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How familiar are you with your camera?

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Marvin Doering

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I have bought a number of cameras over the years and they all come with extensive owners manuals that are supposed to enable you to become expert in the use of the camera. My question for you is do you really know how to use all the features offered by your camera? I'm guessing some pros who use their cameras every day for several hours become quite proficient in using certain aspects of their cameras abilities, but I wonder if even they could take a quiz on all the options and get a hundred percent. I guess it is because I am older but I always start out with the intentions to learn all aspects of my wonderful machine but find the manuals boring. I usually set the camera on aperture preferred, F8, and may vary the ISO for certain conditions but beyond that I am a point and shooter. I would like to hear from the rest of you.
 
I learn the things that are important to me. When the camera is new I run through the menus and set things up the way I want. I set up all the menu banks for different situation (field tripod, hand-held, CamRanger studio, macro with bellows). These often get modified as time goes on.

If I foresee a situation where I want to do something unusual, I have the D800E manual on my iPhone.

I mostly use:

Exposure mode M so don't pay much attention to features related to A, S, P.

AF-ON only AF-C

I sometimes do bracket bursts (less with the D800E than I did with the D700). The FN button is used to actuate bracketing.

I have the Virtual Horizon set to the AE-L/AF-L button

I have a number of non-CPU lenses set up.

I have fine-tuned most of my CPU lenses.

I'm sure there are other things that don't come to mind right now.

It is typical with modern technology that devices have more features than any one person is likely to use. That way the device can be used by a larger demographic. It has been said that no one on the planet knows how to use every feature of Photoshop, and few know of every feature.
 
I have never used the manuals tbh, even when I started with a D5000.

I learnt stuff by mostly watching youtube videos, sites/forums and experimentation.
 
Marvin Doering said:
they all come with extensive owners manuals that are supposed to enable you to become expert in the use of the camera.
Click to expand...
Don't know where you got that idea. If you want to become expert in the use of your camera, shoot more stuff. Then check the manual on the rare occasion that you really need to.

...just my opinion.
 
Marvin Doering said:
I have bought a number of cameras over the years and they all come with extensive owners manuals that are supposed to enable you to become expert in the use of the camera. My question for you is do you really know how to use all the features offered by your camera? I'm guessing some pros who use their cameras every day for several hours become quite proficient in using certain aspects of their cameras abilities, but I wonder if even they could take a quiz on all the options and get a hundred percent. I guess it is because I am older but I always start out with the intentions to learn all aspects of my wonderful machine but find the manuals boring. I usually set the camera on aperture preferred, F8, and may vary the ISO for certain conditions but beyond that I am a point and shooter. I would like to hear from the rest of you.
Click to expand...
 
Marvin Doering said:
I have bought a number of cameras over the years and they all come with extensive owners manuals that are supposed to enable you to become expert in the use of the camera. My question for you is do you really know how to use all the features offered by your camera? I'm guessing some pros who use their cameras every day for several hours become quite proficient in using certain aspects of their cameras abilities, but I wonder if even they could take a quiz on all the options and get a hundred percent. I guess it is because I am older but I always start out with the intentions to learn all aspects of my wonderful machine but find the manuals boring. I usually set the camera on aperture preferred, F8, and may vary the ISO for certain conditions but beyond that I am a point and shooter. I would like to hear from the rest of you.

--
MRD
Click to expand...
With all due respect, if you need to ask people how you should learn how to use your camera, you have purchased way too much camera, and should return it for something simpler.
 
Except for video which I do not use.

Went though manuals and books: Nikon User manual - tom hogans complete guide to D800 - David Busch's Nikon D800 Guide - Darrel Young Mastering the Nikon D800.

u-tube videos and on-line references.

Use my D800 almost daily. Quickly go through all my menu items every few weeks just to refresh what each one does.
 
Set my cameras up thru the menus on the way I use the camera probably covering a small percentage of the menus. I don't use video so that eliminates a lot of the menus. I do know exactly where the details are within the menus for the settings I need. There are way too many menus for me. I have been shooting with slr cameras since the late 60's and the d200 was my first digital camera.

Larry
 
I've read the manuals on the four bodies that I have now. But, I did skip the stupid useless stuff like in-camera editing on th D7100.

I've never shot a JPG with any of them. For portraits, my D800 has the flash taped down with black duct tape. I kept hitting the flash pop up button. I'm not sure if it's ever been out of M.

The D3 has shot portraits and lots of events. Probably used about everything on it except P over the years.
 
How familiar am I? Very. When I bought a D200 I wrote an Excel spreadsheet documenting every menu option and set up every choice in all memory banks for the various things I do. I updated that spreadsheet when I moved to the D300. Fortunately when I moved to the D800e someone else had already done the work and took my D300 spreadsheet and updated it for the D800. I have all my custom setting saved to a memory card so I don't loose them. But even if I did I can go back to the spreadsheet and reset the camera from there.

But that's just me. I've also bought every camera guide by Thom Hogan for the Nikons I've owned. I read every owner's manual from every significant purchase I make. It's my way of feeling that I've gotten every dollar's worth of value from my purchase.
 
Frankly, there are functions that I simply do not need or only use one in a blue moon and I have spent no time mastering them.
 
Marvin Doering said:
I have bought a number of cameras over the years and they all come with extensive owners manuals that are supposed to enable you to become expert in the use of the camera. My question for you is do you really know how to use all the features offered by your camera? I'm guessing some pros who use their cameras every day for several hours become quite proficient in using certain aspects of their cameras abilities, but I wonder if even they could take a quiz on all the options and get a hundred percent. I guess it is because I am older but I always start out with the intentions to learn all aspects of my wonderful machine but find the manuals boring. I usually set the camera on aperture preferred, F8, and may vary the ISO for certain conditions but beyond that I am a point and shooter. I would like to hear from the rest of you.
Click to expand...
 
Hi Marvin

What is this c-a-m-e-r-a thing that you speak of? I just press da button on dis gizmo and sometimes pictures come out good, sometimes not... :-)

Seriously, IMHO, photography is like most things in life: you get back about what you put in on a diminishing scale of returns past a certain point, which is different for each of us.

So, sometimes I shoot AP, set an F-stop and press away, other times I might carefully adjust 6 light stands, backgrounds, gobos, etc and fuss over a single exposure for an hour or more.

See, its OK to be just a little insane or passionately in love with your hobby, both are therapeutic so just enjoy and leave the "guilt trip" to others! :-D

Cheers

Andrew
 
Hi,

still to this day don't know how to use my Sinar 4x5 fully. I was amazed after attending 2 workshops on the settings, angles, bellows movements ...etc one could play around with to get different effects on, for example, a huge tray of 100 eggs where you wanted to only have the 4th & 5th eggs in the 7th row in focus with everything else out of focus. I still enjoy reading the books.

With regards to my D800 I'm still trying to become familiar with the fine-tune focusing of various lenses using the DotTune method hoping to end up with sharper images. I've printed the focus charts and want to try it out soon. I also want to know when best to use HDR and Active-Lighting.

Still lots to become familiar with.

Thanks,

Adrian
 
Marvin --

I'm a rudder&stick guy myself, who started with F's 40 years ago and my favorite body is an FM3a MF that i shoot zone system. But life goes on; still the basics are composition, lighting, exposure, and focus. Automation helps not at all with the first and second, a bit with the quantity of light, (but not its quality or properties), and can be a real aid for focus . . . or a bane. You have to master it.

So my approach to a new body is:
  • Master a focussing approach that works for you and your subjects. Seriously, pay attention to this part of the manual or the many guides/books. I mostly use AFS-C and AF/ON for the control it gives me, but that is a two button method and you can't hand the body to someone else and get an in-focus shot.
  • Find an exposure approach that works for you, but, honestly, even us zone-guys will tell you that the Nikon matrix system with an occaisional exposure comp for, say, back lighting, is pretty dad-gum good (particularly if you shoot raw, which you should).
  • Consider what else of the camera features you really want to distract yourself with? For example, if you shoot raw and PP you can ignore the half of the manual about jpg processing, HDR, white balance, PP in camera, etc. I shoot A and my only control re-assignment is ISO on the rear dial; that's it.
  • Finally, critically work with your lenses. Seriously, work with them and see how they mate with the body. Do they accurately infinity focus with phase-detect AF (check with the contrast-detect in Live View)? Do you need to focus fine-tune? Does the VR actually help at all shutter speeds (particularly between 1/80 and 1/200)?
The image is the thing. Cameras can only help you with focussing and exposure, so master those aspects for your style, then go back to worrying about composition and lighting (which is your real job).

-- gary ray
Semi-professional in early 1970s; just a putzer since then. interests: historical sites, virginia, motorcycle racing. A nikon user more by habit than choice; still, nikon seems to work well for me.
 
How do I keep the flash from popping up automatically :)
Marvin Doering said:
I have bought a number of cameras over the years and they all come with extensive owners manuals that are supposed to enable you to become expert in the use of the camera. My question for you is do you really know how to use all the features offered by your camera? I'm guessing some pros who use their cameras every day for several hours become quite proficient in using certain aspects of their cameras abilities, but I wonder if even they could take a quiz on all the options and get a hundred percent. I guess it is because I am older but I always start out with the intentions to learn all aspects of my wonderful machine but find the manuals boring. I usually set the camera on aperture preferred, F8, and may vary the ISO for certain conditions but beyond that I am a point and shooter. I would like to hear from the rest of you.

--
MRD
Click to expand...
 
Marvin Doering said:
I have bought a number of cameras over the years and they all come with extensive owners manuals that are supposed to enable you to become expert in the use of the camera. My question for you is do you really know how to use all the features offered by your camera? I'm guessing some pros who use their cameras every day for several hours become quite proficient in using certain aspects of their cameras abilities, but I wonder if even they could take a quiz on all the options and get a hundred percent. I guess it is because I am older but I always start out with the intentions to learn all aspects of my wonderful machine but find the manuals boring. I usually set the camera on aperture preferred, F8, and may vary the ISO for certain conditions but beyond that I am a point and shooter. I would like to hear from the rest of you.
Click to expand...
 
I know about 85% of the functions of my cameras.

I do not change brand, I stick with Nikon. Therefore, the logic the same. If I bought a new Nikon, I just need to read some new features.

I know that most people do not know how to operate their cameras.
 
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