What do you use?

[JackR]

Thought it would be interesting to see who used what tools on restores, do you use a graphics tablet,(if so what kind), or mouse or both? Also what version of Photoshop (or other s'ware)?

I am currently using a Wacom Intuos 4, can't  imagine doing some things without one...
Using CC and CC2017...started with Photoshop 5 (not CS5)...

[Shadow]

Good question ... it will be interesting to see what everyone uses. For me, it is a wacom tablet and my touchpad. Photoshop CS 5. No noise filters yet, but you know Santa is coming soon  ^-^  Lots of Healing tools (all 3) and of course, the mighty clone stamp.

[Pat]

Hi Jack,

I use the Wacom Intuos 4 and pen when restoring.  It's hard to imagine restoring with the mouse, particularly photos as heavily damaged as most of those we get faced with.  My software is Photoshop CS5. 

Pat

[Hannie]

Hi Jack,

At the moment I don't use anything, my computer is in the reapair shop, once again!  :mad: (no boot, conflict with m.2 SSDs, not recognized in BIOS)

Everyone seems to love their Wacom tablet!
It is hard to imagine how I ever did without it, I use the Wacom Intuos Pro.  Anyone thinking of upgrading their old Intuos tablet to the Pro: Don't! 

One of the advantages over the older model is the wireless but even that has glitches all the time.  The surface of the new Wacom is VERY rough and pen tips wear out in a couple of weeks where with the old Wacom a tip would last at least a year. 

I found an on line tutorial how to make make my own tips from trimmer wire. (one roll of wire can supply a whole orphanage)
There are also screen protectors that  will give a smoother finish, they are very hard to apply without air bubbles all over the place.

I am left handed and the tablet is on my left and I use the mouse with my right hand, works really well that way.

Photoshop CS6 is as far as I want to go, don't feel like paying for a subscription every month with the latest version.

Don't use filters much, there is enough of that in Photoshop and noise filter can make an image look really flat. 
I do own Kodak ROC.  Sometimes when I don't have a clue what colors an image used to have, this filter will give me an idea of which way to go.  There is an action for it as well for colors that are way off.  I hardly ever use the result in my restore and when I do the opacity of the layer would be 30-50% at the most. 

Badly damaged portraits with "painted" repairs, I always like to have both original and WIP next to each other and look back and forth from one image to the other quickly to figure out where I need to add shading etc. Funny thing is when I do that slow, I lose the detail of the original.

:)

Hannie

[Pat]

Wow, Hannie, so glad you pointed out the pitfalls of the Wacom Intuos Pro!  I won't plan on upgrading to that anytime soon.  It does not sound user friendly at all.

Regarding your comment "I always like to have both original and WIP next to each other and look back and forth from one image to the other quickly to figure out where I need to add shading etc. Funny thing is when I do that slow, I lose the detail of the original." is a great tip and something I have found to be very helpful also. 

[JackR]

Hannie...I hadn't heard about the working surface on t he Pro...you know there is a Intuos 4 that is wireless if that is something you like, same as the medium regular tablet. On noise filters the only one I've ad any luck with not losing all the detail is Topaz Denoise, ver 5 or 6...they use edge detection much like Ps quick-selection tool to maintain detail.

[Jo Ann Snover]

I have had a Wacom tablet for about 15 years - the current one is an Intuos3.  I do have a mouse but never use it (unless the Wacom Driver crashes and I temporarily need one!).

Even though I use Photoshop all day-every day, I'm still a holdout from the CC versions - I have CS6 - and am (probably irrationally) hoping that Adobe changes their mind about perpetual licenses. I have one for Lightroom, so it's not as though they've completely given it up. None of the features in the CC versions offer me anything I can use, so I am only worried about getting cornered by an OS upgrade leaving me stranded.

No filters or add ons.

[WordSpark LLC]

Mouse and Photoshop CS6. Downloaded a Topaz DeNoise Trial, but still have to try it out.

[Mhayes]

I too have a Wacom tablet, Intuos3, same as Jo Ann and imagine about the same age. I use CS5 and am happy with it and do not want to pay by the month for the current version. I don't have any add on filters other than what is included in Photoshop.

The funny thing is that I have been fighting with no driver showing up for my Wacom and finally tonight was able to download it after many failed attempts. Whew! Interesting to hear Hannie's thoughts about the Pro and not going that route.

Margie

[Mike S.]

Like Margie, I have a Watcom Tablet but with the Intuos4 and Photoshop CS5 same as Margie for the same reason.  I do not want to pay a monthly fee.   Pat and I both were having serious problems with the Watcom driver loading at startup and internet problems for over a month so earlier this month after replacing drivers, network cables, checking out the modem/router we gave up and ordered new computers for both.  We ordered with 1 SSD drive and then saw Hannie's problems and thought what have we done?  We have been lucky, all our problems are gone and the systems boot very, very fast with no problems so far.  The internet problems are gone, the Watcom driver loads very fast every time with no glitches.  We ended up with ASUS, 17" laptops, 16 GB ram, 128GB SSD, 1 Terrabyte 7200 rpm hard drives, i7 quad core processors and now that all our software is installed they are going working fine. 

Hannie, I hope your computer gets fixed up quickly,

Mike

[Lynnya]

Checking in on my phone from Seattle..don't wanna miss anything😀 I have cs5 ..Wacom tablet Denoise and Degrunge filters also  Imageomic plugin. I keep looking at cc but don't see anything I can't live without and balk at monthly rate. A professional photographer friend of mine had his cc go pear shaped and lost a lot of actions settings etc..I guess Adobe had to go into his program and took like a whole day to fix it...sans actions and settings so that disconcerting...
I'm sure I'll end up with it at some point when cs5 is no longer supported.
See you when I get back friends and co-workers..
Lynnya ,🐐

[Hannie]

Jack, I think I'm stuck with my Intuos Pro.  After adding the surface protector and the "homemade" pen tips I think I will be fine.

Those of you that work with Wacom Intuos 3, stick with it, very good tablet.  Margie, Wacom tablets are notorious for crashing or showing no driver.  What I find helpful is to have a shortcut on my desktop to restart the Wacom Service, that will usually bring it back to life.

Looks like most people are sticking to Photoshop CS5 or CS6 and not going for the subscription version, I hope in the future Adobe will revert back to the way it was where you just buy one version and have the choice to either upgrade or not later on.

Mike, that sounds like a great set up you picked.  The SSD you have most likely will be the SATA version.  Mine is the m.2 and uses PCI Express lanes.  It is seated directly on a dedicated motherboard interface (image below) I have a second m.2 SSD (scratch disk) installed via expansion card plugged directly into a PCI-E slot.

That is where the problem lies with my SSD drives, somehow from time to time they disappear and are not detected in the BIOS any more.  The shop where I bought my computer is doing extensive testing etc. to find the bug but haven't been lucky so far.  I am starting to think it may be that the processor does not have enough lanes to support these modern drives.

Hannie

[battleaxe]

My husband got me a Wacom Cintiq 21" in 2008 for Xmas.  Use both pen and mouse. Recently have Topaz, On1 but have not used them yet, mostly use the photoshop filter dust and scratches, and median.