Bamboo Capture Pen Tablet (CTH470)

I bought this tablet for my Graphics Design class in college. We have some Wacom Intuos 4 in the graphics lab, I really enjoyed using it for Illustrator and InDesign assignments, so I wanted one for my own use. This is definitely not an Intuos, but it is really good. Since I only have used Intuos for about three weeks before buying the Capture, there aren't any feature that I miss (except the smaller size, but more on that later). Some reviewers mentioned lack of eraser as a big deal, maybe because I never used it on Intuos, I don't miss it at all. Erasers are only a shortcut key away anyways. Maybe for a full time designer that spend 10+ hours with their tablets, an eraser a big deal, but for casual users it's totally fine. Tablet size is enough for casual/non-professional use. Be aware that not all of the gray surface in the pictures is usable, about 75% of the total area. It is clearly marked by lines on the edges of the working rectangle. Speaking about the size of tablet, the screen size should also be taken into consideration. I use the Capture on my 16" laptop, and I feel that's a good combination. We have 27" iMacs in the graphics lab, so using Intuos 4 would make more sense on those huge screens. I'm sure even with smaller screens, bigger tablets = more precision = better results, but once again, for beginners, Capture's area is big enough. This tablet allows me to make some decent drawings on Illustrator. Using a tablet doesn't enhance your drawing skills, but it is definitely much better than drawing with a mouse. There's a learning curve to it, but it's not impossibly difficult. I read a lot of Wacom users complain about the nib wear on the latest generation of Wacom tablets. I haven't used it long enough to comment on nib wear, but it doesn't seem to be used at all after two weeks of use. Perhaps I just don't use it as much as those hard-core design enthusiasts. I like having the 'paper-like feel' drawing surface, but personally I don't like that feel when I'm using it for InDesign layout purposes. I'd rather have more 'glide' on the surface. So I bought a clear plastic folder, cut a tablet-sized piece and taped it over my Capture. It glides around easier (and perhaps saves the nib from wearing out too quickly). The folder only cost me 50 cents. Also, if I need to have that paper-like feel for precision drawing, I'll just remove the plastic cover and re-tape it afterwards. If you want to do so, use a low-tack tape to prevent tape residue build up on the tablet surface. For me, the biggest advantage of using a tablet is less fatigue on your wrists. When you're clicking and dragging a lot, such as when you're doing page layout in InDesign, using a tablet will be much easier on your wrists, and also much more precise. The multi-touch feature is a nice addition to the tablet; sometimes I use it for browsing. I still need to practice the multi-touch gestures, such as flick and scroll up/down, but so far I found the scroll and zoom feature really helpful when I browse. I didn't buy the tablet to use it as a full time track pad, but for me it is an useful extra feature. Overall, I'd highly recommend this tablet if you're a beginner / early enthusiast of digital graphics design. Or if you're looking for a giant trackpad. If you are a serious enthusiast, perhaps you'd like to consider Bamboo Create (a bigger version of Capture) or Intuos.

I first got this tablet for more convenience and also digitalize my writing/pictures. First off, the shipping with amazon prime was amazing fast and I received it in a very short 2 days. My first impression was that the capture was much bigger than i expected, which was nice. Everything was in wonderful condition as well. The product itself is very sleek, light, and clean. The pen feels very good and the contact with the tablet surface is great in imitating the pencil-on-paper feel. The tablet is very responsive, and contrary to some reviews, the touch seems to be a major benefactor for me. Although i have only used the tablet for about an hour, the overall feel and results have been amazing. I tested the artistic aspect in paint tool SAI which worked great, although there is a slight learning curve. The pressure sensitivity and response never ceases to amaze me. If there is anything i would say that i disliked, it would be the long set up time (it may be because I'm still running on windows XP ^^') and how if you press too gently, the stroke will not connect. Overall, I am definitely satisfied and I hope it lasts, as many reviews complain about the durability and usb port. There is a slight wiggle area for the port, but i have dropped the tablet (on carpet, if it matters lol) directly on the wire-to-port area while it was connected, and the tablet seems fine. If you are an aspiring/emerging artist/photo editor, or just want this product as a digital writing tool, this product is great and perfect in its performance to price ratio. EDIT (1 week later): The tablet seems to be working fine. However, I no longer use Bamboo dock and instead just use the customizable pop-up menu that you can set to a pen button. I have experienced problems when the touch randomly staying frozen in Paint Tool SAI, while the pen works absolutely fine. TIP: Just in case if the cord-to-tablet connection accumulates more wiggle space, you can just wrap scotch tape around the connector (not directly on the metal lols) a few times and it fits nicely into the the rectangular slot. The wiggle is completely gone. Don't use too much tape, or the connector won't fit. I also made a little pen stand out of bottle caps because the fabric loop was a bit tight and annoying, but this problem is minor compared to the cord wiggle, which could permanently damage the tablet. Hope this helps :)

I got the pad with the idea of making use of the Windows 7 multitouch gestures, and also possibly making it my main pointing device for the computer I was making. I bought the pad, and the wireless conversion kit. I think the usb cord is a bit short... long enough to reach a really close desk, but yeah. I had some problems getting the wireless to work, but after those were ironed out, I put it thru the paces. The multitouch gestures work fine, and the pad is very responsive to them. A successive thump of two fingers for right clicking, a two fingered slide for scrolling... those are the ones that I use the most and they work great the first time I hit them, everytime for the most part. The right click gesture sometimes gets confused with the rotate picture one but I learned that its more of a timing issue, so its fine. The buttons on the side are for manual clicking things, and the top ones can be set to do things, but I havent played with that quite yet. I havent used the pen to do art and photo editing stuff yet either, but another part of why I bought it is that you get a free copy of Photoshop Elements and some other programs with it. Really couldnt beat that, getting a program I was planning on buying anyway with the pad I was buying. Anyway I did test the pen, and I like how it has that real pen resisting paper feel to it. I dont know how long it will take to wear down the tips but I think the 3 extra that it comes with will last me for quite sometime. One of the only things that I don't like is the fact that the effective area of the pad is smaller than the actual size of the touch surface. There are little bounding box brackets on each corner so you can look down to see the effective area, but you only know when you have left it while looking at the screen when the cursor stops moving. I would be fine with the actual pad being shrunk down to be only as big around as the effective area and the buttons without the useless border thing, or if the effective area was expanded to fit the whole pad. Even without such drastic changes, making a raised line or some bumps around the boarder of the effective area would be fine too. Pen or finger, not knowing where the outline is till you cross it isn't so good. And so dear tablet, you are hereby docked one star for not being clear about where my fingers should and should not go. ^_^ Secretly though I got his thing to add to the fun of playing the Majong game that comes with Win7. Touching the tiles to clear them makes that fun game more fun, yep.

Yes to Graphics, Maybe to Sketchup, No to Autocad. I decided that I needed to purchase a graphics tablet during the last week of December while I was working on my portfolio. The deadline for submission was the Jan 3 and I was creating diagrams and graphics for my submission. The realization occurred after I spent 5 hours trying to diagram a site plan with a mouse when the same graphic could have been accomplished under an hour using a graphics tablet. Thus, I began my search for a graphics tablet. The first brand I went to was Wacom. I recently saw some of these fancy LCD and I noticed that they just released a new line of tablets so I decided to take the plunge. I initially decided to purchase the larger version (Wacom Bamboo Create) with the bigger equals better mentality; however, I was quick to realize that it was way too big. For a size comparison, it was approximately the same size as my 13 inch Macbook Pro, maybe even wider. I sent it back to Amazon and got the smaller version. I've been using the tablet for a few days and the Wacom Capture is great. I am running a late-2009 13 inch Macbook Pro with 8 gigs of ram. The OS I am using is Windows 7 via Bootcamp. The size of the tablet is approximately the size of a sheet of 8.5x11 inch paper with a drawing area of something like a small Moleskin book. The finish and feel is kind of luxurious and it really took me by surprise. When I unboxed it, I was in awe of how nice it felt from a piece of hardware. Very impressive. The first thing I did after unboxing it was go to the Wacom website and download the latest software and drivers for the Create. I didn't even bother opening up the included CDs since I never use the free software with any of the things I buy. I installed both of the available downloads from the site and then proceeded to restart the computer. Everything went smoothly and then I plugged in the tablet. It registered and off I went. I adjusted some of the settings in the Windows' Control Panel and including settings that another reviewer mentioned regarding the response. I restarted again so everything is registered and working fine. The first 15 to 20 minutes of using it, I was completely thrown off. I was just shifting the pen over the tablet and it kept selecting things. If the pen is touching the tablet, it selects things. If it is hovering over the active area on the tablet, it moves the pointer. Tapping on the pen would signify a click and holding it down for a while will active the `right-click' menu. The initial setup of the tablet is aligned to the screen of the computer. Click the top corner of the active tablet area will cause the point on the screen to jump to the respective location on the screen. This was immensely annoying because I was not accustomed to it. I recommend switching the tablet to "Mouse" mode instead of "Pen" for the initial use to get acquainted to the new tablet. The option can be found at the "Bamboo Preferences" via "Pop Up Menu." After getting a taste of the tablet, I opened up Photoshop and started making lines and marks on a blank piece of paper. It's pretty responsive and it worked really well. I then proceeded to test it on Illustrator. It was fantastic. I was able to create diagrams and draw things very accurately. Both CS4 Photoshop and Illustrator worked flawlessly with no noticeable lag. I then opened up a blank Word document and started drawing on it. There was a good chunk of lag probably because it was not meant to handle drawing data efficiently. For graphics, this tablet is effective and works efficiently. Being a student and intern architect, I spend a ton of my time using AutoCAD, Sketchup and Revit when I am not creating or editing graphics. I started off by testing out AutoCAD with it, and then Revit. I find the tablet struggling with it. I didn't seem to find any additional lag while I was using the tablet in both of these performance intensive software; however, I did end up spending way too more time doing the simplest things on the tablet. The biggest issue/nightmare in CAD drafting or building a model is not having the 3rd mouse button with a scroll wheel. Zooming in and out of areas and objects takes forever. It's like drafting with a touchpad for those who have tried it - It's not fun at all. In the end, I spent more time zooming in and out of the drawings/model than I did creating content. I haven't figured out a good way to navigate in these two programs, but with practice I can see how this is tolerated if the tablet was to be used. For Sketchup, I think this tablet works significantly better than compared to AutoCAD and Revit. The reason for this is due how Sketchup operates. I've set one of my keys on the Wacom pen as the "Middle" button, allowing me to pan across the screen relatively easily. Despite this, however, the tablet still suffers the limitations of zooming in and out. All these programs work, but not that well compared to a 3-Button mouse with a scroll wheel. Also, use "Mouse" model for these software will make your life significantly easier. Summary: If you're working in the building design profession and produce a lot of graphics work, you should get this tablet. It will save a ton of time. If you only do technical drawings and don't do graphics often, stick with the 3 button scrolling mouse be completed faster. Notes: - As the other reviewers mentioned, the cord for the tablet is short. It's about 5 feet long I think. If this is a problem, you can always buy a longer cable or reuse an old one. It uses a micro USB cable and a longer cable is pretty cheap. - I am right handed and 95% of my typing is done with my left hand. I feel very awkward and out of place when I the tablet is next to the right side of my mac. It creates a gap between my laptop keyboard, the cables from the tablet, and tablet that is fairly wide. Since I need access to my keyboard 90% of the time, I decided to make this gap between the tablet and my keyboard as small as possible. I decided that the most ergonomic and efficient position is to flip the orientation of the tablet. In other words, change the settings to "Left Handed". This way, the gap between keyboard and tablet is very minimal. - There is no eraser on the opposite end of the pen and there is no need for it. I find it easier to just set a button as "Eraser" and clicking on the button when the need arises. It's much faster than flipping the pen around to erase. - Some people use this as a touchpad. I'm on a laptop so I will never use the tablet as a touchpad. I keep the option of using it as a touchpad off at all times. This allows me to lay my hand on the tablet while I'm drawing.

This is my first purchase ever for a drawing tablet so it took quite some getting used to, but it is indeed very convenient and efficient! I was debating whether to get the Capture or the Create at first, mostly regarding the size and the built in the eraser which seems to be the only difference between the two in terms of functionality. I finally settled on the Capture and wasn't disappointed. Even though the Create is bigger, you would assume it'd be more efficient, but the workable area of the tablet translates to your whole computer screen, so I'd say you're not missing much getting the Capture with a smaller work area. With the built in eraser, I have always been used to just Ctrl+Z to undo anything I didn't like, or use the eraser tool in the program I'm using, so it didn't seem to be as important. In terms of performance, the tablet integrates smoothly with whatever you're doing on your computer. It can act as a mouse or drawing pad; pan, zoom, etc. everything works perfectly. Rarely if ever do I experience a glitch, though sometimes it can be a bit too sensitive. The only real annoyance is that the pen nib grinds down as you use it, so every so often you'd have to purchase some nib replacement. If you're a college student on a budget like I am, getting the Capture provides the best bang for your buck! My apologies to the professional artists if my review sounds too amateur :p Good luck in your endeavours!

I bought this a while back because it was relatively cheap and I had been wanting to get into visual art for quite a while. At first, it worked wonderfully; doing exactly what I had heard it was supposed to do, and the games for the 'bamboo dock' were really fun. But then right around two-three months of use, it stopped working well. It wouldn't sense the pressure I was putting on my pen and it would do this really weird thing where it would scroll the page I was on if I swiped the pen too fast. I have made several calls to costumer service and they were very helpful and kind when telling me possible solutions to my tablet's problem. However, none of the solutions I was given were permanent fixes and I have to uninstall and re-install things every time I want to use my tablet unless I leave it plugged in all the time. Perhaps it's just because it was a cheaper tablet, but I'm very disappointed... I've heard so many great things about this company! I wouldn't recommend this unless you're okay with doing extra work just to get a few hours of drawing. By the way, this tablet seems to like Photoshop a lot more than Paint Tool SAI (which is what I usually use) and will work on most occasions in that program.

Having never owned or used a pen tablet before I bought this thinking I was glad about how easy it is to return. I chose this model because it has the multi-touch that I could use when not using it for my photography touch up, and for the photography touch up work. I was expecting the pen based photography work to be good, but it isn't. It's AWESOME! Working on photos is now faster and more fun using the pen tablet with it's mapped input. Brushing in adjustments is just far more easier than using a mouse or a finger on a touch pad. And when I'm not using it for photography work it's a super sized track pad with all the gestures I've come to love on my MacBook Pro. The inclusion of Photoshop Elements 8 is also really great. I'm not one who draws, but it is fun to just open it up and doodle. The hardware is topnotch, and though it is light, it feels well made and matches quite nicely with my MacBook Pro. My 1 gripe with it is the placement of the USB cord. As I'm right handed the cord comes out the left side making it difficult to place to the right of a keyboard. But having a split level desk (keyboard shelf/desktop) I tend to leave it on the desktop and it all works out just fine. If I wanted to I could purchase the wireless kit and do away with the cord entirely, but I don't feel it needs to come to that. So, at the end, the Wacom Bamboo Capture was originally half heartedly purchased with expectations that it would be used once in a while. In reality it's hardly ever put away. If you spend any amount of time in a photo editor this will make that time go by quicker and more fun.

Very happy with the Bamboo Capture Wacom Bamboo Capture Pen and Touch Tablet (CTH470) ! Ordered it on a Friday and arrived Saturday on my doorstep to my surprise (Thanks Prime!), so i was able to play with it over the weekend. Love, love, love the pen and tablet input! Photoshop selections with lasso tool, clone tools, quick mask is a breeze! Even in Lightroom, no more sliding around and moving the mouse, i just hover the tip of the pen over the pad, and when it touches the surface i can move the sliders! (no more click and hold, or click and scroll on slider). My editing workflow now is just faster, more ergonomic and a lot more accurate. I initially though it's just a novelty item but this thing does really work. I read reviews saying first time users will take awhile to get to use to it, but when i tried it the first time it felt so natural. I just made sure i did the tutorial. Photo editing with it is a lot more fun and helps my wrist. I'm an amateur/semi pro photographer and this is my first tablet, i wanted compact (small) since i will only be using it on a 17" laptop (HP Envy 17t-3200 1080p screen) and wanted something portable. Also, the silver color matches well with the Envy aluminum finish. I was also initially thinking of getting the Intuos 5 small (about $120 more). But after checking and asking around with other tablet users and photo editing professionals, it was recommended to me to just get the basic one and that is all i will need. I then decided to get the Capture which has the touch feature to go with the basic features i need for my photo editing work.

This tablet is great. I found the drivers on Wacom's website and installed it from there. There are a lot of features and I could change what each button does (including the buttons on the pen itself). The downside is that the other tip of the pen cannot be used as an eraser, but for the price I got it for, I'm fine with that because I could change one of the buttons on the pen to activate an eraser mode. The weight sensors work pretty well, I get realistic strokes. In summation, it's a great product that every artist or animator needs to have on their desk.

I bought this in order to draw sprites for a video game I'm developing and I couldn't be happier with it. It's very easy to use, especially in combination with the wireless adapter kit. I used to draw all the time but sort of lost interest in it over the years, but this tablet has really brought out my love for drawing again. The nibs wear out a little too fast for my liking, but that doesn't take away from the experience. The tablet is well made. Feels solid in your hands. I would recommend.

Probably the pest tablet of this price bracket. bettery-free pen means I can draw all day long - unlike some of the cheaper ones - ewww. The drawing areas smaller then Im used to but works better for me. once i got used to it with less wrist movement i get less tires; better or worse for you on this will be 100% personal preference, but i say try it. Very durable, with a radio upgrade available (the kit includes a bluetooth and battery piece) which i probably going to get - and heres why (and why 4 stars) the included usb wire is like... 1 foot long (maybe 2 i dunno, i dont use it) and its 100% totally useless to anyone that doesnt have a USB port on thier screen or uses a desktop rather then a laptop. i mean guys... its small ok. if your buying this, also toss into your cart the upgrade kit or a longer usb wire (its micro usb, if your going to) it came with a free photo album from shutterfly which i got, and promptly ($6) for shipping the book was the $30 retail value - and it was amazing as well. came with enough software to get anyone going (new or veteran) but i already use photoshop - the kids however DO prefer the bundles software when just playing around. (its scetchbook express, and photoshop elements if your wondering) and something else i didnt install. Compatible with Gimp2 as well. If your a newbie and wondering if this is the one, yes... it is it has a built in tutorial system right in the driver that my daughter used now shes a pro. lolol. Would i buy it again? yep and maybe again after that.

It was very easy to install, just plug it in. It also comes with some great software which ensures you can start working straight away. I would have liked the capture pen to be bit slimmer, as it's slightly too big for my grip (the size of a pencil would be perfect). At the moment I'm using my Wacom attached to my computer and it works well. I suggest the wireless equipment, which is sold separately, would be worth investing in if you prefer a bit of maneuverability.

After being told by Wacom's support that my tablet wasn't compatible with the system version of my mac, two weeks later I decide to give another try and re-install the drivers… it works fine!