RTFM. Do you?

[mb66energy]

pre buying:
1. Check a PDF file with search feature - to see if the things I want are possible

after buying and before first use:
2. Check PDF file for warnings/precautions and similar stuff

after that:
3. Use the camera and profit from the heavenly situation that I can check the results of settings/procedures immediately.

Best manual ever: The manual of the 1973/4 Canon EF I bought 30 years ago ... some chapters about the use of different focal lengths, right exposure of darger or brighter than average objects, etc.

 

[NancyP]

Speed-read the manual to get an idea of the camera's capabilities, as a part of pre-purchase research.
Get camera out of box, ID all the buttons on the diagram in the front of the manual. Read manual until the camera battery is fully charged. Stop reading manual once the battery is ready, then start shooting. Pull out manual once in a while when I want to try out a feature. I still haven't used the *** and remote release features on the 6D, but I did read the manual enough to know that the *** has to calibrate itself, then by default stays on even if you turn camera off, and that the remote release feature needs a specific iPhone app. More than that I don't need to know, until I decide to use it.

Re: Canon 7D2 - where's the famous Penguin? (it has been replaced by a human figure in the flash diagrams)

 

[jdramirez]

So here's a quick story... I was changing my thermostat to my home and I didn't read the manual... so I f'd up and broke the furnace.

But while I was trying to fix it I did read the manual, I did change the configuration correctly, but the stupid furnace was still broken...

So long story short... don't watch a youtube video in lieu of reading the manual.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Jd.
Sorry to hear your dilemma, but I guess that is why in England you have to be a "competent" person to touch any electrical bits, and a certified electrician to work on boilers (furnaces are for melting metal here!) or in kitchens bathrooms and gardens!
No idea what makes one "competent", a bit like a camera being weather sealed, an immeasurable quality.
It would seem the guy that did the utube video was also not competent! Glad that the one I followed to repair my lens was competent!

Cheers, Graham.

So here's a quick story... I was changing my thermostat to my home and I didn't read the manual... so I f'd up and broke the furnace.

But while I was trying to fix it I did read the manual, I did change the configuration correctly, but the stupid furnace was still broken...

So long story short... don't watch a youtube video in lieu of reading the manual.

 

[rpt]

Don't tell me we are still reading the beeping manuals! Real photographers don't read manuals! We just shoot!