Slack or plainly inept?

[Jon, The Elder]

Hey Elsaspet......

Even if you don't understand manuals there have been some questions asked on this forum alone which could be answered simply by hitting the menu button on the camera and looking at the possible options that come up.

....Garbz

..the point is not a matter of being unable to sort the information given, it's about making an effort.

....Garbz

Its symptomatic of todays society, people want things now now now, it just appears easier and quicker to ask than to spend time buried in a manual.

......Joxby

Garbz and Jon, I have to agree with you. It's becoming more common these days, and not just in regards to photography. I work in an office, and I have had people phone me and ask for the number for our competion...

.....JHF Photography

At the end of the day, everybody has the right to ask dumb questions, it's just that some abuse the privilage...

....Chris of Arabia

Ahh I got you Garbz. I guess I haven't noticed this trend, I just figured some people are just lazy and some are not. I've always been a manual person, I remember how I would want to read a video game manual before I even started to play the game. Then I had friends that would only read it if they got stuck on something.

....Richard

The thing that escapes many, is that often forum questions are lifted and pasted right from manuals. Some answers are slightly reworded or excerpts. Then they are read from the screen !

From my recollection, when I started taking pictures, I couldn't get enough material to read on the subject, whether in the form of books or magazines. Going back 25 years (and a bit), there wasn't an internet and it was a case of learn by reading, join a photography club, or if you had a very accommodating photography shop proprietor, you could pump them for info.

....and all of these still exist today !

 

[JHF Photography]

Oh and Garbz, the question that confounded me.....and wore others out for months was, "Why would you use and UNSHARP mask to sharpen things?" LOL. Serious true question that stumped me forever!

LOL! That question still bewilders me... I've given up understanding why it's called an UNsharp mask and just accepted the fact that it is used to sharpen images......:scratch: (oh, sure, elsaspet... make me question it again... back to therapy for me!)

Edit: I should clarify, I never actually asked anybody why it was called that..... kept that question to myself......

 

[Steph]

LOL! That question still bewilders me... I've given up understanding why it's called an UNsharp mask and just accepted the fact that it is used to sharpen images......:scratch: (oh, sure, elsaspet... make me question it again... back to therapy for me!)

I read somewhere that the term unsharp mask comes from a photographic darkroom technique, in which a sharper print is made by exposing the paper through an underexposed and blurred positive film copy of the negative sandwiched with the real negative. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong or if it does not make sense.

 

[elsaspet]

Jon, no offense, but I see this is useless to continue on my part.
If I could read the freaking manual, I would understand the screen prompts. It's just lost on you I suppose. (Maybe there is a manual for that.....put it in google...I'm sure it will come up)
However, the fact is, no one makes you "lower yourself" to "stupid slacker questions".
Another fact is, many of the people I admire, selflessly do....all the time.
It's just their way of getting over themselves and giving back to the community that gave them so much. Your mileage may vary.
Peace.

 

[elsaspet]

I read somewhere that the term unsharp mask comes from a photographic darkroom technique, in which a sharper print is made by exposing the paper through an underexposed and blurred positive film copy of the negative sandwiched with the real negative. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong or if it does not make sense.

Way over my head!!!! I love just clicking the little slacker button.
Cool lesson though. My techie hubby would understand that. And then he'd dumb it down for me.
Very cool that you shared that!!!!!!

 

[elsaspet]

LOL! That question still bewilders me... I've given up understanding why it's called an UNsharp mask and just accepted the fact that it is used to sharpen images......:scratch: (oh, sure, elsaspet... make me question it again... back to therapy for me!)

Edit: I should clarify, I never actually asked anybody why it was called that..... kept that question to myself......

No problem JHF....just between you and me, we'll call it the sharpening thingie. Hopefully there are no "proper photographic verbage usage police" around.
LOL.
Hugs,
Cindy

 

[Richard]

We live in an age where many suffer from information overload, why would we expect the field of photography be any different? Maybe all our our newbie wants is someone to help them make sense of it - once upon a time the sources of information were more limited and the delivery mechanism was subject to more validation than much of what we see now. Perhaps good information is actually harder to find now than it used to be?

I think you nailed it! I can't help but think this relates back to the 1900s. I am sure my greatgrandfather could say "I use to walk to school... up hill both ways, now people take the easy way and drive". Times have changed and will always be changing. The internet has got to be one of the biggest changes to our lives. So I can see why some people may not open the manual that came with their camera I mean why would they need too, they can just read it online.

 

[Garbz]

unsharp mask... I nearly fell off my chair :lmao:

Another good example of what I was talking about yesterday. Someone asked what a light metre is specifically relating to the book "understanding exposure" and how it works on the camera. I explained the former, described what the metre looks like and what it does, and then pointed him or her to page 43 and 47 of the D40 manual.

This was an acceptable question since the link between the book and the specifics of the camera model are not explained in the camera manual. If the question had been "where is the metre on the camera" I would have been more inclined to reply RTFM page 5!

 

[elsaspet]

I know! Isn't it crazy?

 

[Mike_E]

I read somewhere that the term unsharp mask comes from a photographic darkroom technique, in which a sharper print is made by exposing the paper through an underexposed and blurred positive film copy of the negative sandwiched with the real negative. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong or if it does not make sense.

I think that your are right Steph. It does mask out the unsharp parts anyway.

As far as there being some who don't read the manual and some who do...

I took my son to a concert at a warehouse the other night and while waiting for him to come out I noticed young girls holding hands and talking about boyfriends and where they were to live. Young boys horsing around for the girls' entertainment and complementing each other for this and that- paying their membership fees if you like. Boys and girls hugging and saying hello and good-by in turn.

The night was soft and the leaves on the Bradford Pears were moving just enough to shimmer the light around them. And there were the Policemen looking sternly at no one in particular because they had nothing else to do.

Some parents were impatiently waiting, some were indifferent and some were enjoying the night.

For all of our technical advances, our species has changed very little over the years.

I find that comforting.

mike

 

[JDS]

I'm coming in kind of late on this thread, granted, I don't post all that much anyway. I try to weigh in to help somebody out if I know that I know what I'm talking about, and if someone else hasn't already answered their question.

I also tend to not help, at least as much, when the one asking the question has done absolutely nothing to help him/herself. Give a guy a fish, feed him for a day, teach him how, well...you get the idea.

But that's all been beat to death by everyone participating in this thread, and everybody who has spoken up has very great points. So, I wanted to throw this idea out and see what everybody thought. I suppose I am also volunteering to put it together if everyone is okay with it, but I'll need help to do it.

What if we put together sort of an FAQ and sticky it in the Beginner's Forum? Take all these questions that generally have canned responses (Which camera should I buy? What is aperture? Maybe even try to tackle the dreaded 1.6x crop factor question??) and put them all in one post, or add them to the general FAQ section at the top of every page in here.

The first thing we'd need, obviously, would be a list of these questions that should be included. I've listed 3 just off the top of my head - I didn't want to do too much digging to see what all was really asked that frequently without seeing what everybody else thought of the idea. Lots of you guys are the ones fielding these questions in the first place, so I thought this would be the best place to ask. Plus I thought it might be easier to link to a single post rather than type out a response every time.

You won't hurt my feelings if you all think it's the most idiotic idea ever..I just wanted to throw the idea out and see what you thought. Again, I'm volunteering to put it all together, format it to look nice, etc..I'll just need help with all the answers. I'd try to find the best answer(s) to questions in the Beginner's Forum itself, but we should probably get input from all the 'experts', and especially the forum staff before it was 'published'.

 

[The_Traveler]

What if we put together sort of an FAQ and sticky it in the Beginner's Forum? Take all these questions that generally have canned responses (Which camera should I buy? What is aperture? Maybe even try to tackle the dreaded 1.6x crop factor question??) and put them all in one post, or add them to the general FAQ section at the top of every page in here.

This would be a good resource if, instead of answering the basic questions, responders would respond by saying "read this FAQ and get back to us if your question isn't answered."

Digital Matt put together a excellent bunch of links to resources at http://thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84306 and titles of these could easily be the structure for a list of questions with answers derived in part from those links.

I think it would be a great jump start if you derived a list of questions and tentative answers that interested parties could append/edit.

 

[JDS]

This would be a good resource if, instead of answering the basic questions, responders would respond by saying "read this FAQ and get back to us if your question isn't answered."

Exactly my thinking...

Digital Matt put together a excellent bunch of links to resources at http://thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84306 and titles of these could easily be the structure for a list of questions with answers derived in part from those links.

I think it would be a great jump start if you derived a list of questions and tentative answers that interested parties could append/edit.

I hadn't seen that..I don't think I'm quite good enough in photography for that area (yet, anyway..) That's a perfect start to what I was thinking. Sending him a PM now to request permission to plagiarize.

Once I have that, and maybe a few more replies here from others willing to help, I'll start wading through the Beginner's Forum and get started.

Thanks!

 

[Garbz]

I bet you there's at least 1 person a week who will post the question without reading the thread :er:

 

[JDS]

hehe, probably. But it's still easier to paste a link than answer the question every time.

If I can get some time while I'm at work today I'll start gathering up some of the more common ones and try to start putting it all together.