So now that I’ve taken on photography as a hobby I’ve found myself spending money on all sorts of things. I love my camera (a Nikon D40), lens (a Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens), Photoshop CS3 (particularly the RAW editor), and my flickr account but I have to say that one of my favorite purchases so far was the Wacom Graphire4 6″x8″ tablet!

I have been eyeing the Wacom tablets for quite some time but until getting into photography and having software that would actually benefit from the pen I could never justify the purchase. Now that I have Photoshop justifying the purchase was easy. All I can say now is that I’m glad I bought the tablet and honestly wish I had done so sooner.

Using the pen interface instead of the mouse just feels right. Sure, it took a little getting used to but the adjustment time was minimal. I’ve only had the tablet for a day and I already find myself using it more effectively than a mouse. Everything just seems easier and more natural with the pen.

I’ve noticed that I don’t just get the benefit from using applications like Photoshop but all applications. Choosing cells in Excel is easier, scrolling web pages or Word documents is easier. Dragging files and folders seems more natural. In general, work just seems easier with the pen.

After having used the pen and tablet interface I’d recommend it to anyone.