Finding the right buttons on a camera..?...

robsteth12345

robsteth12345

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Todays technology has some drawbacks........has anyone ever had to call the manufactuer of a camera to learn how to access timed delayed pictures or shutter control. Sometimes this material is not covered in the instruction manual.Why do Camera companies do this? ........pleas post responses..........................
 
I usually press all the buttons on new kit to see what happens

that aside the dummies range are pretty good if your manual is inadequate
 
No
It is. Can you give an example? I'll probably find the answer within a few seconds :)
 
I am in the press all the buttons, fiddle with all the options camp but it has caught me out sometimes when I have set something that seemed innocuous only to find out a few days later when out shooting and away from t'internet that I had turned on some bizarre focus mode or some such and then failed to remember how to turn it off. I have to say it is much more likely with compacts and mirrorless than with a good old DSLR.
 
I have loads of functions on my camera which I never use but others may so the manufacturer has to build them in.

I find that whenever I have a new gadget it's much easier just to learn one new thing every day (or week) until you have them pat.

Get the important things right first - then go on to the more esoteric stuff.
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This is in photo feedback? You'd get more responses in Talk Equipment!

Me, I've always found it in the manual, but all my bodies have been self explanatory - its almost always in the drive selection modes.
 
odd jim said:
This is in photo feedback? You'd get more responses in Talk Equipment!
Click to expand...

we'll see, it's there now...


to the OP,

Nope, sorry, I've pretty much always found what I needed to know in the manual. Read it once, play with the camera whilst reading then put the manual away and get on with using the camera.

At least these days, the manuals are generally in half-reasonable english, not the machine translation from the Japanese that was the norm in the late 70's and early 80's.
 
Like Mark, I read the manual then play with the camera while reading the manual (yeah, of course I have a play with the thing before reading but that's playing, not using!!!) then keep the manual in the bag with the camera until I'm as familiar with it as possible. Some cameras are more intuitive than others and since I've stuck with a couple of systems (Nikon then Fuji), many (if not most) features are in the same location across the range.
 
When I buy a new camera after basically familiarising myself with it I turn the lights off and make sure I can access all the menus and change the settings by feel, it is a really useful thing to be able to do, takes a few hours but helps when setting up before sunrise or doing Astro if you don't want to turn your torch on...
 
I keep a PDF version of the camera's manual on my mobile phone so it is always accessible.

Craig_85 said:
I turn the lights off and make sure I can access all the menus and change the settings by feel
Click to expand...

Great Idea as nothing make you look like a fumbling amateur than a new camera with buttons in different places.
 
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