rkaminer Loc: New York, NY

your ability to describe these manuals using "Heilige Scheise" is spot on. Kudos for being multilingual. I sold my Sony camera because of the menus and endless manuals.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

My experience with a G85 and a G9 has been otherwise. Now I will agree that most user manuals can be good at telling you how to achieve certain settings but not so great at explaining what sometimes cryptically named features actually do. For that I think a third party guide is usually a better bet.

User ID

Yup. Sometimes the whole reason for getting a 600 page $40 book is to crack the code, to decipher a vocabulary invented by the marketing department.

/:/::://:/:/::/:/:://:/:/::://:/://:/::/::/

Both Lumix and Olympus offer the “pre burst” or “pro capture” feature. The manuals tell you how to access the feature but don’t say much about what it is. And “what it is” seems to defy physics, like a time travel machine.

Another example is Lumix’s “one touch AE”. The name is half descriptive and half obscurantism. You’d never think to assign it to an easy access button for constant use unless curiosity led you to experiment with all the vaguely named items in the menus.

Even the fairly common feature of a “toggle” option for the AE Lock button is not self evidently useful when the user manual just tells you how to switch it on and off.

All this stuff fundamentally alters the user interface to an unfamiliar but more convenient interface. But a camera cannot be sold with all the controls defaulted to these settings cuz the unfamiliar doesn’t sell too well. So the camera’s better interface is chopped into pieces and hidden. It’s the age-old “pearls before swine” problem.

ronpier Loc: Poland Ohio

I have never read any of my manuals from beginning to end. Way too boring!! But I have purchased many excellent 3rd party instruction books along with watching YouTube videos and web site downloads. Does it for me.

luvmypets Loc: Born & raised Texan living in Fayetteville NC

Yes, User ID, I am aware that PDF's are searchable; I have experience with them. They are, however, totally useless if your cell phone is dead. My point is that a paper book never needs charging and as long as you have a source of light, they are readable/searchable. I do appreciate you informing me of the option and, unfortunately, using the PDF on my phone will have to suffice for the moment.

Dodie

Doc Mck Loc: Terrell,Texas

Try u-tube tutorials. I have bought 3 canon and a sonyrx10 mk4 and found excellent tutorials on all 4. This is in the past 6 months. Also a number of aftermarket tutorial books.

User ID

A 600 page book is rather heavy to lug around everywhere but as you point out, it never goes dead like a battery. OTOH, a recharge pack for your phone is MUCH smaller and lighter than those big books. Plus, a phone can store numerous books ... many pounds of books in there.

Maybe some would call me a “belt and suspenders” type, but as you can see, I use both big, fat, enjoyable books AND the recharge packs for my phone (and camera if necessary).

Personally I really like books and never did like phones, but I carry the phone everywhere and the books stay home. And anywho, you can’t order a pizza using a book ;-)
.

The “Belt & Suspenders” Approach ... 16AH or 5.2AH on tap

(Download)

kb6kgx Loc: Simi Valley, CA

Prior to getting my first DSLR, a Nikon D7100, my most recent film camera was the Nikon FE and, before that, the Nikon F. Manuals? I had them, but don't recall ever having to look at one, other than to learn how to replace a focusing screen.

When I received the D7100, the manual was surprisingly thick. 335 pages. I still haven't looked at it, as I have obtained two other, and easier to read, books by Darrel Young and David Busch. Still on the thick side, but better than the supplied manual.

I'm still thinking of getting the "D7100 For Dummies" book, just because it should be easier still. Much of my learning about this camera has been by "let's see what THIS does".

ronpier Loc: Poland Ohio

The “Dummies” books are very good and easy to read. I have a few.

bob44044 Loc: Ohio

When these manuals are written, they're not written with the consumer in mind. They're written by those that made the camera and are extremely familiar with it, for those like them. This is generally true with most everything that is accompanied by a manual. Poorly written and not with the general population in mind.

I get more useful info from videos on Youtube than from any manual.

planepics Loc: St. Louis burbs, but originally Chicago burbs

I don't know about the a6000, but I bought Gary Friedman's manual on my new (to me) a99ii and, with every option explained, it's a 608 page book, not including the index. One nice thing was that Gary (with purchase proof) included a PDF version that has tone of hotlinks to videos and articles related to whatever chapter it's in.

NCMtnMan Loc: N. Fork New River, Ashe Co., NC

The more complex and loaded with features and options anything gets, the more difficult digesting the manual becomes. I have found that the index at the back of the manual (if it has one) is the most useful item. If you have a question about say focus you can go to the index and there will be page listings of every where focus is a subject.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

I’m sorry if this has already been said. True be told, I read a couple pages and went straight to the end. IMHO, camera manual (with the exception of Sony manuals, which I don’t know why they bother), tell you where controls are and how change/adjust them, but not much else. If you to optimize those settings for shooting scenarios, there’s Busch, Dummies, etc, and personal experience.

kb6kgx Loc: Simi Valley, CA

Precisely why I obtained the Busch and Young books, and plan to get the "Dummies" book, as well. I KNOW where the controls are. What I'm looking for are what are good average settings for various situations. So many things on a modern DSLR that can be adjusted to make things "better", and the manual has nothing about. these things.

John from gpwmi Loc: Michigan

I have found the camera manuals difficult too, especially as the cameras get more complicated with menus and sub-menus to several levels. For the Olympus EM1,II I purchased Darrell Young's book on mastering it. Spent some time reading and pushing buttons and in a relatively short time I felt comfortable getting around the menus without the book. His books looks daunting, but that's because he goes through everything step-by-step as though you know nothing, but once you understand the organization of the menus you don't need all that detail. Well worth the price and much better that the pdf's from Olympus. I believe he has books for other cameras as well.