So for the past week I've done work experience with Channel 7 in Melbourne, & on thursday I was with the Graphics department. I was tasked with designing a story graphic about a bloke who killed himself by wrapping his car around a pole. I completed it too & it was used. My ten seconds of fame. Anyway, back on topic here, to do this I used a Graphics Tablet & I absolutely loved it. So my general question is, which is the best graphics tablet for a decent price? I'm interested in getting one for Xmas. Cheers.
I recently bought an Intuos3 on ebay. I got a great deal on it at about $150, otherwise it would be considerably more expensive. I wanted to go with an Intuos4 but i'm not happy with the nib wear issues as well as the mini-usb fragility problems. I have a tablet that is good and best of all sturdy and doesn't have nib wear. Haven't used it a tremendous amount yet though... The problem with the Intuos3 is that if you try to buy them new, they're more expensive or the same price as the Intuos4... but if you're lucky you can find a lightly used one on ebay for a decent price... 150-240
>Enter thread >See Raz's post >Look for the term "nib wear" >Leave I have a Graphire 3 and it's still good to this day.
I used a refurbished 5x7 (or whatever) Intuos 2 for like, seven years, until it literally fell into pieces. It worked fine even after it broke, too, it just needed a lot of tape. My recommendation depends a lot on what you'd be using it for and how often you'll use it, since even a small Graphire is fine for many people. That said, I really do prefer the Intuos 4 over the Intuos 3. The surface has more friction and it's easier to control line work if you draw with it at all, and the scroll wheel is just quicker to use and more convenient than that strip the Intuos 3 has. The right nibs with any tablet can help a lot, and I think the best ones are the flex nibs (the black ones with the white tips that feel like pencil tips but wear out quickly). Also, medium is usually the best size. It's big enough that you're not crammed into a small space, but I think the large is unnecessarily large for a non-cintiq tablet.
My Grapphire 3 XL has just broken. After about 6 years of good service. Will be looking to buy a new tablet. Saw a Bamboo in a store today. Haven't read anything about it, but it also has touch input. Used my housemate's Intuos 3 for a few hours after it broke, and it was disappointingly superior. It's quicker and smoother, but it's bigger.
Ive never seen the new Bamboo ones in person, so I can't say from experience, but it doesnt have tilt-sensitivity so if you're going to do painting that will kind of suck. Probably perfect for just image editing though. The new versions might suffer from the same problems as the Intuos4 though, so you may want to google a bit to see if it does.
Lol, I never enable newfangled tilt sensitivity when I'm painting. I could see it being an issue if you're simulating Chinese calligraphy in Photoshop or something.
To be honest I don't think I'll be using it for overly artistic purposes, maybe some image editing (as you said) & general use in place of my mouse.