Good hardware can really help to make a photographer's life so much easier. Is this keyboard tablet hybrid about to change how we work?
If a traditional keyboard and mouse are keeping you sitting in front of your computer longer than you would like, then a tablet could be the answer to help speed things up. This week, artist and illustrator Brad Colbow is back once again with another insightful video, where he tests a tablet that I think many photographers will find interesting. The tablet in question is the Huion Inspiroy Keydial KD200, which is a mash-up of a drawing tablet and a traditional keyboard. Colbow walks us through the tablet's features, which include several programmable buttons as well as a zoom wheel. If all that wasn't enough, there is also the left-hand side of a regular keyboard included in this device too. For those that use the likes of Photoshop, this tablet should allow you to do most of your editing work without the need for your regular keyboard.
As you can see in the video, the size of the tablet is fairly generous to work on, yet small enough to potentially travel with. For me, the fact a seasoned illustrator praises this tablet is good news for us photographers whose needs are probably less demanding. Colbow ends the video by saying this tablet is 90 percent of the way there for a fraction of the price you'd normally pay. If you're in the market for a tablet, this could be what you've been looking for.
What do you think of this tablet for photographers? Do you think you could ditch the mouse and make the switch? We'd love to hear from you in the comments below.
I tried loopdeck. It's rad but like this and any new, it takes time and I'm still faster culling and editing with a classic apple keyboard and mouse. I've been training on that for at least 30 years.
I used to use a Wacom tablet, looked at building my own loopdeck-esque controller but never bothered.
The reason - Most of my editing is in Lightroom, which over the years has gone from clumsy and limited to actually useful once you learn how the advanced features of the tools work. There are so few instances now that I'd even consider reaching for the tablet now, I don't even have the software installed any more.
Tablets like Wacoms are far better utilised in Photoshop when you're doing paths etc. In LR, like you say, not so much need for them.
I (rarely) use a Wacom Intuos Pro. I wish I could just map the keys to the functions to access them quickly, but that doesn't work consistently with "darktable". So it stays on the shelf most of the time.
I wish they would release a keyboard with the touchbar option, better touch tool could be utilised to map custom buttons for culling and rating images.
I’ve got all my fave capture one tools mapped and it makes life loads easier.
Editing of that video needs a tad work, 3:56 he starts to discuss drivers, at 4:32 the exact same sequence, very weird.
Ok this looks interesting.
But I wish more tablets came with more "unusable" space on the right, to rest your hand on, because constantly sliding your hand across that edge is never comfortable, no matter how thin or smooth they make that edge. As far as I'm aware, none of these tablet makers even sell any kind of attachment or housing to extend the resting surface for any model. Why?
Good point!
Yeah, Wacom and Loopdeck are just fine if you're looking for something like this... especially if you're a lefty like me! This thing looks like it's only good for the righthanded folks.
Nah. For Photoshop you really need the full keyboard always with you.