Do you read your User's Manual?

JJ_SO

...the Nikon app itself is not at all better than a standard reader on iOS, it is worse.

I've never had any trouble with the native app. It's fast and easy to use, but I guess it depends on the age of your device.

Between "had no trouble with" and "is well done" I recognize some kind of bandwidth

Now, do you like to tell me, my flamenew iPod Touch 5th generation is already old-fashioned because Google brings out new Android versions and it only takes 1/4 year until they reach the devices?

Or do you want to say, try it on an old device because it looks a lot better there? Just because on my 2 year old iPad it looks the same and is not slower or faster.

PB_PM

The Nikon apps work quickly on both my iPhone 4 and iPad 3rd Gen.

adamz

never, unless I'm stucked with some function and need to fix it (like lack of greyed background when using DX mode on FX cam).

JJ_SO

I'm not so experienced with Nikon cams (and with others also only on certain models), so I'm always glad to read a good manual at least partially. Otherwise you stuck with functions you alread know and miss others which could be worth to be discovered and used.

spraynpray

"Otherwise you stuck with functions you already know and miss others which could be worth to be discovered and used."

I wonder how many new body buyers fall into that category.....

JJ_SO

It's more interesting (to me) reading a book about the camera than reading the manual with tons of text and "emotion-free" graphics in. In the book are usually better samples for the different functions and you can connect memories about "how they did this portrait with nice skin tones". But in the manual you find a lot more information once you are able to discover it by using the search with the right keyword. This is, what makes most problems in writing manuals: How can one bring the right words into the brain of a user? How would users make a search? An old, but still outstanding example is Apple help - I know, Mac users are usually more the lazy guys when it comes to rtfm, but the help Apple provides is the best I ever saw together with a technical product.

I wonder how long it took them to develop, also how much Steve said "you have to get better!"

Golf007sd

The answer to the OP's post: Not really. I'm more of a hands on kind of person. Only when I'm stuck and need to find something out specifically will I open the pages. I do however have the manuals for all my bodies downloaded digitally so I don't have to flip pages.

Godless

Sometimes an obvious question goes unnoticed. And I do not actually know anyone who has read their manual from cover to cover...and I do not really want to know this person if they exist.... )

Whenever I get a new electronic device, I read the relevant parts of the manual while the battery is charging.

obajoba

I've read many "manuals" from cover to cover and some of those (enterprise storage arrays, large tape libraries) make the Nikon manuals seem as engaging as a good fiction novel.

paulr

I have read my manual several times Msmoto, not only that, I take it with me just for the odd reference when on location
I paid for it so I am going to use it!

spraynpray

>- As somebody else who read it cover-to-cover I was keeping a low profile after Tommies last post!

Msmoto

OK, OK, I probably have read most of the manual. And, I use the search function on the computer as I have almost all the latest manuals downloaded in order to be able to learn more by looking for answers in the manual when questions are presented on NRF. The video, well, I have not to date shot any video, except by accident.

My guess is that I still shoot as if I live in the1960's...LOL...but what I mean is, I like to set things manually, check these each time I shoot a venue, and try to grasp some of the newer capabilities of the camera as I go along.

For those who have not downloaded their manual, this is the easy way to find information as the index is not as efficient as the search function, IMO.

And, I will admit, reading the manual from cover to cover, a good idea, but one which seems to put me to sleep. Maybe I will start....mmmm... I-)

paulr

Sorry to hear you had a small Insomnia problem Msmoto, try reading the Nikon WT4 Transmitter Manual Totally riveting stuff. If you get pass page 3 without falling asleep you will be doing well LOL

spraynpray

Sounds more like narcolepsy to me Paul.

paulr

I didn't realise that Msmoto was so young

spraynpray

Well, by comparison to the pyramids she is..... )

Kayla_Harris_0909

To be honest, I never carefully read the user manual since it is too long. With this electronic version of the manual, I can search for the answer of a particular question. Thank you for sharing!

FreezeAction

I spot read. As needed when pressing buttons and turning dials don't answer my questions. You know a guy hates to as for directions when lost....

NSXTypeR

Occasionally yes.

I had to do that to figure out how to set U1 and U2 on the D7000.

Photobug

I have read every Nikon manual except the D200. The D300 took a week to read, but I read every page front to back and over the first 3 years went back a few times to reread sections. I am half way through the D7100 manual and expect to finish by the end of this month.

I always find good tips and useful information so I read the manual. There are several of us on NRF who read the manual and expect them to speak up.

ThomasHorton

Whenever I am considering purchasing a new camera, I download the manuals of the different cameras and read them all. I find that reading the manuals can often tell me more about the camera then reading reviews.

Then once I decide on a camera, I read the manual several times while waiting for it. The new fangled cameras can do so much and I figure since I am paying for all this functionality, I might as well know it.

I have a tog friend at work who never reads the manual. Sometimes she is surprised when she "accidently" discovers a new functionality. LoL

Weird how different people handle this. People learn differently. Me? I am a reader.

Hval

I tend not to read manuals. I generally play with things, ask people questions or look up the answer to my questions on the web. I go to a manual only as a last resort.

PS, anyone know where the on/off button is on the Nikon D200? Been looking for 20 years and still cant't find it. :-)

Photobug

Whenever I am considering purchasing a new camera, I download the manuals of the different cameras and read them all. I find that reading the manuals can often tell me more about the camera then reading reviews.

I have a tog friend at work who never reads the manual. Sometimes she is surprised when she "accidently" discovers a new functionality. LoL

Weird how different people handle this. People learn differently. Me? I am a reader.

For years I found it amazing how people I would run into on vacation with D300/D300S who were having problems and I helped them out...at the time I was a D300 shooter. After helping people I was always amazed that they did not know how to use bracket mode, how to use spot metering, how to over or under expose the base exposure setting and how to lock AF for moving objects. My wife and I have had many good laughs about these "teaching moments".

People learn by many ways but at some point you got to read the manual or read parts of the manual to better understand how to use that quality camera.

spraynpray

Had a macro evening at the club last night interrupted by people who had no idea to use their cameras. The same people, time after time, wasting every bodies time. They come up when it is their time to shoot and just push their cameras towards you to set up for them. The learn nothing and you know that next time, they will come up and do the exact same thing again. When I hear them saying they don't read their camera's manual because they just ask or tinker until it works, I get so pissed off.

End of rant.

Hval

Spraynpray,

Every so often I look at joining a camera club. Never have. It does not seem feasible for me due to my work. I am duty officer every second week, every year. A typical example of my day was yesterday. Leave home 06:35hrs. In the office 07:00hrs. Leave for home 17:00hrs. Arrive home 18:00hrs. Sleep for 90 minutes. Then cook dinner. Then deal with incidents until 02:00hrs. Then sleep 4hrs. Get up and start cycle again. When not on duty my normal day is 06:00 to 18:30hrs.

I would tend to learn more if I went on one of Thom Hogan safari trip things. Problem is, my poor, long suffering wife, whom I do not get enough time with, isn't as interested in photographty as I am. She is a great artist though.

Hval.