to learn camera- i dont want to read the entire manual...

[jarg007]

Is there a short cut to learning the camera or can anyone recommend the really important parts.

I've got good news! You don't really have to read the manual or even learn the camera either!

You can just take pictures the old-fashioned way; aim and shoot. Seriously, if book-learning is not your thing, just learn this much:

1. turn it on.
2. set the dial on top to "green auto".
3. point the camera at whatever you wish to take a picture of.
4. plug in the download cable every once in a while to "get rid of" too many photographs in the camera.
5. repeat.

its not that i don't want to learn the camera. The I'm asking about the best way to do it, without grinding teeth page by page through the whole manual as that is highly time consuming and painful. I've heard many great suggestions throughout this thread, but your's does not help.

 

[480sparky]

Start with the basics.

Shutter speed, aperture and ISO. What does each do, how do you adjust each one, and how does the adjustment affect the final result?

Lenses. What are the various focal lengths used for? How does FL affect the final result? Why would you select a given FL for a particular subject?

 

[WayneF]

The first basics of photography is to understand what shutter speed, f/stop, and ISO will do for you. When and why you use one value instead of another? This is how the camera should be used.

A very easy step to learn this would be this $18 book .

This is the very least every beginner needs to learn. All else is based on this knowledge. This book is a very easy fast read, and it is the best $18 you can spend on photography, It might be in your public library.

This book is NOT deep, nor is it all you need to know, (it does NOT cover flash), but it is a great start for a beginner wondering how to use a camera with settings on it.

I rate it pretty high for that purpose, but FWIW, I rate the same authors Understanding Flash rather low.

 

[Designer]

.. but your's does not help.

Oh, but you're wrong! Mine's does help! In fact, mine is the only suggestion that get's you started taking picture's right away in precisely the manner in which you prefer; without reading a lot of stuff.

Now, if by some chance you wish to actually LEARN your camera, then I'm afraid you'll have to do some serious study; i.e.: read the manual.

Think nothing of it. I'm glad to help.

 

[table1349]

It might help if you had the prespective of at least one of the members here. I speak for me here, not everyone. Besides learning about you camera by reading the manaul, boring as it may be, it serves another purpose.

Anyone who has ever been involved in education will tell you. YES THERE ARE STUPID QUESTIONS!!!

Unfortunaltly we get a fair amount of them here that would never have been asked if the OP had just R.T.F.M.
I don't believe that any of us here mind answering questions that have a good basis. But there have been a good number that were frankly either because the OP was A. Lazy or B. So lazy they didn't R.T.F.M.


Just my 2 cents on the matter.

 

[sm4him]

.. but your's does not help.

Oh, but you're wrong! Mine's does help! In fact, mine is the only suggestion that get's you started taking picture's right away in precisely the manner in which you prefer; without reading a lot of stuff.

Now, if by some chance you wish to actually LEARN your camera, then I'm afraid you'll have to do some serious study; i.e.: read the manual.

Think nothing of it. I'm glad to help.

Actually, not quite. Mine also suggested the OP could get going right away in Auto mode…

ANYWAY…OP, what you do need to realize about why Designer may have answered the way he did is that the title of your thread, "I don't want to learn the entire manual" strongly suggests that you're saying you don't want to have to WORK at learning your camera…and learning a new camera, and learning photography in general, IS work. I don't think that's what you were saying at all, and I believe that the rest of your original post revealed that in fact, it just seems overwhelming, hence why many of us responded as we did. But I really don't fault Designer for his response either because…believe me, we got a LOT of folks on here who mean PRECISELY that--"Hey, isn't there a better, faster way for me to be an instant master of photography without having to actually, you know, READ about it and stuff?"

 

[480sparky]

Once you get a leg up on the basics, then you move onto more complicated stuff. Not extraneous, just more complicated.

Like composition and lighting.

 

[DarkShadow]

Reading the manual is not my favorite part either but not knowing what something does or how it works bothers me more,So I read the manual and I read it while camera is in hand and then try the feature and functions to see how they work. Once you understand and become familiar with the functions buttons and dials you can change settings on the fly. If I want to capture a bird in flight but don't know how to change my shutter speed or adjust exposure to lighting changes then I lost that chance of a shot. I have to know where something is or how it works.This is extremely important in all photography.

 

[sashbar]

I know a couple of shortcuts. But using it takes much longer than reading the manual.

 

[jarg007]

I know a couple of shortcuts. But using it takes much longer than reading the manual.

fair enough and to everyone else, point taken. I will definately read through the manual. I was more asking what are the super important parts of the manual that are MUST read that I can work through right away and leave the rest for reading when i need to know that particular part.

 

[Designer]

Once you get a leg up on the basics, then you move onto more complicated stuff. Not extraneous, just more complicated.

Like composition and lighting.

Hoo, boy! Talk about reading a lot of stuff! I wouldn't have any idea of how many books you might have to read in order to get a handle on composition and lighting.

You'll think the camera user's manual is nothing.

 

[jarg007]

Once you get a leg up on the basics, then you move onto more complicated stuff. Not extraneous, just more complicated.

Like composition and lighting.

Hoo, boy! Talk about reading a lot of stuff! I wouldn't have any idea of how many books you might have to read in order to get a handle on composition and lighting.

You'll think the camera user's manual is nothing.

Ha! At least that will be interesting reading!

 

[Vtec44]

I have never read the entire manual. #truestory

 

[SCraig]

You don't have to read the manual at all. Just remember that it was your choice when you ask a question and someone points you to a page in your camera manual, or asks if you have read it, rather than answering your question.

 

[table1349]

Try this. At least you can get a laugh from it. How to Take Better Pictures