XtremeCamera

The Wacom graphics tablet has been around for many years, and in the beginning it was a tool that digital illustrators could not live without. Now that virtually 100% of photography is digital and the darkroom is now a computer running (most probably) Adobe software, the Wacom tablet is now one of the most important tools a digital photographer can own.

Careful use of a Wacom tablet can make the difference between an acceptable photograph and an exceptional photograph, with a few small strokes of the pen. Even if you wind up using the tablet for simple dodging and burning in Photoshop you’ve invested well. The thing is, once you adopt the tablet and pen as your input device of choice you’ll begin using it for everything and your post-production work will show tremendous improvements in ways you never thought of. I know this to be true because during the month of November I learned to use a tablet and pen from Wacom, and I am here to tell you that my tablet is best investment I’ve made in my own photography in quite a while.

A Tablet and Digital Photography

Before I get to my review of the Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch I want to write a bit about how much impact a good tablet can have on your photography. I’ve been a working professional for more than a dozen years and yet never bothered to learn how to use a pen and tablet. I was happy with the mouse despite the fact that I could never get truly precise with a mouse. That all changed when I started working with a tablet and discovered that precision is easy with the right tool.



Because our computers are now our darkrooms all of our post-production work is done not in the dark but on a monitor, with input coming from our fingers on a keyboard and mouse, or a tablet. We use software for dodging and burning, for bringing out highlights, for contrast work, for masking, for painting, for a hundred other things. Everything we do with Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom we can do using the Bamboo Pen & Touch.

Professionals and prosumers shoot most of their photos using the RAW format and RAW is perfect for the pen and tablet. With Photoshop or Lightroom and a pen and tablet we are able to make minute adjustments exactly where we need them. If we want to make a models eye ‘pop’ more or use the ‘heal’ brush to fix a blemish, the pen and tablet allows you to make these kinds of ‘fixes’ very precisely and accurately. No more fidgeting with your mouse in order to get in close and fix only those areas that need work.



Wacom makes several tablets and they run the gamut in prices, from $69 to almost $900. Obviously there are advantages to owning a more expensive tablet and to be honest I just might move up the Wacom line as I become more experienced with using a Pen and Tablet instead of a mouse. But for now, for the work I do in photography and post-production the Bamboo Pen & Touch are perfect.

The Bamboo Pen & Touch Review

XtremeCamera was fortunate enough to work with Wacom in reviewing two of its tablets, the Bamboo Pen & Touch ($149) and the Intruos4 Medium ($349), in this review I will give you the lowdown on Wacom’s Bamboo Pen & Touch and in a few days Steven will publish his review of the Intruos4.

The Wacom Bamboo line is the consumer line of tablets and are very affordable input devices that can fit just about every budget. From the ‘Bamboo Pen’ for $69, the Bamboo ‘Touch’, also $69, the Pen & Touch for $99, the Bamboo Fun for $199, and lastly the Bamboo Craft for $129. As a photographer I chose the Bamboo Pen & Touch because of having access to both Pen and Multi-Touch abilities sounded like the best combination for my needs.

It is astonishing how accurate your work in Photoshop can be when you relinquish the mouse in favor of a tablet and pen. The degrees of accuracy are in the ‘orders of magnitude’ over using a mouse. Wacom’s new Bamboo Pen & Touch offers accuracy and sensitivity never before available in the Bamboo line, and provides some amazing Multi-Touch technology that allows you to use simple hand gestures and finger taps on the tablet’s textured surface to get your work done faster and smarter than ever before.



With Multi-Touch technology built into the tablet you can use a single finger for navigation and multiple fingers for sophisticated gestures like scrolling, zoom, rotate, and move backward and forward. If you have experience with Multi-Touch with your laptop using the Bamboo Pen & Touch will be a simple process, but even if you’ve never used touch controls before it should take very little practice to master them.



As for the pen part of the Pen & Touch, the pressure sensitive pen (1024 levels) is extremely accurate and extremely comfortable to use. The battery-free, ergonomically designed pen even provides two switches that you can program to your liking, such a ‘single click’ and ‘double click’. Despite the very affordable $99 price tag the pen feels and works as well as the pens that come with the more expensive tablets. I was delighted with the professional feel of the pen and the Multi-Touch controls were a blast to use.



The tablet has a textured work surface so that you get a pen-on-paper feel when you’re working. This tactile feedback relaxes your mind while making it feel as though what you are doing is one of the most natural things you can do. The Bamboo line is reversible, meaning that right hand and left hand users can use the tablet in the same way. The entire tablet is 9.8 inches by 6.9 inches with an active work area of 4.9” by 3.4” (Touch) and 5.8” by 3.6” (Pen). The tablet has an amazing 1024 levels of pressure, and a resolution of 2540 lpi.



Wacom’s ExpressKeys have been improved for even better access to user-defined shortcuts. I’ll admit that I did not avail myself of the ExpressKeys during the review process, although I did go through Wacom’s tutorials and I can assure you that once I begin my next photography project for the stock house I work for I will be creating several shortcuts in order to same time and get the work done. I’ll write about it when the time comes.



The Bamboo Pen & Touch is a USB driven tablet that attaches to a Mac or PC. It is perfect for laptop users like myself or desktop users since the USB cable is long, thin, and easy to get out of your way. I use mine on my MacBook Pro running Mac OS X 1.6.2 Snow Leopard without any issues. It is also compatible with Windows 7, Vista or XP.



If you’re looking for a great Christmas gift for the digital photography in your life I can think of nothing more affordable or more useful than the Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch. Every photographer that uses a digital camera also uses a computer and software, and a Bamboo tablet from Wacom will make that experience a real pleasure.



As an added bonus when you buy a Bamboo Pen & Touch you get, included in the box, Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 for Windows, and version 6 for Mac. In addition you also get one of the best, if not the best, Photoshop plug-in, NIK software Color Efex 3.0 WE3.



You can pick up a Bamboo Pen & Touch through Amazon or directly through Wacom’s online store.

Before you buy I recommend that you pay a visit to Wacom’s terrific website where you can watch several tutorial videos, read other reviews, and to browse through the various models. Wacom did a fantastic job on their website, so check it out.



My Personal Bottom Line:

I am hard to please when it comes to buying anything. In this economic climate I’ve become even worse, if that is at all possible. I want value for my money and I want to make sure that what I buy not only lasts, but also adds to what I do. I just don’t like spending money unless it is going to do a lot for my work and myself. With respect to spending the money on a Wacom tablet, specifically the Bamboo Pen & Touch I can tell you that I have never used a tool that improved my work as much as the Bamboo. Being able to use all of what my software offers me in a way that applies the work to exactly where I need it, a tablet is worth its weight in gold. Using the Bamboo Pen & Touch was something I should have taken up a long time ago, and now that I have I do not plan to start a postproduction project without one.



If you do post-production work on your digital photos then investing in a Wacom tablet is one of the smartest ways to spend your money. Trust me on this, I know it is.



Visit Wacom today and get that digital photography in your life something he/she really wants, the Bamboo Pen & Touch.



Julia Barnes