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OM1 Aide Memoire - my custom buttons

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Adrian Harris

Adrian Harris

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When out shooting I am finding it more and more difficult to try and remember what settings I have assigned to camera buttons. Hence I now go through the process of creating 'cheat sheets'.

The beauty of creating a cheat sheet is not that you will necessarily need to use it, but the very act of creating one helps things drum into my memory a bit better ;-)

I know everyone will have their cameras setup differently to suit their own photographic needs, but I attach below the stage I am currently at with my OM1 and as you will see it's certainly not perfect and not completely finished, But I hope it may provide some ideas for other forum members)

18eee472dda64272bcca04c22b0137a5.jpg

037d5100a3a24621a3db68b0cf1bfd19.jpg

995c9bbbb5a7409b83e97ffc38b698fe.jpg

PS. It's still not finished as I am still struggling trying to figure out what many menu items actually do - My brain doesn't seem to suit modern camera user manuals very well ;-)

--
Adrian
 
Hi Adrian,

Memory is a strange thing, that can be triggered in many different ways.

Creating a cheat, or memo, will activate other circuits (also mechanical process) that def. help

Gooood idea . . .

enjoy your outings
 
Adrian Harris said:
When out shooting I am finding it more and more difficult to try and remember what settings I have assigned to camera buttons. Hence I now go through the process of creating 'cheat sheets'.

The beauty of creating a cheat sheet is not that you will necessarily need to use it, but the very act of creating one helps things drum into my memory a bit better ;-)

I know everyone will have their cameras setup differently to suit their own photographic needs, but I attach below the stage I am currently at with my OM1 and as you will see it's certainly not perfect and not completely finished, But I hope it may provide some ideas for other forum members)

18eee472dda64272bcca04c22b0137a5.jpg

037d5100a3a24621a3db68b0cf1bfd19.jpg

995c9bbbb5a7409b83e97ffc38b698fe.jpg

PS. It's still not finished as I am still struggling trying to figure out what many menu items actually do - My brain doesn't seem to suit modern camera user manuals very well ;-)
Click to expand...
I am absolutely thrilled to see this. I have made many attempts, but not half so complete. I totally admire your artistic skills. Any chance you could produce a series with empty call outs so that I could fill in my own settings? That would be so appreciated!

Your Ardent Fan,



--
Joan
"Find a perspective that transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary."
www.joanrobins.com
 
Tai_Ji_51 said:
Hi Adrian,

Memory is a strange thing, that can be triggered in many different ways.

Creating a cheat, or memo, will activate other circuits (also mechanical process) that def. help

Gooood idea . . .

enjoy your outings
Click to expand...
It wasn't until I started creating these sheets that I began to realise just how many options and variations we have on offer which we have to try and remember well enough to operate as second nature automatically!
 
OMG.
 
Brilliant!... I'm sure everyone would love to have this for their camera.... especially people with a memory like mine!.... thanks for showing this Adrian!....

P.S..... would it be possible to post a copy with empty comment boxes?...
 
that's what neuro-muscular coordination is all about, not to forget muscle memory - no pun intended :-) - and the beauty of it is that the more efforts you pour into it, the better the results you're entitled to get . . .

Go Adrian, go . . .
 
I don’t want to overload my memory to remember what button does what so in my camera button does what label says. So this leaves 2 buttons on front + lens button + direction pad’s 2 buttons for free customization, enough for me. Buttons are set up same way for each mode to be able to switch beteween them without thinking. For everything else is my menu, one page for frequently used shooting settings, second for other frequent settings.

Of course if one uses camera every day for hours then this is not issue to remember modified layout but for amateur who may be has weeks between shooting it is not so easy.

Maybe there should be help page on camera menu which shows similar views with button assignment, if they want to allow such extensive customization and keep it under control. Current button assignment menu shows it separately for each button, it’s hard to get overview. Or app page, showing it. Then you don’t need to create and carry such cards.

Some camera makers (sony) find that it’s good idea to label buttons as fn1..fn9. They can as well not label them at all, such labels seem to be useless IMO. Ok, maybe it’s easier to say in manual that default setting for fn9 is for card formatting, during shooting such meaningless label is not much help.
 
Awesome work, Adrian.

Chances are having done the work, you remember far more of your setup just through the act of documenting. Brilliant!

Cheers,

Rick
 
On behalf of we who are unlikely to remember in which pocket the cheat sheets went, it's amazing to see what's otherwise possible!

Peter
 
VeldJ said:
Brilliant!... I'm sure everyone would love to have this for their camera.... especially people with a memory like mine!.... thanks for showing this Adrian!....

P.S..... would it be possible to post a copy with empty comment boxes?...
Click to expand...
It would take me a while. I did that before for the Em1-Mk2. But in this instance It may be just as quick to blank out the text using Photoshop or Faststone.

I only say that as I am time pressed for the next 5 days.but I will get around to it soon.
 
What software did you use to add those text balloons? tia!
 
These look great. I had a similar idea, but took a different approach. It is indeed difficult to remember what you've set up in each modes, so many possibilities, easy to forget especially those less often used. Here my rendition, I plan to save it to SD Card II to have it in camera at all time.

0b6271e21a6c46d5ba22c373187c21c7.jpg



--
Roger
 
Danielvr said:
What software did you use to add those text balloons? tia!
Click to expand...
Microsft Word, but sometimes I use the Free Faststone image viewer to do the same.
 
RSTP14 said:
These look great. I had a similar idea, but took a different approach. It is indeed difficult to remember what you've set up in each modes, so many possibilities, easy to forget especially those less often used. Here my rendition, I plan to save it to SD Card II to have it in camera at all time.

0b6271e21a6c46d5ba22c373187c21c7.jpg

--
Roger
Click to expand...
That's very comprehensive Roger, however I personally would find a chart more difficult to learn.

--
Adrian
 
This seems handy to some but we learn best from our experiences that fail.

Based on advice from a friend who is a behavioral scientist and learning expert I mapped out my buttons (EM1.2 and OM-1) for the features I don't use often but want to use more. Those that I already use a lot I know how to find quickly.

I never use the Custom modes because that encourages one to remember "C1 is BIF, C2 is bird perched" which does not improve one's photography skills any more than driving a mile improves one's fitness.

So often we see people sharing ways to set up buttons and menus, but that's just copying someone else's recipe. It might be good enough for some but it's not for me.
 
Excellent - thanks for sharing. Very interesting to see the various button setups - gave me some new ideas! I never thought of using C1-C4 for different button setups... to basically that would give four settings for each button. Overwhelming... not sure if I could remember those though, and not sure either if I wanted to have to look them up every time...

If OM System could come up with an info screen showing all current button settings at a glance?
 
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