My husband completely surprised me for Christmas by getting me the Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet, size small. I was floored. Never mind that I don't have the full version of Photoshop yet. Unfortunately I haven't opened it since I'm afraid the small might be too small. I don't really do a lot of editing in PS, but part of that is because I'm not too handy with a mouse and I've been waiting to get a tablet. We use a 24" screen for most of our editing. Should I just keep the small and save the money for something else? Or should I suck it up and get the medium tablet?
Deb,
It might be good for you to ask this question in another forum or two here. I have seen a number of posts regarding Wacom tablet sizes and use in "Post-processing and Printing" as well as "General Gear Talk". There are usually good replies from members who have experience with the equipment first hand.
I have a bamboo small and am really happy with it. It depends on how you draw though. For me I really don't like to have to move my whole arm so the small size allows me to cover the whole screen with just small accurate wrist movements. I find that if I have to move my whole arm then I become a lot less accurate so I actually prefer the small. Enjoy!
Alex -- thanks -- I'm tempted to keep it. I've read in some reviews that the medium is best if you're doing really large prints or using your entire screen. I also want to save the money and use it for some future gear. Hmmm.
Cal - I'll look at the post processing forum. Thanks!
Deb, remember you can zoom in so print size really shouldn't matter. With a tablet the tablet maps to the display area. So it really depends on how much you want to be able to move a pen to make the cursor move from the top of your screen to the bottom (I should also add that I have a 24" screen and a 13.3" laptop and use mine on both). If i were you I'd be tempted to take it very carefully out of the box and just have a play with it.
Hey Deb,
When I worked as a designer, I used a Wacom about 4 hours/day. The one I had was huge, like a 12x12 or 15x15 or something...
I would say that I used about 8"x10" pretty consistently and would have felt cramped by something smaller. I'm not really sure what the sizes are, but that's about the size I'd recommend.
P.S. I was using it in the 'mouse' mode, not in the 'match the display' mode.
Haha -- thanks so much Alex! I've become computer illiterate in the past few years (I used to program -- how do I know so little now?) -- I may just try that idea. I'm thinking I should stick with small. But maybe I'll play just a bit to see! I think the medium would be close to the 8x10 size. I'll try mine out and then see if I need to upgrade. Thanks!
(of course we all realize Tony is also 6'5"!)
Anyone having trouble loading FM on their computers? Every mid-morning through the evening I can't really load the website.
Not sure if you came to a conclusion or not but I would suggest a step up in size. The bamboo is excellent for travel however for masking and such on a 24 inch screen a 6x8 (maybe its 6x11 I forget what the wide screen format is) would be much better. Especially if you get into using something like Corel Painter. I've used many tablets and the 6 x whatever it is is usually the best size to go with (in my opinion).
mmm don't know how I can help but generally it really depends on the use you're going to give it. If you think it's worth the $70 upgrade then absolutely go for it because you'll regret it later on. If you think you'll regret spending $70 more later on then don't go for it because it means you can settle with the $99 one. That type of thinking helps me in my buying decision crisis moments
Since you're working with a relatively large screen, I'd go with the medium size. What's nice about Wacom is that you can later choose to scale the pad such that you can define a smaller working area and that becomes your active space so in effect if you find that you gravitate to using the smaller space you can do that with the larger pad. The other factor you should consider if how often you travel or intend to carry it around, the smaller one is obviously easier to fit and move around if need be.
About the resizing thing I mentioned above, I know this is true for the Wacom Intuos line so you may need to read the fine prints on their website to see if this is true on their other models such as the bamboo line.
FWIW, I use a 6x8 Intuos and may pick up a bamboo small just for travel. You'll love it no matter which one you choose, it'll open up so many new possibilities and ways of doing things.
Honestly, I wouldn't worry about size. If you're going to step up from the small Bamboo Fun, I'd move directly to the Intuos. Of course, if you're not sure that it's your thing, there's no point in moving up.
I use the small Bamboo Fun at home and an Intuos3 6x8 at work. I prefer the Intuos for a good number of reasons, but the Bamboo does a great job for masking in Lightroom/PS and normal day to day work.
As other people have mentioned, the size is fine when you zoom, and since you have the finger zoom right at the top of the tablet it's easy to do.
Tear it open, slap on the drivers and go to it. Once you're comfortable with it, have an actual copy of Photoshop, and so on, consider all the factors of moving up (the half sensitivity of the Bamboo series being just as serious as the size). You can always sell it on here and recoup some of the cost.
Thanks for all the advice! I did plug it in, and tried it out. Love it. I have it mapped to both of my screens right now - which is a bit much, but I think that I'll keep it that way until I work in photoshop. Then I can simply map to my big screen or just a small portion of the screen. I'm in agreement with jbarket where if I want to get into major tablet use, I'll probably move up into something more "mature." The tablet sure is fun, though. I also have very, very limited desk space, and it fits perfectly next to my keyboard in the keyboard drawer. So I think the space/price considerations make it the current winner. Thanks y'all!
I have a 4x6 right now and it works well enough for me. I had the opportunity to try out a friend's 9x12 (he does computer animation work) and it was way too big for photo work. For photo editing a think a smaller size works well enough for burning/dodging and some other edits. Plus you don't need to move your arm around a whole lot, which got tiring. I would think that a larger size would work better for Illustrator/animation/sketching where precise control is required.
