Okay Tim, I failed to do what you told us to do at Mousefest last year. ; I had my Sony DSC-H50 for almost a year now and was looking for some type of Shutter Trigger cable so that I could use it to take photos during the fireworks and not touch the camera. ; Today I went back to researching the question on the internet when I went to the online manual to see if the camera was compatible with a shutter trigger cable. ; That's when I finally found out that the camera comes with a Remote Control. ; WOW, your advice was right. ; I can only add that maybe I should have read the manual from cover to cover TWICE. ; Suffice it to say, I will be re-reading the complete manual prior to my trip in 90 days.
It's funny how so many of us (including me) are resistant to reading owners manuals, but will spend hours looking for useful info. on the internet. I wonder why that is?
I don't read the manual because I have zero reading comprehension. ; I can read a page and not know what I've read. ; So, by the time I finish reading the manual I'll have no recollection of what I've read. ;
Well one of the best things the major camera companies have done is to almost standardize their lines. ; A professional can use a D3, and pick up a D5000 and navigate the menus quickly because they're basically the same now. Same with the 5DMk2 and 50D. ; Not sure about the Rebel series since they don't have the rear wheel like the others, but I think the menus are the same now. I try and thumb through the manual, but it's better to have it with the camera with you to try out.
I don't have the patience to sit down and read the entire manual... ; Instead, I prefer to take it out of the box and play around with it to learn the basics and then consult the manual on the advanced operations as needed.
I'm a manual reader, mostly because I like to read just about anything. ; While I'd advise that reading the manual may help with some things you might have missed, admittedly the cameras are getting self-explanatory enough with on screen guides and help that I usually start taking photos and changing settings BEFORE I actually read the manuals. Another side of the manual story... With some Asian companies, the manuals that come with the product are not the best things in the world...some come translated from Asian languages of origin, and are not necessarily checked for flow and continuity. ; So you can get some pretty funny word combinations and sentence structures...like the following: "Camera has memory flash is itself load to photos into use, when you no store more photos, and camera hold full your photo, you can choose to use SD card." Which I believe was an interesting way of saying that the camera has built in memory to store photos, but when that memory is full, you can use SD cards to hold even more photos. Sometimes, reading translated English manuals is a lot like reading Shakespeare...you know something is being said, and it bears some resemblance to English, but you're lucky to pick up 10% of the meaning.
LOL My wife accuses me of the opposite. If we buy a new car, I Read the WHOLE manual from cover to cover. I have always been that way.
I was thinking the same thing. When I went to work for a Photography supply house in early 1980's I told my boss I wanted to get familiar with all the different models of cameras we had. He told me not to waste my time because I had been shooting long enough and new enough about cameras and photography I could pick up any camera and use it and explain it to any customer. Funny thing .... he was right. Of course there were small things like whether or not focusing screens were interchangeable and what accessories were available, but in general all cameras work the same. I found the same thing when I started checking out digital slr's. I went to a local best buy which had a pretty good selection of Canon and Nikon (the only ones I was considering anyways) to "feel" them out. It became a matter of "fight & feel" for me. It was easy enough to navigate both cameras menus and features without any problems. ;
I was thinking about that as you were posting it. ; Back before AF it seemed that you couldn't do much with an SLR body: ; Shutter speed on the dial, ISO on the dial, aperture on the lens. With AF bodies and totally electronic mounts led to different directions - Canon's dials go one direction, Nikon's go the other, where wheels are placed on the body to rotate and what each wheel does, etc.
I read the manual and still have no idea what Im doing. ; LOL ; I find it way more helpful to ask you guys questons, because you explain things better and there can be a whole Q/A session. ; Which is way more helpful then re-reading the manual and still have no idea what I am doing. ; Plus you guys fit in my bag better, on my iPhone. ; I have a button that links me right to the site. ; My manual is at home. ;
