Hello and welcome to this episode of
Denny's tips. Today I'll be showing you
what the best keyboard and mouse is for
Photoshop or other productivity and
creative work. People tend to use the
free keyboard and mouse that their computer
came with, but those are usually not the
best. For a software like Photoshop where
you need precise most movements, a
high-quality mouse is a must-have,
especially if you're working on a high
res display. More on that later.
Photoshop also has a lot of tools and
commands, so a keyboard with extra macro
keys will improve your workflow
significantly. In this video you'll learn
how to pick the best keyboard and mouse
to improve your productivity. Now just to be
clear, this video isn't about buying
peripherals that will make you look like
a professional. The stuff I'm going to
recommend to you is based on how
practical they are, not how professional
they look. Most of the products are
designed for gamers but don't be fooled
into thinking that gaming products
aren't good enough for professional work.
Manufacturers market your products for
gamers simply because there are way more gamers
than photographers and digital artists.
Gaming keyboards and mouse are some of the
best-performing and well built products that
you can buy and they make using
Photoshop so much better. So don't worry
if the products make you look like a
gamer,
it's all about being more productive.
Let's start off by talking about your
keyboard, a good keyboard is a hundred
percent necessary for Photoshop. Most of
the features are for your own comfort
and personal preference, but there are
some practical features that make them a
good investment.
One of the biggest features that might
make you more money
are macro keys. These are extra keys on
your keyboard that you can program to
any hot key, keys stroke combinations and
more. It's incredibly useful. Your
productivity will improve so much once
you start using it. If you want to add a
hotkey in Photoshop you can do it by
going to "Edit" -> "Keyboard Shortcuts" but
you're going to have a tough time
finding hotkey that's not already taken.
A better solution is to use macros. For
example, I have a macro for converting a
layer to a Smart Object. What this macro
does is it process the combinations ALT + L
S + S which basically loads a command from
the menu. On Macs it's more complicated but
it's still possible. I don't use Macs
anymore but from what I remember, you
have to press something like Command + F2
and then use the arrow keys on keyboard
to navigate around the menus. It sounds
like a lot of keystrokes but you can
record your macros with no delays and
it'll play so fast that it feels like
you're pressing a hotkey. I use macros
all the time and I have it set so the
macro keys will change depending on
which software I'm currently using. Time is
money, if you're not using macros yet I
highly recommend you try it out. Once you
get into a habit of using it, and you
build your own profiles you'll get things
done so much faster. Once you start using
macros, you're going to run into another
problem when you have so many macro set,
it's hard to remember which one does
what. And this is where RGB lighting comes
in.
Look for keywords that let you set the
colors for every individual key like the
Corsair K95 keyboard. Some keyboards will
say that they have RGB lighting but they
only let you have one color for your
entire keyboard or for a couple zones
in your keyboard and not the individual
keys. Make sure that the keyboard you're
buying has per key RGB lighting. I'm
currently using a Corsair K95 keyboard. It
has 18 macro keys and I use all of it. In
fact, it's not enough for me so I have a
second macro pad, the Logitech G13. I
recommend this if you need more macro keys
or if you're using a laptop and don't
want to carry around a gigantic keyboard.
There are other options like this crazy
Cherry keyboard with more keys than you'll
ever need. But i don't recommend this
because the software is quite outdated,
and it's not as flexible as the other
software from other manufacturers. So
which keyboard do I recommend? Here are my
top five recommendations: The razer
orbweaver is a macro packed with 20 keys
in the main area and additional keys
around it. It has per key RGB lighting,
great build quality and software that
lets you set customizable macros with
unlimited profiles. I recommend this if
you are using a laptop or if you need a
lot of macro keys.
If you don't need the per key RGB lighting
the Logitech G13 is a better choice. Its
price's lower and has some of its own
unique benefits. It gives you 22 macro
keys, three dedicated profile switching
buttons, and a dedicated on-the-fly macro
recording button. It doesn't have per key
RGB lighting like the razor or weaver
chroma but it does have an LCD which is
useful for displaying your CPU and RAM
usage. If you use a lot of Photoshop
actions the Steelseries Apex 350 is a
great keyboard that's not too expensive.
It has plenty of macro keys, but, what I like
most about it
are the macro keys above the f1 to 12 buttons.
They're great for mapping your favorite
Photoshop actions. The con of this keyboard
is that the keys aren't mechanical and
you can only set the colors based on a
couple zones, not the individual keys.
The logitech G190 is a great mechanical
keyboard with per key RGB lighting. It has
nine macro keys which isn't many but
they're located on the left and top side
which is useful if you like to have two
sets of macro keys. For example, on the
top macro keys you can use that to store
your favorite Photoshop actions and the
sides - you can use that for a common
Photoshop commands like rearranging your
layers. My top recommendation is also the
keyboard that I'm currently using. The
Corsair K95 RGB. It has a whopping 18 macro
keys. A dedicated on-the-fly macro
recording button, three dedicated profile
switching buttons and per key RGB lighting.
It also has the best build quality I've
ever seen in a keyboard and the software
is very very customizable. Anything you
can think of, you can probably do in the
Corsair software. It's not as user friendly
as other software like Logitech, but if you
can use Photoshop, then you'll have no
problems learning how to use the Corsair
software.
The only downside is that once in awhile,
the macros will just stop working but
once you open the Corsair software, it'll
fix itself immediately. Aside from the
software issues,
this is the best keyboard you can get
for Photoshop.
Now let's talk about something more
important, your mouse. I see people doing
professional work that requires precise
movement and they're using a cheap mouse,
usually the free mouse that comes with a
computer. A good mouse makes a huge
difference especially if you're working
on a high-res display.
Have you ever switch to a new mouse and
found that you're not used to it? You can
tweak the DPI settings all you want but
it never feels like your old mouse. It's
probably because of the sensor
position. On this G700s mouse, these
sensors located near the front of the
mouse while on this Corsair Scimitar
mouse, it's located at the center. Look at
the bottom of your mouse and notice where
the sensor is positioned. I realize that the
sensor position changes the way that I
hold the mouse. On the g700s, my palm
would be resting on the mouse which
makes it very comfortable to use. But on
my Corsair mouse, I tend to hold it like
a claw because I'm used to holding my
mouse so that the fingers are positioned
near the sensor. If you want something that
feels like your old mouse, try to find a
mouse where the sensor position is roughly
the same as your old one.
The main reason for getting a gaming mouse
is the adjustable DPI setting and
improve polling rate. DPI stands for dots
per inch and it's basically a
measurement of how sensitive your mouse
is. A higher DPI mouse will move your
cursors more pixels per inch. The quick
gist is that all gaming mouse have more
DPI than you need even on a 4k
display. Normal non-gaming mouse however,
will typically have a fixed DPI
between 800 and 1200 which is sufficient
for low res display. But if you have a 4k
display, you should really be getting a
gaming mouse with at least 2,000 DPI.
Anything over 6,000 DPI is excessive.
There's no harm in getting the most with
a very high DPI setting but just make
sure you're not specifically spending
money for that extra feature.
On my 40 inch 4k monitor, I have my mouse
set to 2000 DPI which will move it
roughly halfway across the screen for
every one inch of movement. If you're
used to using a low DPI, it'll will take some
time to adapt to a higher DPI settings and
this is where the DPI buttons on your mouse
will come in handy. Most gaming mouse will
have buttons to increase or
decrease the DPI so if you need more
precision, you can simply press the
button to lower the DPI and make your mouse
slower. If you want your mouse to move faster,
you can press the button to increase
the DPI. It's a very handy feature.
Finally, polling rate is the other reason
to buy a gaming mouse. Polling rate is a
measurement of how often your mouse
reports its position to your computer. A
higher polling rate means that your
mouse is more responsive. Normal
non-gaming most will have a polling rate
of a hundred 125 Hertz which means,
it reports its possession to a computer
125 times a second or
every 8 milliseconds. Gaming mouse
will typically have higher polling rates
such as 250 Hertz, 500 Hertz, and 1000
Hertz. You will notice the difference
going from a non-gaming mouse with a
polling rate of a 125
Hertz to a gaming mouse with 500 Hertz. The
difference between 500 and 1,000 Hertz
however is not very noticeable. Just like
how you can buy a keyboard with macro
buttons, you can buy a mouse with macro
buttons too. It's a great way to improve
your productivity. The benefit to macro
buttons on your mouse compared to a keyboard
is that you don't need to let go of your
mouse so often. I have my mouse set to
switch tabs, zoom in and out, close a
document, and scroll up and down a panel.
In Photoshop, for some reason the page up,
down, home, and end keys don't work in the
panels. Using the scroll wheel is very
slow.
So what I did was I made a macro to
let me scroll faster like this
and even faster like this. By the way,
don't forget to use a mouse pad. I used
to use the mouse on a bare surface of my
desk but I've been using a mouse pad
for a couple months now and it makes a
huge difference.
It's a lot smoother and it also extends
the life of the mouse feet. It's hard to
get a gaming mouse that isn't good.
Any gaming mouse will be a huge
improvement over a non-gaming mouse but
here are my top picks. The Corsair Scimitar
RGB is the one I'm currently
using. It's a wired mouse with 12 macro
keys on the side and two DPI buttons on
the top. The position of the side buttons
can be adjusted and I have mine set to
very front. It's a very comfortable mouse
and just like with the corsair keyboard,
the build quality is awesome. The downside
is that the scroll wheel doesn't tilt so
you can't scroll horizontally. If you like
the Corsair mouse but wish it was
wireless, the Razer Naga Epic Chroma is a
great alternative. The side buttons are fixed
so you can't adjust the position of it. But,
it does have a tilt-scroll wheel and it
comes with a charging base. It's a great
mouse, but it's also quite pricey at around
130 US dollars. The Logitech G600 is a
wired mouse and just like the previous
two mouses, it has 12 macro buttons on the
side and two DPI buttons on the top.
But unlike the two, it has a third mouse button
which is very cool. You can set the
button so that if you hold onto, it will lower
the DPI and give you slower most movements.
I personally haven't gotten used to that
and I find that using the DPI buttons
it's easier. But if you can get used to
it or you have ways of making use of the
third mouse button, then this is a great
choice.
The best thing I like about this mouse
is that the side buttons have an angle to
them which makes it very easy to feel
which button you're pressing.
Coming in second place is the Logitech
G930. It is the best wireless mouse you can
get. It's super lightweight, has the most
advanced optical sensor, the fastest
response time for a wireless mouse, and
it even has a built-in 32-bit ARM Cortex
processor to power all of this.
Essentially as the best mouse you can get
but the reason why this doesn't win the
first place is because it's overkill for
photography work and for 150 US dollars,
It's not cheap. I recommend this mouse if you're
left handed or if you just want the
best mouse that you can get and money is
not a concern. However, keep in mind that
this doesn't have as many macro buttons
as the previous three mouses that we
mentioned. The number one mouse is the
Logitech G700s. I've been using this mouse
for a long time and although it doesn't
have as many buttons as this first three
mouses, it has them positioned in better
places. One of the issues with having so
many buttons crammed onto the side is
that it's easy to press the wrong one.
This mouse has four buttons on the side, 3 on the
left mouse button, and one in the center.
The other benefit is that this is an
incredibly comfortable mouse. I've used
this mouse for over five years and I love it.
The only reason why I switch away from this
mouse is for productivity reasons.
I simply needed a mouse with more buttons.
The downside with this mouse is that it is not
very durable. I went through three
replacements - twice because the scroll
wheel broke and once because the left
mouse button broke.
However, Logitech's customer support was
awesome and they sent me replacements for
free. And you can see on mine is already
showing signs of wear and tear.
It's still the most comfortable mouse, it's
also wireless, low priced, and has a lot of
buttons. And that's why the Logitech
G700s is the best most for Photoshop.
Hey thanks for watching this video. You
can find the product links in the video
description below. Now before you commit
to buy anything you should go on YouTube
and search for a product review. You
should know the pros and cons of what
you're buying and all of the features
especially for product that you'll be
using for years and years and years.
Anyways thanks again for watching. Let me
know what you think in the comments, like
this video if you liked it and I'll see
you again next week.