repleo Loc: Boston

You didn't need to go to Costa Rica to find those folks - plenty of them right here on UHH.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

I wonder how many are afraid of all the bells and whistles and are scared they bit off more than they can chew. Don’t want to mess up their new play pretty so don’t do anything at all beyond just the basics.

Photocraig

This harkens back to an old Kodak story where they describe a typical consumer's camera use. "One roll of film with Christmas Trees on each end.

That roll may have come out of a Brownie or a Rollei or maybe one belonging a Mercedes driving Hasselblad owner. And the Brownie may well have represented the same % of the owner's disposable income as did the Rollei or the Hassy.

In the right hands, the Brownie could have yielded the best photos.

Talent and money exist of vastly different continua, having very little correlation.

THAT's a human constant having nothing to do with cameras, or cars, or microwaves, or computers, either.
C

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

Did you ask any of those people how many had received their DSLR as a gift from a loved one when they probably would have rather had a good bottle of scotch or a box of cigars instead?

User ID

Simple. They were fishing for someone
richer and better looking than you !

.

User ID

You mean "I'm going to Paris, Rome, Moscow,
Monte Carlo, Nairobi with a safari on the side,
Tokyo, Singapore, Brisbane and Sydney. I've
got every lens and body in the Nikon catalog
but I wanted to ask the experts here .... " ?

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

It doesn't surprise me at all. When I go to nearby tourist areas, I frequently see people with expensive cameras who don't even know how to properly hold the camera when shooting. There are some folks who have more money than they can ever spend, want only the very best, but never bother to take the time to really learn how to use all that expensive stuff they buy.

Bill_de Loc: US

Came close back in the 70's. I bought one for my mother. It had a mechanical timer and 2 buttons, cook and defrost. It heated coffee just fine.

--

Kuzano

What about the other button... Stop~

Does it just go until it frizzles to black cinders!

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

Now that's a foolish question! Everyone knows that you just unplug it before the smoke gets so thick you can't see what is in it!

That said, I have a Panasonic microwave that I bought in 1991. It is still going strong and I still haven't figured out all the settings. My wife does things a bit differently, but, as far as I am concerned it has only one setting: High.

LarryFB Loc: Depends where our RV is parked

Perhaps this is just a sign of the times, but it has been going on for decades. Just look at the posts in Ugly Hedgehog. How many of them start out with "how do I take a photo of XXX with YYY?" or something similar. Many times someone answers with a comment like "Look at page 359 in your manual!"

How many times do you see a topic like what lens should I use to photograph in [some specific location]?

There are many others like my examples. Usually the answer is something like "it depends." Then there are the posts asking something like, "What exposure should I use for photographing XXX?" Perhaps that made sense in the days of film, but in the age of digital the response should be something like, "make your best guess, chimp, and adjust as needed!"

Unfortunately, too many people purchase a DSLR, even an advanced DSLR, and do not read the manual, do not know an f-stop from a shutter speed, and do not have any concept of what ISO means.

I'm going to stop my rant now. Please folks, do your homework, don't expect people on this forum to answer your questions unless you have done your homework. As far as I'm concerned, the difference between a Nikon, a Canon, a Sony, and a Fuji, is the first letter of the name.

User ID

Those jerks are precious to folks like me.
They trade up, about every 3 years, and
we buy their trade-ins. Don't knock it ! !

.

cowboydid2 Loc: The highways and byways of America

" That's right, folks, buy our newest Nicanolta 5 million D mk VII and you too can take the greatest photographs in the history of man!!"

( But only if you learn how to use it, ya moron.)

The problem is, most people think ALL cameras are point and shoot. And then wonder why all their pictures look like crap.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

Back in 2009 I bought a Nikon D90. I'd had plenty experience with SLR film cameras, as well as small point and shoot digital cameras, but never with a DSLR. I also bought a good book on the camera. I took the camera home and started reading the book. To say I was intimidated is an understatement. There were terms I'd never heard of before. So I just put it in Auto mode, but I didn't know what I was doing and was getting quite frustrated with the camera. So I went back to the camera store to have a talk with the owner there and I asked him a bunch of questions. His response was that he was a professional photographer and recommended just leaving it in auto since the camera is so much smarter that we are. He added that that was what he did! Professional? Professional what? As a result, I never did learn how to use the other functions, but I did know that it wasn't quite like shooting with a film SLR. Consequently the camera just sat in the closet for a long time, unused. Then I gave it to my grandson who knew what he was doing and i found out what that camera could do. The whole point of this is that casual users are apparently not the only ones who don't know how to use their gear. Oh, and I learned a lot from my grandson, and now I know a lot more than I did. He's done with the D90, and I have it back. The upside? I know how to use the features of that camera, although I seldom use it now.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That's not too surprising. They have the money to spend, and they want a "good" camera. The DSLR is big, traditional, and it looks like a camera should look. Carrying it around gives the impression that they know what they're doing.