folkus wrote:
Help! The Sony A1 intimidates the devil out of me. I am reluctant to just dive in with this camera and I have used Canon, Nikon, and Leica in the past. What blocks me in this moment is a mystery. Do others feel the same and how did you push through this resistance? I think some hand holding by Sony would be helpful, but they indicate no interest in providing specific instruction for the A1. All suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for your guidance and push.
Download a PDF of the manual from Sony's site. Read it on a computer or tablet with camera in hand. Locate and try the features you find difficult to understand or that are simply new to you.
The collegiate level reading strategy of, "Survey, Predict, Question, Read, Review, and Report" (SPQ3R for those who want to look it up) may help. I know that is not a popular way to learn, but I know from personal experience that it is HIGHLY EFFECTIVE if you have the personal discipline, time, and space in your life to dedicate to it.
Modern camera manuals are hundreds of pages long*. Surely, in that vast expanse of diagrams and prose, you will find the answers to your questions.
That, of course, assumes you already know the basics of photography. Every camera requires some understanding of the basics to yield nice images.
By example, the most important digital camera manuals I've read were for the first two digital cameras I used (one Canon and one Nikon). They provided enough information to give me a head start on every digital camera I've used since. I still managed to skim the manuals for all the rest, stopping to read about and try all the features that were new to me. When I switched to mirrorless and Lumix Micro 4/3 gear, there was plenty of new content to learn.
I'll likely be upgrading my Lumix GH4 to a GH6 this year, so that will require a thorough study! The GH4 came out in 2014, and was fully firmware-updated in September of 2017, so many features have been refined and added since. *I have already downloaded the 826 page Lumix GH6 manual. It's 400 pages longer than the GH4 manual.