|
By Oneslowz28 at 2009-12-03 16:37
|
Every graphic artist and photographer ranking from amateur to professional has heard of if not owns one of Wacom’s various graphic tablets. Personally I own 2 one of which I cover in this review. The Bamboo Pen and Touch is the latest offering from Wacom. This is not just an ordinary graphics tablet though. The Bamboo Pen & Touch has Multi Touch sensing as well as the usual pen capabilities. Continue reading here…
For years now I have been a loyal Wacom user. I started out on an Intuos4 Small and later upgraded to a Intuos4 Medium. Recently I have had the need for a graphics tablet that was small enough to fit in a laptop bag that could also double as a tracking pad. A quick Google search introduced me to Wacom’s Pen & Touch model. With an overall size of 9.8” x 6.9” and a mere 0.3” it was more than small enough to fit in my laptop bag. It had both pen and touch capabilities and the pen was battery free. The only thing it was lacking was tilt sensitivity in the pen. This was not a major problem as I rarely use that feature on my Intuos4 Medium.
Packaging
The Bamboo Pen & Touch came so well packaged that I had to mention it here.
The Pen & Touch arrived in a sleek mat finish box covered with a mat finished sleeve that highlights all of its features.
Upon removing the sleeve and opening the box I was pleasantly surprised at the level of protection wacom included in the packaging. The Tablet was wrapped in a piece of heavy paper to protect its surface and then placed inside a closed cell foam bag.
Placed under the Tablet are the driver CD, pen and bag with replacement pen tips. The pen was placed in a plastic sleeve then each end covered in a hard plastic tip.
Features and Specs.
Features- Two sensors for precise pen and Multi-Touch input
- Use a single finger for navigation and multiple fingers for gestures
- Simple gestures make it easy to scroll, zoom, rotate, move backward or forward
- Pressure-sensitive pen tip for natural pen and brush strokes
- Battery-free, ergonomic pen with two switches
- Textured work surface for a pen-on-paper feel
- Quick access to user-defined shortcuts with four ExpressKeys™
- Attached fabric pen loop conveniently stores pen
- Easy USB connection to Mac or PC, laptop or desktop
- Interactive tutorial helps you learn gestures and make the most of your Bamboo
- Included in the package with every Bamboo Pen & Touch:
- Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 7.0 Win/6.0 Mac for editing, retouching, enhancing and sharing digital photos
- Nik® Color Efex Pro™ 3.0 WE3 for selectively applying lighting and photo enhancements with the pen
Tablet Specifications
| Tablet Dimensions (WxH) | 9.8" x 6.9" (249mm x 175mm) | | Active Area - Touch (WxH) | 4.9" x 3.4" (124mm x 86mm) | | Active Area - Pen (WxH) | 5.8" x 3.6" (147mm x 91mm) | | Pressure Levels | 1024 | | Resolution | 2540 lpi | | Max Data Rate | 133 pps | | Accuracy | +/- .02 in (+/- 0.5 mm) | | Connectivity | Standard USB | | Orientation | Reversible for right- or left-handed users |
System Requirements- PC - Windows® 7, Vista® or XP with Service Pack 2
- Mac - Mac OS® X (10.4.8 or higher)
- Hardware - Also requires color display, powered USB port, and CD/DVD drive
Overview
The Bamboo Pen & Touch combines the benefits of a Multi-Touch interface with the level of precision we have come to expect from Wacom's ergonomically-designed pens. The result: a powerful input device with limitless possibilities for every one from every day PC users to the hard core graphic artist.
To use Multi-Touch, you use simple hand gestures and finger taps on the tablet's surface. Move around your desktop, scroll through documents, navigate the web, zoom in and out of photos, and rotate images with just your fingers. When a more precise approach is needed, simply pick up the pen and get to work making your next great masterpiece.
I tested the Pen & Touch on 2 machines: My photo editing machine (specs here) that runs XP and my Sony Vaio Laptop (specs here) that runs Vista. I wanted to test it on a Windows 7 Install but at the time of publication my copy of Windows 7 had not yet arrived. I will post a follow up as soon as I get windows 7 up and running. Testing was done in Adobe Photoshop CS3 and CS4.
Setting up the Bamboo Pen & Touch was as simple as popping the driver CD into my drive and following the directions that popped up on my screen. The only things I did not install were the copies of Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 and Nic Color Effects Pro 3.0 that came with the tablet. I only had to make minor adjustments to the tablets settings to mirror the settings I am accustomed to with my Intuos4. One quick note I would like to add is that I keep my tower to the right of my monitor and with the Pen & Touch in “right hand” mode the cable was getting in the way. A simple solution was to set the tablet to “left hand” mode and use it with my right hand. It still works the same , just corrects the pad to screen orientation.
The pen was comfortable and just the right weight. Some graphic tablet pens I have held over the years were far too light for my taste. Wacom seems to get their pens perfect every time. The buttons on the pen provided quick access to the Undo and pen size features in Photoshop. The best feature pen has is that it requires no batteries. That saves forgetful people like me tons of frustration as I can just pack the pen and touch in my laptop bag and take it with me on long trips and never have to worry about finding a dead pen when I need it the most.
Conclusion
Wacom's Bamboo Pen & Touch is the perfect graphics tablet for the everyday user as well as the artist looking for something portable. The implementation of multi-touch sensing is exciting and I can not wait to get Windows 7 installed so I can make full use of it. The pen is almost as sensitive as my Intuos4 Medium's pen and there is no awkwardness moving from a large surface area to the smaller working area of the Bamboo Pen & Touch. I have and will continue recommending the Bamboo Pen &Touch to everyone who is interested in an entry level graphics tablet. I am giving it a rating of 5/5 because I could not find anything I did not like about it.
You can purchase the Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch from the Wacom eStore for under $100 or from Newegg.com for $90.
Other reviews you may like:
|
|
|
