Download the manual?

[Tintype_18]

This community has been a great place to learn about photography. I have a T7 but like to skim the posts about other Canon cameras, lenses, etc. I wonder how many refer to a manual before addressing questions to the community. I realize sometimes a question isn't covered in the manual. Mine is 326 pages with the index starting at 319. When I first got the camera, I downloaded the manual on my laptop and started with the basics, learning how the different settings on the dial worked. I still refer to the manual plus I like to experiment with settings. A few years ago, I walked the local Greenway which is a wide paved trail along a creek that flows through town. Bright sunny was the order of the day. One photo was totally white; a few subsequent settings got a good photo (at least I thought it was good). Looking at the settings later, paired with the manual, was a learning experience. Community, many thanks for your input to the many questions and situations posed by others.

[John_SD]

"When I first got the camera, I downloaded the manual on my laptop and started with the basics, learning how the different settings on the dial worked."

This is the way. 

I am routinely stunned at the numbers or users who spend good money on a camera and then invest little to nothing learning how to use it. Some have flat-out stated that they don't like to read LOL. I have no time for lazy photographers. 

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

Only about 25-30% of people download and read their manuals.  Canon camera's are great and you can almost wing it just by putting a card and battery in the camera to start shooting.  However, to get the all the benefits, reading your manual cover to cover is a big help. They are complex devices for sure. 

Here's a link to the new EOS document library:

cam.start.canon : For customers using CANON products  

[p4pictures]

The reality is that few people read the manual, and the daunting page counts often frighten people who might be tempted to try. The new EOS R5 Mark II manual is 1,200 pages.

My approach is often to download the PDF and search within it for the terms I want to find more details. Over the years I have gained an understanding of the terms that Canon uses so my searches are quite effective. As an example there's little point looking for exposure or metering, but partial is a less common term relevant to metering patterns.

What does concern me is that even the many pages in the manuals do not cover all the depth of the settings in the cameras. A common example is the AF-ON button, as some of the functions that can be assigned to it have a second level of settings that are not even identified or explained in the hundreds of pages in the manual. Oddly it was covered in older cameras like the EOS 7D Mark II with less pages.

[Tronhard]

I think there is a dichotomy of approaches to manuals. Those who might be new to photography, a system or brand, and those who want to find specific features or issues.  In both cases, I agree with my colleagues' comments about the length of the manual being intimidating.

I don't see the reference manual for a camera (or any other device, really) as being the place to start if one wants to learn about the principles of photography metering, control and composition.  The manuals that come with cameras may allude to those principles, but really it's all about the controls that interface between the human.  That is often a challenge for those migrating from cell phones to a dedicated camera and expecting the same ease of use, and are thus often utterly lost.   For those who don't understand those principles, I invariably suggest engaging with other humans - join a club, take a class, or watch selected Y-tube videos on the principles of photography - of which there are quite a few out there.

One of the best in that respect is what used to be called Lynda.com, and is now LinkedIn Learning.com.  Now, there are several similar learning sites that offer excellent in-depth and graduated courses for a fee, but if one explores the local library's on-line catalogue and that is an item, then they have free access to the site via their library credentials and that is a great deal.  The courses are run by skilled photographers and presenters, with classes in time ranging from specific topics to whole multi-hour courses on specific cameras or styles of photography.  They are broken down into stages for easy consumption.

For the second constituency, who are familiar with photography and may be very experienced in general: which would be most of us, I think the manual downloaded as a PDF and searched for text strings is a powerful reference tool, as Brian has alluded to.   Also reflecting his comments, is that as cameras have become more complex, at times the manuals gloss over the finer points and one can miss deeper levels of control.

Different brands are better or worse, and I would put the Canon ones generally at the top.  The worst I had to deal with was the manual for the Sony RX-10, where in the end I bought an excellent 3rd-party book and ploughed through sections of that to set the darned thing up so I don't have to go through the tortuous menus. 

There is another aspect to this and that is a change in social behaviour.  Forgive me if I repeat myself on this from some previous post.  While my pre-computer and pre-web generation was used to reading books and referring to libraries, the convenience of the web has had a major change on later generations.  The first wave would search the web for the information they were looking for and come up with a series of entries that one has to decide are reliable or not.   This was unlike traditional books, because the web's open platform allow anyone to publish, and that can lead to a wide disparity in the quality and accuracy of information.   The later generation is under the influence of social media, where one asks others to tell them the answer to something they could look up for themselves, if they so chose - a phenomenon we see a lot on this site...  That now puts the inquirer at the mercy of poor research, bias and propaganda because social media has no editing or mediation.  Woe betide anyone who might suggest they read the manual!

That exacerbates the accuracy issue even further and can lead to a reliance on opinion over valid research.   I see this at the university a lot, where first-year students may have been used to using dubious sources previously, but are given short shrift by academic staff when they can't provide authenticated, factual, source information from their own research.  For those not pushed in that direction, it can really change their habits - much in the way that we now have a generation of young people who find talking on the telephone intimidating.   

As an aside...
When I was working for an ICT company in my last years before retirement we had to deal with this - new hires didn't want to attend face-to-face meeting with anyone, particularly clients, and were reluctant to deal with voice calls - you can image that was a challenge since it was a phone company!   They were so addicted to their social media that we blocked it within our rather large campus.  This was so distressing to the addicted individuals that they were joining the smokers outside for a social media fix and working even less.  In the end, we allowed social media but monitored use with the proviso that we would deal with those who were spending too much time on it. I have also read several (referenced) sources that indicate that the head-down position that young people adopt to look at their phones is changing their physiology.  Because their heavy heads are forward the muscles that support it have to become stronger, in response the cervical vertebrae are developing arches to provide said muscles with stronger attachment points.  So the classic evolution cartoon of the movement of crouched ape to hunched computer user may have to accommodate a new figure at the end with a bowed head and crested neck.

I think this is an habituation caused by the fact cell phones now dominate communications, and that while text messaging is essentially free, while cell phone minutes cost.

[Tintype_18]

Thanks to all for sharing your thoughts. When I first got my T7, I played with some of the settings but realized that when I went through the different things on the screen/menu, I realized what I didn't know...and still don't. I have been to a couple of YouTube videos but get impatient and go back to the manual for answers. Some things as ISO are described in the manual but the learning experience is to take a scene and use different ISO settings to see the best results. Had a bad experience with photos a few years ago. I sent one to a retired professional photographer. His answer was brief...White balance. Game, set and match! Will be experimenting with macro as I have some flowers at home and an assisted living place has a whole row of what looks like miniature sunflowers.