Using a tablet takes a bit of time to get used to. Drawing while looking somewhere else is a challenge for some, but after a few hours it becomes second nature. Because the pen is pressure sensitive, you can adjust how strong the adjustment is - if you’re painting, you can go from a light thin line to a heavy one just by pressing a bit harder. While painting might not sound like something you’d do with a digital photo, consider a mask where you want to control the opacity of an adjustment like color - a light touch will give you a subtle change while a harder press will give you a stronger change. In the example here, I’ve boosted the vibrancy of the red rocks while masking out the foreground and sky.

You’ll find the pen very useful for making selections as well. Here I’ve made a selection of this mushroom. Yes, I could have done it with a mouse, but it would have taken much longer and been less accurate. If you make an error, just select erase and clean it up. Here is one area that the Intuos Pro line has an advantage - the pen can be flipped over to erase without selecting a tool in your editing application. But, this is also a great candidate for a custom ExpressKey setting - tap the ExpressKey and you’re in Erase mode. If you’re really set on have the eraser function in the pen, you can buy an optional pen from Wacom for $30. Given the target user for this tablet, I’d prefer to see this pen as the standard one included.

Conclusion

The Intuos line is also a bit more feature restricted than the Pro line. For example, the pen has 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity vs the 2048 found in the Pro model. Will you notice the difference? Not likely. I certainly haven’t in my photo editing. The Pro line is also available in more sizes. I find the Intuos Photo to be the perfect size for throwing in my bag to take along with me. For use in the studio, I like the larger surface of the Pro, and I prefer the shape of the pen on the Pro more. But, for a $200 difference in price, these are minor quibbles. The software bundles alone are worth more than the cost of the tablet!

I’m not going to touch (pardon the pun) on the Touch features of the tablet. They support whatever touch functionality you have in Windows or Mac OS, as well as features like rotation of the canvas in applications that support it.

Bottom line, if you’re looking to improve your editing kit, like the idea of a trackpad as well, and you’re on a budget, you can’t go wrong with the Intuos Photo Pen and Touch tablet.

Ratings (out of 5)
Features	3.5
Ease-of-use	4
Value for money	4.5

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