A Gripe About the Nikon Z9 User's Manual
Jan 13, 2022 13:51:10 #
You can't always get what you want
No, no, baby
You can't always get what you want
you can't now, now
But if you try sometimes
You just might find
You can print just the pages that you need
oh yeah
No, no, baby
You can't always get what you want
you can't now, now
But if you try sometimes
You just might find
You can print just the pages that you need
oh yeah
Jan 13, 2022 14:36:09 #
therwol
Loc: USA
BebuLamar wrote:
The PDF has advantages. It can be searched. It can be duplicated easily. I can print sections of it when I need and I can always print them again when I damage the pages. Still I want my paper manual with the camera. I don't want third party one.
One of the advantages of third party books like those written by Young and Busch, is that they contained detailed explanations that are easier to understand than factory manuals, though the factory online manuals are vastly superior to the printed ones they supply or may supply.
Jan 13, 2022 14:56:08 #
george19 wrote:
I purchased a Z7 ii in October and have the same observation and complaint. I think I managed to download the manual, but it took considerable effort, and functionality is horrible. Nikon stopped supporting their Manual Viewer app, which was somewhat useable and useful, but this machine is a beast to learn.
So yeah…I ended up buying a third party book.
Congratulations on your purchase, and I wish you years of enjoyment.
So yeah…I ended up buying a third party book.
Congratulations on your purchase, and I wish you years of enjoyment.
Always a good move to get the 3rd party book. I bought the Busch book about a year before buying my Z6.
If the book had revealed that I’d better forget the Z, then $25 for that warning is better than $1000+ blown on the wrong camera. Having bought the Z, the book becomes a useful aid.
I wanted the Z6 for two specific reasons. All else about it merely had to be “just OK” as long as those two functions were going to meet my needs.
Concerning Nikon’s “manual viewer app” that you mention, isn’t the downloadable manual a normal standard PDF ? If Nikon has dropped PDF for some proprietary file type that would indeed suck much ! Is it a PDF, or something else ???
Jan 13, 2022 15:08:38 #
mwsilvers
Loc: Central New Jersey
Howard5252 wrote:
I just got mine and the first thing I noticed was ... (show quote)
Were you really expecting them to give you a 914 page printed user manual? No one does that anymore. And even if they did, most younger people today would rather read the PDF file on their phone or computer screen. Even my Nikon Z fc with far less functionality than a Z9 has a 623 page manual. I'm 76, but I downloaded it to my phone and read every word of it. The manual is always with me and I can jump immediately to any part of it using my phone's PDF browser's search function. It is much faster and more efficient than flipping through pages. I understand that some of us miss detailed paper manuals, but that day is over and has been for quite a while. We all need to move on, like it or not.
Jan 13, 2022 15:43:10 #
mwsilvers wrote:
Were you really expecting them to give you a 914 p... (show quote)
Much as I agree with all you wrote, I do get a minor laff when you write of “most younger people” reading the pdf on their phone. We both know that your “most younger people” are using that phone as their primary or only camera and leaving nostalgic retro looking “real cameras” like the ZFC to olde pharts like us !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Olde pharts are not the steadiest users for small handheld cameras, and that has immunized me from ZFC gas, cuz no IBIS ... plus I already have IBIS in retro dress, a silver Pen-F with its several dinky little silver primes that look waaaaaay more retro than Nikon lenses. And the Pen’s “rangefinder” form factor has a reeeally retro “pre-SLR” 1950’s look to it.
Jan 13, 2022 17:24:05 #
With a pdf editor you can make changes to the pdf manual after you download it. For example, delete pages that don't interest you and are getting in the way, or insert annotations and embed short cuts directly into the manual. The era of camera manufacturers shipping hard copy manuals with every camera is unfortunately at an end - you may as well adapt to digital manuals and find a way to make them work for you. And that includes altering them to better fit your needs, as well as investing in a tablet for both portability and easier reading.
Jan 13, 2022 17:53:59 #
Howard5252 wrote:
No, I would like to have an owner's manual. I don't know what it costs to print just one manual but I'm equally sure that it costs less per book in the volume Nikon would print. The cost to them would be miniscule when compared to the price of the Z9. Perhaps they could have offered it as an option; I'd bet there are a whole lot of people who will be buying the third party books that will come out, myself included.
I used to prefer "paper" until I got used to using a tablet. I have all my photography and shop manuals in one place. My car owner's and service manuals are on the same tablet.
Since I also like to read novels I have a bunch of them loaded, as well as some music.
At one time reading glasses were needed on occasion. No more. If necessary I just tap the screen and make the print bigger.
Tablets can also offer a lot more. From Amazon you can try it and return it for a refund if you don't like it. I would guess that is the same at other vendors.
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Jan 13, 2022 18:14:57 #
NickGee
Loc: Pacific Northwest
Bill_de wrote:
I used to prefer "paper" until I got used to using a tablet. I have all my photography and shop manuals in one place. My car owner's and service manuals are on the same tablet.
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Another advantage of the online docs (either downloadable PDF or online Help center) is currency of the information. Before retiring I was a technical writer in the software industry. In the old days, we'd publish the User Guide with version updates, roughly every other year. Now, however, docs are updated every day. Rarely do printed user manuals go out without errors or omissions, and on top of that are updates to the product itself, so having current docs at your fingertips is a win -- despite the inconvenience of downloading (that is, if you view downloading as an inconvenience).
Jan 13, 2022 18:35:34 #
rook2c4 wrote:
With a pdf editor you can make changes to the pdf ... (show quote)
Some but not all. If the author of the pdf locked it you can't edit without the password.
Jan 13, 2022 19:38:01 #
mwsilvers
Loc: Central New Jersey
therwol wrote:
One of the advantages of third party books like those written by Young and Busch, is that they contained detailed explanations that are easier to understand than factory manuals, though the factory online manuals are vastly superior to the printed ones they supply or may supply.
I have used Busch books over the years and they are very helpful. However, the downside of those books is they cover most, but not all, the settings of every available feature. It was less difficult when user manuals were only 200 to 300 pages long. To accomplish that for the Z9, with photographs and high quality drawings, a Busch type volume that covers a 900+ page small format User Manual would probably require well over 1000 pages!
Jan 14, 2022 06:31:02 #
Howard5252 wrote:
I just got mine and the first thing I noticed was ... (show quote)
Went through the same with my canon R5. The piece of sh*t book that comes with the camera is cryptic junk. It is more of flimsy reference manual, assuming you know stuff when you don't. Had this issue way back with my 5dIII. Bought a third party book that was outstanding. I now own a third party book for my R5.
In essence user manuals are never in the box but online, like it or not. Youtube is really helpful to at least get started. I watched many videos on the R5 since it took about 2-3 months to arrive.
Jan 14, 2022 06:58:05 #
Funny how some will complain about the most ridiculous things. Ya have those that complain about trees being cut down, (who live in wood structured houses) and then there are those who complain about how wasteful getting paper statements in the mail, or how big boxes are in the shipping of a small item. Then there are those who complain about no manuals of hundreds of pages, yet more readily available via internet as a PDF file. Jeeeeezzzzz, give it a break. Nikon is perhaps being Green by not wasting thousand of trees having to print manuals that for the most part don't get read. I'm sure no lengthy PRINTED manual is a result of a study done, Yey or Ney to a printed manual. Or maybe they just took it upon themselves to save you a couple bucks in not printing a manual.
Jan 14, 2022 08:33:10 #
Not near as bad as Apple. Apple's iPhone doesn't even come with a charger! Like buying a car with no tires!!
Jan 14, 2022 09:01:02 #
tcthome
Loc: NJ
Howard5252 wrote:
I just got mine and the first thing I noticed was ... (show quote)
Imagine if you didn't have internet & the library is closed due to covid!
Jan 14, 2022 09:04:15 #
tcthome
Loc: NJ
billnikon wrote:
How cool is this, finally I can download the Z9 ma... (show quote)
I do it once in a while window shopping for almost anything when needed. When shopping at B&H, a lot of times they have a link to the product manual on the right side of the page. Helps me & probably helps them from getting bombarded with questions.
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