New accessories.....Wow... first post in a year!

[LuisV]

Wow.... it's been a year since a post here. I'll mention two new toys I got this year that I think are great....

First is Wacom's new Intuos4 Tablet.

Amazing!.... I could leave it at that... but I'll give you some small tidbits that are great for me. First, is the sensitivity levels on the pens. Wacom double it to 2048 levels of sensitivity. I thought this was fluff but I was suprised to say that it does make a difference. For example, when you use the dodge and burn, sharpening, paint brush and/or other tools, the added sensitivity changes the "effect" of the brush as you work based on how hard you press down on the pen. You have more contorl than before. Another great change was the user interface changes. They have eight buttons and a jog wheel. These allow for great control without having to go to the keyboard all the time. The jog wheel can adjust brush size, zoom and scrolling, for example. It's great b/c it reduces my need to go back to the keyboard as much. Overall...... it's a great little device and it's cut my post processing time significantly.

Second is SanDisk's new Compact Flash (CF) memory cards. They released and began shipping the new Extreme and Extreme Pro cards last month. The Extreme (which basically replaces the Extreme III line) is impressive. It transfers data at 60MB/s or 400X. That's faster than any CF card from Lexar, Kingston, Delkin and/or Hoodman. Awesome. However, that is not the best which is crazy. The Extreme Pro is the new 90MB/s (most say it's faster but that's what SanDisk is putting on the box) or 600X cards. Amazing. I just got the set of cards I will be using now, 16GB Extreme Pros. They are clearly faster than what I had been using to date (Extreme III 8GB cards) but I have yet to see the full potential of the card. Right now the USB 2.0 standard cannot keep up with the cards. I have to wait on USB 3.0 or move to an Express Card reader. I don't think I'll wait on the USB 3.0.... LOL! Awesome. Best of all they are SanDIsk cards. I've been a SanDisk user for 10 years. I have yet to get so much as a hiccup. So with amazing reliability and now the fastest cards available... how can you go wrong!

[JohnQ]

I always wanted a tablet, although the one I played with seemed like it would take me long to get used to. Thats what probably stopped me from buying one. Does it take some time to learn?