Posted on by Terry White

Wacom Cintiq 24HD Review

I can’t imagine doing photo retouching in Photoshop without using a Wacom tablet. As a matter of fact I refuse to retouch without a tablet unless it’s an emergency. I’ve been a serious user since the Intuos 3. I’ve enjoyed the Intuos4, and Intuos5 as well as the Wacom Cintiq 12wx and Cintiq 21ux. Although I’ve owned a couple of Cintiqs I find that I used the regular Intuos tablets more often. The Cintiq line has been great and it’s awesome being able to draw/retouch right on screen, but the problem has always been “positioning”. While I could hold the Cintiq 12wx in my lap it still required some finesse to be able to hold it, draw, and have a hand free for occasional trips to the keyboard. The Cintiq 21 ux amplified this issue with no real way to bring it to my lap and I couldn’t really get an angle that I enjoyed more than a few minutes. So I used my regular Intuos tablets more often.

The Wacom Cintiq 24 HD changes everything!

It’s easier to show you rather than tell you. See my video below:

Not only is the Cintiq 24 HD a work of art, but they figured out a way to give me the angles that I always wanted. With the innovative new stand I can position the this 24″ HD display off the table and down into my lap to work. However, I don’t have to bear the weight of it actually on my lap. It floats there where I want it to be. The Wacom Cintiq 24 HD has all the bells and whistles you would expect. It has a gorgeous LCD HD display with 2,048 levels of pressure. It’s like having a large Intuos 5 built into a large display. You get 5 touch keys and a touch ring on each side. Each of these keys and rings can be programmed with different functions in different apps.

The Only way the Cintiq 24 HD could be better is to have multi-touch gestures! Oh, by the way, Wacom did that. The Cintiq 24 HD Touch is everything above with multi-touch gestures. They also make a less expensive 22 inch model too.

Wacom has knocked this one out of the park. From the moment I sat down with one of these beauties at Photo Plus East last year, I knew I wanted one! Now that I have it I can’t imagine not using it.

Get the Cintiq 24HD here

Get the Cintiq 24HD touch here

Get the Cintiq 22HD here

Get the Cintiq 12wx here

12 Replies to “Wacom Cintiq 24HD Review”

  1. Great review, Terry. I haven’t priced it yet (avoiding the suspected sticker shock) but have one quick question: Am I correct in assuming you can calibrate it with the same tools one uses to calibrate a regular monitor?

  2. Terry,

    Thank you for the review. I’m absolutely drooling over this device. My only concern is that not only do I use Photoshop intensely, I also work with video editing. Do you recommend this as your main monitor to do everything? Basically replacing my Apple monitor OR is it more of an in-addition-to a main monitor? Thanks!

    ~Erick

  3. I have been lusting after this for some time, but Wacom’s wacky decision not to sell these via their regular professional photo-gear resellers has turned me off. I have been using Wacom from the start, but also support my local camera dealer who has been an avid Wacom promoter for some time, and to pull the product away from resellers like them makes no sense. Call me crazy, but I am sticking with the old tablet for this (perhaps nutty) reason!

  4. Hi Terry,

    Great and very interesting review. Thank you.

    I am very interested to know your whole set-up of the Cintiq with a MacBook Pro. I am considering replacing my Mac Pro with a MacBook Pro Retina. The Mac Pro has given excellent service for 4 years and is now upgraded with an SSD but the space and energy saving of the MacBook Pro Retina are very attractive.

    A couple of questions :

    1. Do you use the MacBook Keyboard or an external wireless keyboard ?

    2. What drives do you use for Images Files, LR Databases, etc..

    3. How do you interface the Cintiq to your MacBook ?

    4. Are there any other considerations you’d recommend for this type of configuration ?

    Thanks again.

    Best regards,

    Steve

    1. 1. Yes I do use an external Bluetooth Apple keyboard and mouse ocassionally.
      2. Images and catalogs are stored on the internal drive while in progress. Once the project/shoot is complete then the images are moved to a network storage device. The catalogs are always on the internal in a dropbox folder so that they can be accessed from any of my Macs.
      3. with a DVI to Display Port adapter.
      4. lots of desk space 🙂

  5. Aloha Terry!
    Thanks for all your reviews. I check your blog often to see what new things you have and have used.

    This review is great! My husband is a high school graphics teacher and I wanted to get him something for Christmas, but wasn’t sure what. Let’s just say I wanted to add the “wow” factor this year due to all the pay and budget cuts he has been faced with his program.

    Also, if you are ever in Hawaii, let us know and we would like to have you come by his class and be a guest speaker. Also, we’d love to take you to dinner to chat.

    Now the question, to HD Touch or not?

    Mahalo nui,
    Cassie

  6. Hi Terry,

    I know this is off topic but I have watched several of your videos, particularly those related to the Adobe DPS, and I truly like the way you edit your training videos showing several shots at the same time or even showing your iPad screen directly on the video (rather than shooting at the iPad with a camera). Have you done any videos or podcasts explaining how do you create your training videos or what software tools do you use in your production process? I would really like to know more about this if you don’t mind sharing it.

    Thanks for all these tutorials and reviews. They are really helpful,

    Carlos

  7. Thanks for this Terry – very helpful! I’m just about to get a 24HD so I’ve been reading all the reviews I can. I’m an illustrator who uses photoshop to colour my illustrations digitally but, at the moment, all my line work is still done traditionally using brush and ink. I’ve never used a tablet before but I’m hoping that I will take to it like I took to digital colouring. I’ve been advised that I should try ‘Illustrator’ too. Many thanks again

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