Have you seen the new Wacom tablet?

These things were all the rage with the photographers at the Photoshop World in Vegas.  I was completely oblivious to this technology and product until I was introduced to them at this conference.  Every photographer there seemed to have one.  Perhaps it was because they were given to them for free by Wacom (for product testing of course… I’m just guessing), or perhaps because they were just plain cool.

Think of this thing as a mouse.  But instead of a mouse, it’s a pen.  So if you’re doing Photoshop, this tool is super cool.  Using the tablet (mouse pad), you apply your pen to the tablet and you can use your Photoshop tools to apply your adjustments with a fine point.  Forget the days of chasing your mouse curser around the screen.  By merely applying more pressure you get more affect, or less pressure.. less affect.  You can get those fine hairs or into those small corners to apply your adjustments (brightness, clarity, exposure, etc.), instead of waving your mouse around.  The back of the pen is an eraser.  Cool, right?!  It also has programmable buttons for quick access.

They even have devices you can draw directly on the photo itself.  These are more like laptop devices.. and much  more expensive.  For me, I’m not about to give up my 27″ desktop screen.  But, I am happy to try one of these beauties.  It’s going on my Christmas list!