Do you read your User's Manual?

spraynpray

OK, you don't have the time to join a club, that's a pity, it means that you are the only person affected by not knowing how to use your camera fully. It's not the end of the world in terms of getting to know how to use your camera though, you can even have the manual on your phone to snatch a few minutes here and there to read until your options when seeing a shot become automatic.

A guy I shoot with was like that a year ago when we first started going out, but now he says how much more he knows because I am constantly on his case about him missing opportunities and because of me embarrassing him into reading his manual.

Photobug

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.

Yes, I have seen the same thing, don't blame you for the rant. We moved in 2012 and promptly joined the local Camera Club. As a retiree, my patience varies but at several shoots I have helped Nikon users and during those discussions you really find out how little so many people know about their cameras. Sad state of affairs.

pizzathief

Printed off the Nikon D5300 manual. Waiting for it to show up in the mail, so I'm going thru it, page by page, there's a lot here compared to my Kodak HA HA... )
Anyway, until it shows up I'm trying to better myself for it's arrival and studying a masterclass photography book to relearn things I've forgotten about the over the years. Cant wait for spring though...brrrrrrrrrrr

rbrylawski

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.... )

If one looks at the way the manuals for many of the Nikon DSLR's are laid out....it is almost overwhelming...450 pages is a lot. And to search for the information we need, well, sometimes the Index does not do what we want.

I have found a real help is to download the manual and have it on our computers. And, there is an App so one can have it on our iPhones or possibly other smartphones. The advantage is one can search the manual, and then go through only the pertinent information, hopefully finding the answer to our question.

In the USA, downloads are available from Nikon at http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Service-And-Support/Download-Center.page

I'm disappointed to know you wouldn't want to know me. I read owners manuals. From page 1 to the last page and so I did with my D7100 manual. I may not have fully understood every sentence on ever page, but it really did help me immensely with my camera.

Come on Msmoto..........I'm a nice guy and someone worth knowing. Yes, I am!

pizzathief

I read the manual too, i think it could of been organized better, seemed to jump around if you ask me, but it was short, took me an hour to read. Got anything bigger?