I am an Engineer.
So much of my time is spent reading manuals, just checked and my collection is north of 11.000 (pdf + scanned) ones. I select equipment and components to be purchased this way.

My advice is read the manuals *before* you buy the gadget.

It serves two purposes:
1) to help you choose exactly what piece of equipment you really want to buy.
2) it help you start using the equipment quicker, because you already know how to use it.


Besides... reading manuals is a kind of art. You learn how to do it in an efficient manner. Sometimes I read a 1.000 pages manual in one or two days... because I already know 90% of what's in there anyway.

Taking responsibility for what we buy and use is, apparently, a controversial concept. Over the ten years or so I've been on UHH, and the 50 years of my "aware" life before that, I've noticed that a large number of people seem to gloss over the fact that technology is complex. They buy things that they think they want, but they don't do their research in advance, to be sure that THEY and their new devices, are compatible with what they want to do. They yank them out of the box, plug them in, turn them on, and get disappointed.

"Ready? FIRE!! (Uh, Aim, maybe? You just took out the neighbor's flower pot…)"

We're living in an age where our technical tools are not like hammers and screwdrivers, which are easily mastered by third graders. When you buy a hammer or screwdriver, it doesn't come with a manual, because it doesn't need one. It has a fairly singular purpose and a well-known and understood method of use. But technical gear — cameras, audio, video, computers, and cars — is different. These and many other tools and toys require serious consideration before buying, and serious study before use… IF we are going to get our money's worth from them.

Those of us who write user guides and technical manuals for products and software are usually the first to test the usability and viability of the product. If even the smallest detail doesn't work for us, we explain the issues we find to the product development team AND their directors. Making operation EASY for the customer IS HARD WORK for developers, engineers, and product design staff. It's just as difficult for trainers and training content developers.

One of the unfortunate assumptions companies make about their products is that customers WILL READ the documentation that explains proper use and care. Yet surveys have shown that up to 78% of customers never read it. Many users don't want anything to do with an 830+ page camera manual, or even any sort of a 20 page "Quick Start" guide.

I get all of that, but I also know from hiring many people in a photo lab — and from training school portrait photographers, office staff, and sales people — that understanding and mastering technology requires some quality time, focus, and a certain level of detail orientation. Patience with the documentation and with the entire learning process is usually rewarded with great results and long, trouble-free product life.

There is an old acronym that floated around the Internet BEFORE 1993, when the World Wide Web was born: 'R.T.F.M.' When users got stuck, and posted questions on a bulletin board forum for the tech support staff, the POLITE response was often, "Well, did you read the manual?" Soon enough, that got shortened to the acronym.

"Read The *Fine* Manual!" is the polite version of the acronym. After the tenth or eleventh call from the same user, with the same question, the tech support person would hang up the phone after a call, and yell into a paper bag, substituting whatever 'F' word suited his/her mood.

So here's my simple request to the universe of tech purchasers. Please read the documentation that comes with your purchase, or that you can download from the manufacturer's website at no additional cost. You will learn things you can do with your device that you never thought possible. You will avoid pitfalls that cause 80% of the issues people have with their devices. You will get more done, in less time, with better outcomes! You will trust the maker of the product more, because you understand what they do and don't expect you to do with their devices.

ESPECIALLY if you have used another brand of product in the same class, you need to read the manual just to UNLEARN how your old device of another brand worked. Don't expect brand L to work like brand N. Don't expect brand F to work like brand T. Terminology may be different, control placement may be different, and the way some of the functions work almost certainly will be different.

Don't try to make a Ford drive like a Toyota. It will just annoy you. Don't try to make a Windows PC work like a Mac. It will just frustrate you. They are different brands with different design philosophies and result from different ways of thinking about the same tasks. Take them for what they ARE, not for what they are not.

A little reading won't kill you. Operation may not be obvious, even when you think it should be. There's a reason for everything, and you need to know what it is, if you are going to get along with your new device. Read the freaking manual, and get your money's worth.

If you've never seen a particular type of device before, you'll imprint whatever knowledge you have onto it... UNLESS you read the frickin' manual, or there's an instructor nearby to explain it.

Imagine what people from the year 1800 would think of an iPhone if they were suddenly transported into 2024! The scene would look like the apes examining the black slab in 2001: A Space Odyssey. It would completely warp their minds. The sheer amount of education and training required to help them understand what they would be looking at is staggering.

A GREAT rant. I received a great toy on Christmas 1952. However, it required some assembly. I was 8 years old and didn't think about manuals, I just wanted to play with the toy. Unfortunately, my father also did not read the manual. Long story short, the toy never did what it was supposed to do. From that time to this very day, I always grab the manual first and read it. When the manual is 800+ pages I take it step by step and when it is too confusing, (or boring, (did you wade through the Nikon Z8 online manual?)), I turn to third party writers. Thank God for You Tube!

You deserve to feel better. You pointed your finger at approximately 70% of the users of UHH and told them how foolish they are. The words you wrote hit directly at laziness and few people like to admit that fault. How often do people ask for “ help” and be told the exact location of the information they seek, and that location is a page from the owner’s manual? Happens almost daily. Very few seem willing to work for something if they can get someone else to do it for them. Slackers seem to think buying a camera makes them a photographer. Imagine early pioneers of photography using that philosophy. You hit the whiners directly in the seat of their pants. Thank you very much for your honesty.