse.

Thanks for any input.  Beginner tablet user..Tom.  : )