BebuLamar

I found most camera manuals are OK. They are not that small either. I found third party manuals like those of Busch and Young don't add much value. I read them in the stores but never found them useful to buy. Cheat sheets are bad unless you make the cheat sheets yourself.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

These are good points. Sometimes it is the receiver that is the problem not the transmitter. We have more access to information than we ever had before, but we also have more people with entitled attitudes that want things personalized for themselves.

Personally I like the small manuals, 'cos if I do carry one with me it's about the same weight as a lens. A big comprehensive manual / tutorial is way too big and heavy. It's all available, take your choices people!

There is a reason that I use Canon over other brands, which is the user interface (UX in modern parlance), the controls on my EOS camera are very similar to those on my 1986 T90 manual focus film camera. There is new stuff, but once I have read about it and made sense of it I hardly need to refer to the manual any more. I do have a pdf copy on my iPhone that I can search, but a few well constructed questions to Mr. Google frequently get their faster.

I see this as a user problem, not a manual or brand problem....

"Ask not what the manual can do for you, ask what you can do with the manual" and then ask yourself if it is the manual's problem....

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

I must be sick. I actually like the manuals that have come with my brand "x" DSLR. They all have an index so I can look up anything I need to know.

I do the basic set-up and then toggle through the camera menu to see what I might want to know beyond the things I already know that apply to all photography.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

Long had a hate hate relationship with any manual that's bigger than the device it's explaining.

All mine are printed off A4, but I've not bought a new camera since I retired. 200 double sided A4's ain't going to come cheap.

andrew.haysom Loc: Melbourne, Australia

When I first got my Canon 6D I purchased the relevant e-book from this web site.

http://www.dojoklo.com/Full_Stop/

He has e-books for most of the recent Canon and Nikon DSLRs. Much easier to read, and better explanations than the original manuals.

The best $14 I spent after buying the camera.

Gifted One Loc: S. E. Idaho

Michael, I perceive what you are really longing for is a drill SARG! When I get a new product I treat it somewhat like that. Back to basics! Get an UWA shoot everything with it. Get a new tripod shoot nothing hand held. get a new lens with VR, IS, OS, shoot everything at very slow speed hand held. Get the picture!

When I am just setting I visualize the functionality of equipment or shots and what to do in my mind. If I wonder then I can go to digital copy!

Some equipment a perused the manuals before I received the piece.

Good shooting and get some decent glass!

J. R.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

I find them well written and understandable. I was just reviewing mine last night.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

Yes well, the problem is similar to what my son, the journalist in Istanbul runs into. He writes a good article in English that is then edited by a non-native English speaker that does not understand punctuation of diction. The result does not read well, and in some cases no longer makes sense. Sounds just like my Sony manual.

Cappy Loc: Wildwood, NJ

I generally download the full manual before ordering the camera. Instead of printing 300 pages I print only the sections I'm interested in. Makes a much smaller book. Most of us don't need 70% of what's in the download.

picturesofdogs Loc: Dallas, Texas.

I download Friedmans books to my android 10.5 tablet. I can also control the camera and see an immediate 5x7 of what I just shot.
Just have to charge it once in a while.

Yooper 2 Loc: Ironwood, MI

I recently purchased the Lumix FZ 1000. It came with the worst manual I've ever seen. I haven't heard anyone say they love their manual. Manuals have been dumbed down. Pity the amateur that knows nothing about cameras.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

There are a number of different laminated "cheat-sheets" which are useful. Some of them require a magnifying glass to use, though!

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-CheatSheet-version-laminated-instructions/dp/0983451583/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1448805225&sr=8-5&keywords=70d+instruction+card

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-Photography-Cards-Cheat-Sheets/dp/B006WSQUVM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448805225&sr=8-1&keywords=70d+instruction+card

BebuLamar

By the way I read the entire manual before I bought the camera.

berniewanzek Loc: Clinton Iowa

Couldn't have said it better!!

jeryh Loc: Oxfordshire UK

Hows this then; I bought a new Canon Pro-1 printer, and set about reading, or trying to, the included manual; after a number of false starts, I went back to the store; the manager was good enough to try, but even he gave up, and rang the canon sevice centre. I went home, and a canon guy came out, took one look at the manual, and trew it on the floor; That's the worst bloody manual Iv'e ever seen he growled !