Put marketing in prison (and quickly)

[Abitconfused]

I often help people who have purchased a modern digital camera. These are complex, as you know, and learning the language of pixels can be a challenge. However, they have been made even more complicated by marketing which imagines that many people are complete idiots. Making maters worse, the manual that comes with the camera (soon to be available through downloaded PDF only) is written not to teach how to use the camera to become more adept at photography, but how to use the camera in automatic. Marketing, once again, assuming humanity has just fallen out of African trees and believes that if real photography is referenced the camera will be returned the next day.

All that automatic crap only adjusts 1) Aperture; 2) Shutter Speed; 3) ISO (the Exposure Triangle); 4) Point of Focus; and, perhaps, 5) Metering Modes; or 6) Servo. Understand these and you understand the machine. Understand the machine and you are ready to select options. Study and Use the machine and you are ready to learn all the buttons and how they effect the above variables. Think about these variables while composing an image and you are ready to compose art. Obtain feedback and/or critically evaluate your art and you are ready to become a photographer.

Modern cameras have become festooned with a dizzying assortment of crap that PREVENTS consumers from understanding, for example, aperture and depth of field. One camera offers a setting which is described as, in essence, "make background fuzzy."

The axioms of photography are not that hard to understand. I ask the jury to sentence Marketing to 10 years at soft labor rewriting camera manuals.

[Shadowman]

I think once you get the camera in hand you can figure most things out somewhere, the manual is not designed to teach you photography; just to find out how to do this or that and often times the real nuggets are left for field guides to educate the consumer. So if you are helping out a new photographer suggest they buy the field guide for their model, it won't be available for newly released models but by the time the consumer is ready to learn the guide will be there. By the way, some of the entry level Nikons do provide some explanation of what is being accomplished by choosing certain Guide Modes.

[george013]

I often help people who have purchased a modern digital camera. These are complex, as you know, and learning the language of pixels can be a challenge. However, they have been made even more complicated by marketing which imagines that many people are complete idiots. Making maters worse, the manual that comes with the camera (soon to be available through downloaded PDF only) is written not to teach how to use the camera to become more adept at photography, but how to use the camera in automatic. Marketing, once again, assuming humanity has just fallen out of African trees and believes that if real photography is referenced the camera will be returned the next day.

All that automatic crap only adjusts 1) Aperture; 2) Shutter Speed; 3) ISO (the Exposure Triangle); 4) Point of Focus; and, perhaps, 5) Metering Modes; or 6) Servo. Understand these and you understand the machine. Understand the machine and you are ready to select options. Study and Use the machine and you are ready to learn all the buttons and how they effect the above variables. Think about these variables while composing an image and you are ready to compose art. Obtain feedback and/or critically evaluate your art and you are ready to become a photographer.

Modern cameras have become festooned with a dizzying assortment of crap that PREVENTS consumers from understanding, for example, aperture and depth of field. One camera offers a setting which is described as, in essence, "make background fuzzy."

The axioms of photography are not that hard to understand. I ask the jury to sentence Marketing to 10 years at soft labor rewriting camera manuals.

Marketing......... You ever wondered what happens on your smartphone, or your pc? How you're forced to use help programs, apps etc.?

George

[rpcrowe]

I suspect that many folks (even those purchasing expensive cameras) never advance further than shooting JPEG on full-automatic.

Full-Auto on many cameras does quite a decent job but, naturally limits the capability of the camera. My son-in-law shot a whole African safari with a Canon SX-50 HS and came back with some pretty nice stuff...

OEM user manuals are sometimes great and sometimes mediocre. You can often supplement the OEM manual with a third party manual...

Many cameras have manuals written about their use that are available at an extra expense from third party producers. The David Busch series of instruction books are excellent:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...ch%2Caps%2C234

I would recommend the full size books for persons relatively new to photography and the David Busch Field Guides to persons who are versed in photography in general but want to learn a bit more about the specific camera the are, or will be, using.

The differences between the two types of books (besides size and cost) are that the full-size guide books have some basic photo information included while the field guides sort of limit themselves to the operation of the specific cameras.

I have both types. I purchased the field guide to the Canon 7D soon after I purchased the camera and it is excellent. It is significantly less expensive than the full-size manual while the small size allows you to carry it into the field (as the title suggests). Soon after I purchased a used Canon 5D Mk.III, I found a used copy of the full size Busch Guide (for two U.S. Dollars) at my library. I personally would have chosen the Field Guide but, I couldn't resist the cheap price of that book at my library's quarterly sale.

In addition to books, YouTube most often has a plethora of videos on the operation of just about any camera. These videos range from excellent to barely passable...

[Brev00]

I hope this is tongue in cheek. I can't imagine blaming anyone besides myself for any camera operation miscues. Many cameras have scene modes that can teach one how to set the camera up oneself. That helped me. The only guide I remember reading fully was D90 for Dummies. That was my first dslr.

I have run across problems with camera classes. One person I met knew nothing about af and could not control her focus because they never covered that in her class. Good fuzzy compositions I guess.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[Tringa]

As John noted the manual is not there to teach photographic prenciples, just to show you what the controls do.

On another forum, now and again, there are questions about why a photo hasn't come out the way the person wanted. The reasons are varied but often they fall into three camps and the photo is

blurred because the shutter speed was too slow,
out of focus because the focus point was missed or the aperture was too large,
dull because it was a very dull day.

Sometimes the question is, 'What am I doing wrong?', but sometimes it is, 'What's wrong with my camera?', as if the camera is at fault which can lead to some people wanting to buy a new body or lens to get better photos.

If folks want to use Auto all the time (and by Auto I mean Full Auto - the green box on the dial - not AV or Tv where the photographer has had to make decision that affects the shot) then fine, but even with fairly simple cameras they are unlikely to be getting the best out of their camera, but as noted above Auto will often give you a good image and that is as far as some want to go with their photography.

I think there are two routes that take people beyond the basic operating instructions of the manual -

an interest in the mechanism of photography. What is an aperture, why are there different ones, what does the shutter speed do, etc.

a critical assessment of their own shots. For example, they have taken a shot of flower but are unhappy with it because it doesn't really stand out, because everything else in the shot is in focus too. This can be quite difficult to do, especially if there is an emotional involvement with the subject. How many pretty poor shots have we seen on social media of someone's child or pet?

Some folks don't want to get involved in anything even slightly technical and if they are happy then I'm not going to tell them they should change their ways.

Unfortunately some folks, and this is where marketing does have an impact, think (a) if the camera has more megapixels it must be better and (b) the camera can do anything.

Dave

Something I saw on another forum doesn't cover all of photograhy but sums up quite a lot -

Beginners think it is all about the cameras,
enthusiasts think it is all about lenses,
photographers know it is all about the light.

[IzzieK]

In short, the way to learn photography properly, composition and your camera is plain and simple curiosity. Just grab your book and go through each buttons and what each one of them do, take some test shots,etc. If photography really got to your system, you would not stop until you learn, even with just one button each day. If not, you just lose interest for many reasons and for one -- the information hasn't sink in in the first lesson. Too lazy to follow up. This is from experience from two people who attempted to learn how to learn photography. One gave me 1 hour at least, then another one 10 minutes and I didn't know how to handle them at that stage.

[Manfred M]

I think the manual is likely written for the camera's target audience, so an entry level camera is likely to assume limited camera knowledge. Pro and semi-pro camera manuals are definitely not written in quite the vein that you have described. In my D800 manual, there is a bit of basic information but all the functionality is well explained, all 472 pages worth. There really isn't anything on how to take a picture.

What amazes me is the 26 page manual that came with my ancient pro Leica R3, all 26 pages. If it were formatted the same as the Nikon manual, it would be down to around 12 pages. It doesn't tell the user how to take a picture either.

[Shadowman]

In short, the way to learn photography properly, composition and your camera is plain and simple curiosity. Just grab your book and go through each buttons and what each one of them do, take some test shots,etc. If photography really got to your system, you would not stop until you learn, even with just one button each day. If not, you just lose interest for many reasons and for one -- the information hasn't sink in in the first lesson. Too lazy to follow up. This is from experience from two people who attempted to learn how to learn photography. One gave me 1 hour at least, then another one 10 minutes and I didn't know how to handle them at that stage.

Izzie,

Interesting comments about your two attempts to help someone else and it brought to mind this other conversation recently. Photography Mentor

Your attempt to help others mirrored mine, I had a novelty camera (Theta 360) and wanted to show it to two friends and also have them act as participants/models in the demonstration and that portion of the experiment went well. When they both expressed interest in my DSLR I let them use one of mine and we spent the rest of the shooting and learning. They both expressed interest in wanting to learn and buy a larger camera but the desire slowly waned as they went on about their daily lives. They still take lost of photographs, usually with the phones but have not brought up the idea of wanting to continue learning with a new system. Sometimes the motivation has to come from the student, sometimes the mentor can inspire the student.

[Shadowman]

I'll add one more comment to the OPs original thoughts. Unless it is a brick and mortar dedicated camera store; the seller usually doesn't show the consumer how to use the camera either. For all the really good Amazon, B & H, online sales we encounter; unless the outlet has a brick and mortar location the end user won't get any further tutelage on how to operate their camera. Granted, most of the brick and mortar outlets charge for these camera-how-to services, but it benefits the typical camera store to be proactive, consumers are less likely to return an item if they are given hands on instruction on how to operate their systems.

[MrB]

Surely a company's marketing is about selling more of their equipment. However they decide to do it is up to them, and it would seem likely that they would put as much time, effort, and research into that aspect of their business, as they feel they are able to invest. If they are doing it right, their products and the company will be a success, and presumably that is of benefit to those of us who buy their equipment, however we use it. There are surely now few people who haven't heard of the Web? For those who want to go beyond Auto Mode and beyond the supplied User Manual, there is a wealth of guidance available online, in text, illustration and video form.

Cheers.
Philip

[DanK]

As John noted the manual is not there to teach photographic prenciples, just to show you what the controls do.

I agree. I have owned 4 Canon bodies, ranging from a Rebel to a 5DIII, and all of the manuals did a pretty good job of explaining how every control and option works. They didn't teach me to take photographs. I was personally puzzled by all the stuff on using automatic modes, but that's because I couldn't see that it was worth buying, say, a 7D if you want a point-and-shoot. But that is the consumer's choice, not the manufacturer's. Clearly, there is a market for people who buy expensive cameras and use them in automatic modes, so the manufacturer provides those modes and a manual that tells you how to use it.

It's no different from a car user's manual, IMHO. I recently bought a new car, a Subaru, with all of the safety-related electronics they offered. Subaru provides a Euoropean-style manual rather than an American-style one--that is, it's long and explains everything. I had to leave the main manual (there was more than one) in the house for a few weeks, just as I did with my 5DIII manual, so that I could gradually learn to operate all the new stuff that I had never encountered before. (To take one example: it has forward-facing cameras that it uses for several purposes, including warning you that you are about to hit something and, in extreme cases, applying the brakes. You have to turn it off before entering a car wash with brushes. There is a whole bank of switches for turning off this and numerous other features. Takes some practice. Sort of similar to learning to control the initially bewildering AF options on the 5DIII.) I eventually learned all the controls, but it didn't teach me to drive any better.

[NorthernFocus]

It would be interesting to see the demographics on CiC membership. I suspect it's only us old codgers who even care or take the time to peruse an equipment manual. Much less discuss the topic. There's a reason that cell phone photography is so popular.

I have to say it can really be entertaining to watch DSLR toting tourists. I'm particularly amused by the person with the $5000 camera/lens combo and a $30 tripod. I love to watch them stop the car, jump out at the tourist overlook in the middle of an f16 day, quickly set up the tripod, snap a photo on full auto, fold everything back up and move on to the next pull out. I suspect the marketing department likes them a lot more than me.

[Geoff F]

Yes, Dan, I agree.

The basic instructions for shooting in auto mode are far too complex for most people I know.

Turn it on, point in the general direction and click. Anything more is considered to be needlessly complicated.

Every day I see people attempting to take photographs under impossible conditions. I don't know whether they are happy with the results but I rarely hear anybody complaining about the quality of what they shoot. Maybe expectations have simply lowered.

[Tringa]

It would be interesting to see the demographics on CiC membership. I suspect it's only us old codgers who even care or take the time to peruse an equipment manual. Much less discuss the topic. There's a reason that cell phone photography is so popular.

I think you might well be correct. Speaking as a fully paid up old codger there seems to be a tendency away from taking the time to do/learn things for oneself. On another forum I've seem a number of threads with questions where the answer could have been found, probably far more quickly, if it had just been typed into Google. I've even seen questions that are of the, "Can my camera do xxxx?' type, to which the answer is sometimes RTFM.

Dave

[xpatUSA]

The manual for my favorite house-brick . . .



. . . is quite simple!

Raw only, no JPEGs.

No Video.

No 'Scene Modes'.

No Pop-up Flash.

The manual spends most of it's time explaining 1000 ways to see your shots on the tiny rear LCD, with only a few vague hints on shooting pictures - starting with, yes, set the mode selector to 'P' . . .

[tao2]

It would be interesting to see the demographics on CiC membership. I suspect it's only us old codgers who even care or take the time to peruse an equipment manual. Much less discuss the topic. There's a reason that cell phone photography is so popular.

I have to say it can really be entertaining to watch DSLR toting tourists. I'm particularly amused by the person with the $5000 camera/lens combo and a $30 tripod. I love to watch them stop the car, jump out at the tourist overlook in the middle of an f16 day, quickly set up the tripod, snap a photo on full auto, fold everything back up and move on to the next pull out. I suspect the marketing department likes them a lot more than me.

Nothing wrong with a $30 tripod. Pay any more and yer probably the victim of......................marketing

[Ken MT]

My Canon 7D Mk ll manual has 548 pages, I haven't bothered printing it all!

[Donald]

It would be interesting to see the demographics on CiC membership. I suspect it's only us old codgers who even care or take the time to peruse an equipment manual.

Probably. For us in that category and who want to call ourselves photographers and what that means in terms creating images that are above the 'Full Auto-Point & Shoot' standard, then it is really very simple. Once you know how to operate the camera to get the very best out of it, you can forget having to do that bit of technical thinking as it all becomes almost automatic, and concentrate of the best possible capture of a photograph.

If you set up your camera and then have to start trying to think what button you press to do what, then you ain't giving 100% concentration to the scene you're trying to capture.

It's back to that thing about being able to operate all the functions of your camera with a cloth over it so that you can't see any of the controls. Once you can do that, then you're ready to capture photographs. (And, yes, some of us did cover it up and practiced, practiced and practiced operating it blind until we could do it without needing to see the buttons.)

As others have said above - the manual teaches you how to use the camera, not how to make images.

[IzzieK]

...I have to say it can really be entertaining to watch DSLR toting tourists. I'm particularly amused by the person with the $5000 camera/lens combo and a $30 tripod. I love to watch them stop the car, jump out at the tourist overlook in the middle of an f16 day, quickly set up the tripod, snap a photo on full auto, fold everything back up and move on to the next pull out. I suspect the marketing department likes them a lot more than me.

I can relate to this story -- I have a very good friend around here and her pictures were most touted at very, very good by friends at our car club so she was made official photographer. One day I went to her place because she said she finally had time to use her studio down their basement. I found out that she has never advanced beyond "Auto" everything. She one of the very first one that bought a D810, the very first one that bought a 35" 4K monitor screen, first everything to buy...name it here, she has it. So in short it is not only tourists who has a $5K+ camera/equipment that operates in auto-everything. I am still woo-ing her to give her old cameras to charity ... It is sad -- I really feel sorry for her. She has all these money to spend as she wants on equipment but she doesn't have time to learn her camera. So I do not open any conversation on cameras with her anymore...and she got this little cute Bichon Frise as her constant model...