The SX30 User Manual is available as a PDF only on a CD supplied with the camera, or by download on the CanonUSA site. It’s only black and white and is a very user-unfriendly manual. Not having a printed manual is a poor move by Canon -- how are we supposed to refer to a CD when we are taking pictures in the field, on vacation, etc. with no access to a computer? If Canon wants to make a printed version as an extra cost option, fine, but you can’t just eliminate the printed manual! The CD manual is in rough english and should really have been gone over thoroughly by an english-speaking writer/photographer who is very familiar with the SX30. The manual as written is full of stiff, formal translations and in places doesn't make clear sense -- it all seems to have been very hurriedly rushed onto the CD. If you are a Canon digital camera pro, you may be able to pick your way through the nearly 200 pages (!!!) of the dorky PDF, but if you are an amateur taking a step up to the SX30, you'll be in deep kaka trying to figure out these instructions. There are way too many referrals to other pages (“see page xx for initial instructions, then follow this sequence…”), which is tough but doable using a printed manual, but maddening on a computer (if you happen to carry one with you on your shoot!), since you can't compare or easily flip pages back and forth. Canon obviously gave no thought to the problems of the new SX30 owner or to the fact that a CD manual brings up a whole special set of user and interface problems. The photo samples are very poorly imaged in murky black and white -- why not full color, since many of the camera menus and notations are color coded? To wade through the too-many pages of charts in an attempt to figure out just which features are available under which menus (hundreds of combinations!) is just not possible. As a final indignity, when you try to print out (at your own expense) a page or two from the CD, a large "COPY" stamp appears right across the center of each page. For shame, Canon -- now please do the right thing and allow somebody else to rewrite the manual correctly and bring it out as a nice, friendly, easy to follow, full-color professionally designed, printed booklet that we can purchase and carry with us while we're trying to learn all about your lovely SX30. A quality manual should go well beyond merely just identifying each feature — it should tell you how this can benefit your photographic experience and how the user can combine features for the best final outcome. A helpful extra would be a DVD with how-to videos (in full color!). Canon's mediocre CD manual attempt is a poor showing for a generally fine camera (I can only imagine how Apple would have approached this problem). The lack of a printed, user oriented manual will impact negatively on quite a few disappointed owners and will substantially lower the overall user satisfaction for this quality camera. Hopefully, reviewers will make a strong issue of this item in their write-ups.
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Lack of printed SX30 manual is disgraceful
- Thread starter Ralpho
- Start date
learnerguy
Leading Member
See the SX30 price fall since its launch! $429 is now becoming $314 in 90 days!
Heavily loaded megapixels on a small sensor, lack of printed manual, CA and PF issues, non-threaded lens and what not!
Heavily loaded megapixels on a small sensor, lack of printed manual, CA and PF issues, non-threaded lens and what not!
While I, too, would like to have a print manual without having to print it myself, I've saved the SX30 .pdf manual to my iPhone and like having access to this non-print form without carrying the print manual around all the time (usually have my phone).
Once I broke the ball and chain of my Nikon F2 bag with motor drive and 5 lenses, I've made my peace with concessions that a small digital (non SLR) brings (shutter lag, annoying inability to easily focus at, say, 14 feet or 23 feet). The SX30 is my third digi, and I'm still learning to use it, but I like being able to toss my binoculars, my camera and my bird book (scratch the heavy Sibley book, I'm using iBird more and more--bird sounds!) in a small back pack with the ability to do decent macro work and now 800mm tele work without needing a wheelbarrow or a Sherpa to haul photo gear. Miss my SLR, miss film, but really do like what I've seen so far with what folks are doing with this sub $400 camera, print manual or no. My Nikon 8800 digi came with a print manual and a 10x zoom (and cost close to 1K). I've set it aside for 35x (and many of the same features my 8800 has) and a .pdf file; it's a trade off I'm happy to live with (tho neither gives me those great SLR controls I miss, nor the sore shoulder from the camera bag, nor the smell of fix on my fingers). No perfect boat, no perfect camera.
lp
p.s.
One last pro .pdf comment: "Woodman, woodman, spare that tree..." (from forced memorization in middle school long ago, I think, maybe....)
Once I broke the ball and chain of my Nikon F2 bag with motor drive and 5 lenses, I've made my peace with concessions that a small digital (non SLR) brings (shutter lag, annoying inability to easily focus at, say, 14 feet or 23 feet). The SX30 is my third digi, and I'm still learning to use it, but I like being able to toss my binoculars, my camera and my bird book (scratch the heavy Sibley book, I'm using iBird more and more--bird sounds!) in a small back pack with the ability to do decent macro work and now 800mm tele work without needing a wheelbarrow or a Sherpa to haul photo gear. Miss my SLR, miss film, but really do like what I've seen so far with what folks are doing with this sub $400 camera, print manual or no. My Nikon 8800 digi came with a print manual and a 10x zoom (and cost close to 1K). I've set it aside for 35x (and many of the same features my 8800 has) and a .pdf file; it's a trade off I'm happy to live with (tho neither gives me those great SLR controls I miss, nor the sore shoulder from the camera bag, nor the smell of fix on my fingers). No perfect boat, no perfect camera.
lp
p.s.
One last pro .pdf comment: "Woodman, woodman, spare that tree..." (from forced memorization in middle school long ago, I think, maybe....)
archiebald
Senior Member
Wow!, nice rant....NOT!
So you need a manual on your person, and you need to be taught how to take a photo. Do you want someone to hold your hand as well?
I really loved these parts - great comedy
And what might they be?
WHY?
I nearly fell off my chair when I read this one.
What is it with people being so lazy that they demand to be spoonfed their whole lives? Dear, oh dear - it would be funny if it wasn't so sad.
Actually, a pdf version is FAR better for the simple reason that you can view it at almost any size you like, you can search it for key words, and you can also print it if the desire takes you.
More to the point, do you really need the entire contents of the manual printed? I mean all those pages on direct printing, outputting video to a TV....really? You should only need maybe one or two chapters and if you print it in booklet form, you can have it in A5 size or smaller if you prefer.
BTW, it is very easy to unlock a pdf file and remove the watermark.
I always wonder just what decade one is living in when they make posts like this. I think it's commendable (and convenient) that a company would omit printed manuals. Then again, I don't think they ever intended to cater to lunatics.
eagle_I
Senior Member
I wonder if a useful mini manual could be put on a SD card for display on the camera's LCD or EVF. Yeah, it's too bad a nicely printed manual isn't still included with cameras, but when I look back to honestly evaluate what I got out of the printed manual included with my Panasonic FZ50 I have to say I'd rather pay a little less for a camera with a CD than a camera and a printed book. The FZ50 manual got lightly read at first then referred to a few times then stuck in a drawer never to see light again.
When I first got the SX30 I copied the manual to my PC's hard drive and placed a link icon on my desktop. I've used it about five or six times. I find it convenient to electronically jump thru a PDF. Find the item in the Table of Contents "click" on the page number and your reading without thumbing thru pages. I like it too because I can magnify the screen and text to read easy or look close-up at the illustrations. I didn't try to print anything from it, but if I did and got a copy protection overlay, I agree, I know I wouldn't have liked that.
The way cameras come and go these days I can understand manufacturers wanting to save time and costs by making manuals electronic. I think for those that want a printed manual they should be made available at modest cost. For cameras selling below $500 a model specific DVD on operation would not be cost effective. Maybe it would be for the longer lasting high end cameras.
I dunno. I'm a old fart photog and that's my 2 cents.
Mark
--
When I first got the SX30 I copied the manual to my PC's hard drive and placed a link icon on my desktop. I've used it about five or six times. I find it convenient to electronically jump thru a PDF. Find the item in the Table of Contents "click" on the page number and your reading without thumbing thru pages. I like it too because I can magnify the screen and text to read easy or look close-up at the illustrations. I didn't try to print anything from it, but if I did and got a copy protection overlay, I agree, I know I wouldn't have liked that.
The way cameras come and go these days I can understand manufacturers wanting to save time and costs by making manuals electronic. I think for those that want a printed manual they should be made available at modest cost. For cameras selling below $500 a model specific DVD on operation would not be cost effective. Maybe it would be for the longer lasting high end cameras.
I dunno. I'm a old fart photog and that's my 2 cents.
Mark
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Catboat Willy
Well-known member
Ralpho,
As a new SX 30 Owner, I can empathize with the problem of not having a manual supplied with your camera, for I too was expecting something more than a CD.
That being said; I think that folks like us from a different generation must come to realize that it is the 'way of today' The technology age ! If you use a cell phone, you'll notice that; it too did not come with a very comprehensive manual.
My 16 year old grand daughter considers regular e-mail an 'ancient technology' and one is forced to communicate with her only on FACEBOOK. What's up with that ? And no, I am not going to learn to text ! I'll leave you a voice mail !
It is the 'way' things are done today and it is not the 'way' things were done ten years ago.
Personally, I had no problem and welcomed the idea that I could print the manual from the .pdf file. It enabled me to size the manual so that the pages are in a larger type (easier for these old eyes) and the printed information fills the page. (you can easily remove the word 'copy' or just take the CD to an office supply store and have them do it for you)
The net of that is; I have a comprehensive, easily read magazine sized, 100 page manual that I have no problem following and has plenty of room for margin notes, tabbed pages and edits. Many of the posts I see here on the board are by people who have not read the manual.
One thing that did help me ( I'm coming over from Sony) was making a cheat sheet on 3X5 index cards. All the camera's 'generally used settings' on three convenient pocket size cards. Plus, in the making of the cards, I really learned how to set up the camera. So much of the manual is not pertinent to the operation of the camera or of value to photographer ~ so why carry it about ?
(There are commercially available 'cheat sheets' for the SX 30)
You are using a highly advanced, highly adjustable electronic device and like it or not, you are going to have to move into more modern ways that are reflective of the times. So you better get with the program ~ like it or not !
Respectfully,
Dinosaur Bill
--
I sure wished I knew today what I know I'm going to regret knowing tomorrow.
As a new SX 30 Owner, I can empathize with the problem of not having a manual supplied with your camera, for I too was expecting something more than a CD.
That being said; I think that folks like us from a different generation must come to realize that it is the 'way of today' The technology age ! If you use a cell phone, you'll notice that; it too did not come with a very comprehensive manual.
My 16 year old grand daughter considers regular e-mail an 'ancient technology' and one is forced to communicate with her only on FACEBOOK. What's up with that ? And no, I am not going to learn to text ! I'll leave you a voice mail !
It is the 'way' things are done today and it is not the 'way' things were done ten years ago.
Personally, I had no problem and welcomed the idea that I could print the manual from the .pdf file. It enabled me to size the manual so that the pages are in a larger type (easier for these old eyes) and the printed information fills the page. (you can easily remove the word 'copy' or just take the CD to an office supply store and have them do it for you)
The net of that is; I have a comprehensive, easily read magazine sized, 100 page manual that I have no problem following and has plenty of room for margin notes, tabbed pages and edits. Many of the posts I see here on the board are by people who have not read the manual.
One thing that did help me ( I'm coming over from Sony) was making a cheat sheet on 3X5 index cards. All the camera's 'generally used settings' on three convenient pocket size cards. Plus, in the making of the cards, I really learned how to set up the camera. So much of the manual is not pertinent to the operation of the camera or of value to photographer ~ so why carry it about ?
(There are commercially available 'cheat sheets' for the SX 30)
You are using a highly advanced, highly adjustable electronic device and like it or not, you are going to have to move into more modern ways that are reflective of the times. So you better get with the program ~ like it or not !
Respectfully,
Dinosaur Bill
--
I sure wished I knew today what I know I'm going to regret knowing tomorrow.
wolfpuppies3
Senior Member
Most camera and computer manufacturers along with the entire Apple line provide their manuals in .pdf format to make it easier for you to keyword search for what you seek. Ditto most vehicle manufacturers.
Welcome to the 21st century.
--
Photography at the speed of sound.
Welcome to the 21st century.
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Photography at the speed of sound.
FrankieJ
Senior Member
It's just a digital camera! I've never looked at the PDF for my G11 and yet I have no questions. I can operate every function on my camera every time I shoot without having to refer to a manual as I think can most people of average intelligence. Oh I get it now...
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Don't forget to have fun.
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Don't forget to have fun.
wfjw
Forum Enthusiast
Well now, as this is your first and only posting to dpreview are we to expect more of this?
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wfjw
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wfjw
After reading through the OP "all in one BIG paragraph" post, my eyes hurt so bad.
He's the one asking for an entire printed manual when in fact, he can't even post properly. Good thing you're not the one in charge of owners manual publishing because none of us could read through an entire book written by you.
Ouch...still hurt!
Wowsers
He's the one asking for an entire printed manual when in fact, he can't even post properly. Good thing you're not the one in charge of owners manual publishing because none of us could read through an entire book written by you.
Ouch...still hurt!
Wowsers
rdsatkaycee
Forum Enthusiast
wow, guy came here for help and got more insults than he did anything else. I am owner of SX30IS and would like a printed manual also, but now I guess I'd be an idiot to say anything negative about not having the manual
I suspect that perhaps Canon do, and the decision to drop the printed manual has more to do with saving our planet than anything else. (Although they're probably scoring carbon credits in the process so it's not completely altruistic.)
The vast majority of camera manuals go untouched or are glanced at only once while the battery is charging. Most users expect their camera to do everything on full auto and never progress beyond that.
To the handful of people whinging about the lack of paper - get over it, and come into the new millennium. Get used to reading manuals on your laptop or smartphone.
Regards,
Phil.
--
http://www.pbase.com/phil_a_mitchell
The vast majority of camera manuals go untouched or are glanced at only once while the battery is charging. Most users expect their camera to do everything on full auto and never progress beyond that.
To the handful of people whinging about the lack of paper - get over it, and come into the new millennium. Get used to reading manuals on your laptop or smartphone.
Regards,
Phil.
--
http://www.pbase.com/phil_a_mitchell
I have an SX20 and also got NO manual but guess what? I got something called a printer....and ink...and paper. I printed the manual in 5.5x8.5 and had a binder at home and did just that. Is it too hard for you or can I print, bind and then sell them to all of you guys that are too lazy to print a frea* manual?
Geeez!
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Wowsers
Henry W
Forum Enthusiast
A printed manual is a waste of resources and I'm not a tree-hugger.
The greatest problem I have is finding a PDF version of a user guide for any new device I purchase.
.
The electronic version is easiest to search and should be required. My biggest gripe is when I CAN'T find a PDF manual.
The greatest problem I have is finding a PDF version of a user guide for any new device I purchase.
.
The electronic version is easiest to search and should be required. My biggest gripe is when I CAN'T find a PDF manual.
Quickbeams
Member
Sorry to all the negative responders, but I also like a printed manual. I don't have a smart phone and don't intend to get one and I always try and read the manual with any new product I buy.
Having said all that, I don't have the SX30, but do have the SX10. That camera did come with a printed manual, but I also found parts of it difficult to follow. What I did do, and what may help the OP, is I bought Dennis Curtain's book on the SX10. I found it to be a great resource, and should please everyone, as you can either purchase it as a PDF or as a paper manual. I looked up the website and they now have a book out for the SX30. I originally learned of Dennis Curtain's book on this website, so hopefully this could help others. The website address for his book for the SX30 is: http://www.shortcourses.com/store/canon-sx30is.html .
Hope this is of some use to you.
P.S. - Also hope I haven't broken any rules in posting the website address.
Having said all that, I don't have the SX30, but do have the SX10. That camera did come with a printed manual, but I also found parts of it difficult to follow. What I did do, and what may help the OP, is I bought Dennis Curtain's book on the SX10. I found it to be a great resource, and should please everyone, as you can either purchase it as a PDF or as a paper manual. I looked up the website and they now have a book out for the SX30. I originally learned of Dennis Curtain's book on this website, so hopefully this could help others. The website address for his book for the SX30 is: http://www.shortcourses.com/store/canon-sx30is.html .
Hope this is of some use to you.
P.S. - Also hope I haven't broken any rules in posting the website address.
I miss having a quality compact print manual for devices loaded with feature. However, it's save buck that counts like buying $500 plus lens and then having to run tests for QC issues like decentering AF etc. At least format the PDF to print at page size and not the non existent pocket manual with a poor use of the standard paper size.
No, he came to p*ss and moan like a little girl and got exactly what he deserved.
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