“Wacom One Graphics Tablet Review: First Impressions for Astrophotography Editing”

 “Went to PC World for a microwave… came home with a graphics tablet. Turns out the Wacom One is brilliant for astrophotography editing. Here are my first impressions!”

First Impressions of the Wacom One: The Graphics Tablet I Definitely Didn’t Mean to Buy

You know those days when you pop into PC World for something sensible and grown‑up — like a microwave — and somehow walk out with a completely different gadget that absolutely wasn’t on the shopping list?
Yeah. That happened.

Maggie (a.k.a. The Boss) left triumphantly with a shiny new microwave to replace our dearly departed ten‑year‑old model.
I, on the other hand, walked out with a One by Wacom  graphics tablet that had been sitting all lonely in the “last one available” bin – the digital equivalent of a puppy at the rescue centre giving me the look.

It was heavily discounted. It called to me. And honestly — it would’ve been rude not to.

 

copyright Wacom

What Is the ‘One by Wacom?’

The One by Wacom is an entry‑level, screenless graphics tablet designed for beginners, hobbyists, and people like me who didn’t know they needed one until they were halfway to the checkout.

It plugs into your laptop or desktop and lets you draw, paint, or - in my case - edit astrophotography with far more finesse than a trackpad or mouse ever could.

Mine came with:

• A lightweight stylus
• USB cable
• Three replacement nibs
• A nib‑removal tool
• A quick‑start guide that was… well… more “quick” than “guide”

Thankfully, Wacom’s website has proper manuals, drivers, and setup videos. I downloaded the driver, plugged it in, and hey presto — instant plug‑and‑play success.

 

“But Steve… Why Buy One?”

Excellent question.
I asked myself the same thing while Maggie compared microwave wattages.

A quick bit of research revealed that graphics tablets are brilliant for:

• Selections and masking
• Brush work
• Fine detail adjustments
• Anything requiring precision

Basically, all the fiddly bits of editing Milky Way shots in Affinity Photo that make a mouse feel like trying to paint the Mona Lisa with a potato cut.

I’m no artist - this isn’t for sketching dragons or designing logos.
This is purely a tool to improve my astrophotography editing workflow.

And after a few sessions… I’m genuinely impressed.

 

 Strengths (So Far)

✔️ A bargain find

Discounted, affordable, and great value — especially compared to online prices.

✔️ Ridiculously simple setup

No buttons, no fuss. Plug it in and start drawing.

✔️ Lightweight and travel‑friendly

Slim, portable, and sturdy enough to survive being thrown into my rucksac.

✔️ Battery‑free stylus

Uses EMR technology - no charging, no batteries, no faff.
The nibs will eventually wear down, apparently, but I’ve no idea how long that takes.
Feels a bit like using my favourite mechanical pencil – without the push button bit at the top.

✔️ Feels like drawing on paper

Once your brain adjusts to “draw down here on tablet, look up there at screen”, it becomes surprisingly natural.
Hovering the pen moves the cursor; tapping the surface clicks.
Accuracy is excellent.

✔️ Plenty of online tutorials

If you get stuck, YouTube has your back.

 

Weaknesses (Because Nothing’s Perfect)

❌ No Bluetooth

You’re tethered by USB.

❌ No shortcut buttons

Some tablets have customisable buttons for quick actions - this one doesn’t. I’m ambivalent about this.

❌ The hand–eye adjustment period

Drawing on the tablet while looking at the screen feels odd at first.
If your hand‑eye coordination is good, you’ll adapt quickly.
If not… practice helps.

❌ The pen feels a bit plasticky

Not fragile, but not premium either.
The two side buttons? Still not entirely sure what they do.

❌ Limited drawing area

When editing near the bottom of my laptop screen, I run out of tablet space and end up repositioning my hand constantly. At times my hand rests on the desk, my pen on the bottom edge of the tablet – uncomfortable!

 

Final Thoughts (For Now)

For the price I paid, the One by Wacom is absolutely worth it.
It’s simple, compact, and has already improved my astrophotography editing workflow - - especially for masking and fine brush work.

It’s definitely a beginner‑friendly or budget‑friendly tablet.
Perfect for photo editing, perhaps a bit limited for serious sketching.

In a few months, I’ll revisit this post with real examples of how it’s performed during Milky Way season and whether it’s earned a permanent place in my editing toolkit.

For now?
I really like it.

Getting to Grips with Affinity Photo: Editing the Milky Way images from Wembury Beach (Workflow, Lessons & Mistakes)

 Ever tried editing a Milky Way shot and ended up arguing with your software? Same. Here’s how my Wembury Beach images survived Affinity Photo — just about.

Do you remember my Milky Way session at Wembury Beach last month?

If not, you can relive the sandy, slightly chaotic adventure here:
https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2026/05/photographing-milky-way-on-wembury-beach.html

Well… I finally sat down with a mug of tea, opened Affinity Photo, and attempted to turn those raw files into something presentable. What followed was part science experiment, part detective work, and part “why won’t you just do what I’m telling you?”
In other words: a normal night of astrophotography editing.

This post walks through what worked, what didn’t, and what I’ll do differently next time — because if astrophotography teaches us anything, it’s that progress often looks like two steps forward, one step sideways, and one step into a bramble bush.

 

 Where Things Started Going Wrong (On the Night Itself)

Let’s get the confession out of the way:
I should have shot at ISO 3200, not ISO 1600.
My Milky Way band came out far darker than I expected.

But hey — we learn, we adapt, and we try not to cry into our rucksac.

 

 The Great Stacking Experiment

Before diving into Affinity Photo, I decided to run a little three‑way showdown:

• DeepSkyStacker
• Sequator
• Affinity Photo’s own stacking

Think of it as The Great British Stack Off — except nobody gets a handshake and everything smells faintly of dew and seaweed.

Winner this round: Sequator.
Cleanest output, least noise, and the stars behaved themselves.

 

My Affinity Photo post editing Workflow (Step-by-Step)

Below is the full workflow I used — the good, the bad, and the “why is this happening to me?”

 

 1. Layer Setup: Building the Editing Sandwich

1. Opened the Milky Way image and duplicated the background layer three times.
• Background Sky
• Horizon Glow
• Milky Way Band
2. Turned off the Horizon and Milky Way layers.
3. Highlighted the Background Sky layer.

 

 2. Selecting the Milky Way Band

4. Used the Selection Brush Tool in Add mode (soft brush, snap to edges ON) to select the Milky Way.
   Used Subtract mode to clean up stray sky bits.
5. Refined the selection:
• Radius: 1%
• Feather: 0.8 px
• Matte edges: ON
• Output: Selection
6. Turned on the Milky Way layer → clicked Mask → Milky Way isolated.
7. Inverted the pixel selection → turned on Background Sky → clicked Mask.
   Now the sky shows, but the Milky Way band doesn’t.

A neat little cosmic jigsaw.

 

 3. Fixing the Horizon Glow

1. Switched on the Horizon Glow layer.
2. Added an HSL Adjustment:
• Reds: –100% saturation
• Yellows: –100% saturation
3. Used the Gradient Tool (Linear) to draw a gradient from below the glow to above it.
   Turned this into a mask.
4. With a soft white brush, gently painted over the glow area to tame the orange cast.

Think of it like ‘applying concealer to a horizon that partied too hard’ is what a friend suggested when I was describing my frustration with not understanding how to do the procedure well to her. I suspect she was having flash backs to her college days!

 

 4. Enhancing the Milky Way Band

1. Turned off Background Sky + Horizon layers.
2. Selected the Milky Way layer + mask.
3. Added adjustments:
• Curves (midtones boost)
• Levels (tighten blacks)
• HSL (blue tone tweaks)
• Clarity Live Filter
• Denoise Live Filter

This is the part where the Milky Way started to look like the Milky Way again, rather than a ‘smudge’ from a toddler’s pastel crayon.

 

5. Working on the Background Sky

1. Turned off Milky Way layers.
2. Selected Background Sky + mask.
3. Adjustments:
• Curves (darken midtones)
• Levels (deepen blacks)
• HSL (correct colour cast)
• Denoise Live Filter
• Clarity Live Filter

At this point, both sky components looked decent individually…
Which is exactly when everything fell apart.

 

Where It All Went Wrong (The Editing Meltdown)

You know those moments when your brain just packs its bags and leaves the room?
That was me.

I wanted to blend the sky and foreground more realistically — brightness, colour, transition edges — but Affinity Photo had other ideas. No that isn’t fair actually – Affinity Photo knew exactly what it wanted to do and how to do it – it was its idiot user that lost the plot!

❌ Attempt 1: Matching Brightness

Tried lowering opacity → no joy.
Tried curves → nope.
Tried whispering encouragement → still no.

❌ Attempt 2: Softening the Horizon Transition

Tried a black brush on the Milky Way mask → nothing.
Tried Gaussian blur → absolutely nothing.
Tried glaring at the screen → surprisingly ineffective.

Eventually, I admitted defeat.
Sometimes the best editing tool is the “Close Program” button and a consolation biscuit.

 

Final Thoughts (and the Images)

Despite the hiccups, I’m actually pleased with the progress.
Every session — whether under the stars or in front of the monitor — teaches me something new.

These images reflect where my skills are right now:
improving, imperfect, and heading in the right direction.

Much more to learn, much more to try, and many more nights under the South West skies ahead.

Poorly exposed foreground

Wrong exposure 

Like the composition on this one - as this is something I struggle with constantly

Pleased with this one

Quite like this one

Overcooked the milky way and sky; didnt expose the foreground correctly - on both the one above and the one below

In this image - you can see a grey line between foreground and sky - I have no idea what I did wrong during the refine selection process - but I suspect it was there that this line originated. 

Some nights things just don't go right - a failed attempt at imaging the cygnus region of the milky way

 From the back garden

With views restricted only to looking North west to East (steep garden, woodland, houses, bright lights - you name it - I'm surrounded by it), astrophotography from the garden can be tricky and restrictive.

However, I have spent the last two nights trying to capture the Cygnus region Milky Way. 

So here are the details of these back garden micro-adventures. 

Target:

• The milky way in the Cygnus region stretching from Deneb down towards Altair

I tried to frame it with Deneb in the top left hand corner down to Altair in the right hand corner of my frame - but that didn't work - bits of house, bits of trees and bushes. The best I could get was it going semi horizontally across the frame - not ideal but hey ho - sometimes you just have to go with the flow. 

Equipment:

I thought I'd give CoPilot AI a go and get it to recommend to me what equipment I should use and what settings as well given the date, bortle sky area and moon phase. And, surprisingly, it wasnt far out! 

• Astromodded canon 800D
• Samyang 14 mm F/2.8 lens
• SWSA 21 with William Optics wedge
• Benbro Mach 3 carbon fibre tripod
• MSM green laser pen for polar alignment
• Two power banks - one for camera and one for dew heater band
• Samsung A10 galaxy tablet for white screen for flats 
• Aoelan intervalomneter - wireless remote 
• GoPro Hero 9 action cam with small cvub light and amazon basics tripod for videoing

Settings:

Cloudless skies from 0030 and light winds. Temperature around 15C throughout the night. Moon at 53% and growing larger following night. 

Taking all this into account - my initial test shots and histogram review suggested:

• ISO 800
• shutter speed 30"
• aperture F/2.8
• best shooting times 0030 to 0230

And, CoPilot - got all that right! Go figure! 

I ended up with 100 useable light frames, 25 darks, 30 biases and rubbish flats which I had to reject - they came out a horrible orange colour and I have absolutely no idea why - so they have been ditched. 

However, I also came out with some terrible coma and star trailing at the edges - and again I have no idea why.

Some sessions just work well. Others, well they serve up a horrible  'porridge' of mistakes and errors. Still, the best learning comes from analysing our mistakes, doesn't it. 

Below is the final image - full of mistakes: 

So, what are the errors? 

• A lack of sharpness to the stars - it was very evident that there were some coma issues on all of the images - particularly around the edges - and there was nothing I could do to sort it
• I think my Ball Head was slipping through the night - very slow, almost unperceptible, creep
• I think my star adventurer 2i tracker clutch may not have been tight enough

Since then, I have checked over the tracker, sorted and repaired the ball head, and checked my samyang lens focus.

This really is a poor image and I just can't account for the disasters you can see in it. 

My very first star trail - a mixed bag of successes

 Here is the very first star trail I have ever taken. I'm really pleased with it - not because its a great image - but because the story behind its acquistion is one of persistence and perserverence. 

Let's jump in and unpick the story behind it. 

Location: Wembury Beach in South Devon - the building is the old Mill House owned by the National Trust 

Image details: 

• 90 x 30" lights with 2" interval between photos
• ISO 800
• F/2.8

Equipment: 

• Astromodded Canon 800D
• Samyang 14mm F/2.8 mm lens
• Benbro Mach 3 Carbon fibre tripod
• Joby Gorillapod 5Kg ball head
• one power bank for dummy camera battery
• one power bank for dew band heater
• Neewer dew band heater 

Issues on the night: 

• car lights from cars entering and exiting the car park above the mill house
• red head torch glow from other astrophotographers visiting the site 
• facing a direction and part of the sky which had regular plane traffic crossing it 

So, where does the persistence/perserverence part come into the story? 

I used two programs to obtain the image - STARSTAX and AFFINITY PHOTO v1. 

A straight starstax of the original, unedited files, gave me this image: 

It is straight out of my astromodded camera and has some sort of artistic merit I am sure. The Andy Warhol image of the astrophotography world! 😉

What I wanted to do was to batch edit the 90 photos in one go in Affinity photo - simple things - quick edits - so that I could just try Starstax: 

• white balance adjustments
• colour adjustments
• contrast adjustments
• shadows and highlights adjustments
• sharpness and noise adjustments 

The first step - batch editing the 90 RAW files and converting them into TIff files for Starstax - went off without a hitch.

And then I descended into a three hour long hell - Dante's pit deepest level stuff. 

Affinity Photo would record a macro of the adjustments I made on one of the photos but wouldn't then send it to the library so that I could then batch apply the changes to all the other images. 

In desperation - I asked 'CoPilot' for help. 

Three hours later.........

CoPilot suggested all sorts of fixes - none of which worked.

 It gave me alternative methods - none of which worked.  

Between every new suggestion it - reassured me that it wasn't my fault. It assured me that the next fix was the one that would work immediately. It thanked me for my patience and reminded me again (and again, and again....and again) that none of this was my fault. 

At the end of three hours - it told me that this was a known fault with affinity photo version one and so there was nothing I could do about it!  And thanked me for my patience! 

No, seriously, that was its parting message to me.  I didn't mind the trying of the different fix approaches - that was fine - a problem solving step by step approach. Up for that. 

It was the condescending claptrap - lines of it - between each fix which drove me up the wall. It was like a parent trying to sooth a stroppy toddler or teenager. All praise, all support - "not your fault, you are such a good boy waiting so patiently and dont worry I will definitely fix this for you - you need to do nothing!"

For Pete's sake!  😠😭

Lessons learned:

• Know when to bail out on CoPilot
• after doing the basic edits - take time to do some masking - so that the foreground detail is drawn out further - and the sky stars are enhanced
• some good noise reduction and clarity work on the sky and stars 

postscript update

Attempt two: 

Star trails over wembury beach

I can't decide which image I like best.

What do you think and why?