BradS
Mu-43 Regular
Does anyone have this book or has seen any review of it?
Regards,
Brad
Disappointed with E-M1 II Manual
- Thread starter ijm5012
- Start date
Does anyone have this book or has seen any review of it?
Regards,
Brad
BradS
Mu-43 Regular
Clint
Mu-43 Hall of Famer
Well, the camera was designed for professionals!
That was purely in jest.
I don't think it an oversight, but a choice on their part. At least with E-30 and E-5 they gave us stuff like:
C-AF LOCK
When set to [ON], during focusing with C-AF mode, this prevents the focus from changing
even if the distance to the subject suddenly changes. This is effective when shooting at a
location where something passes in front of or behind the subject.
And it doesn't take much to figure it out. However AF Scanner?
Rob E-W
Mu-43 Regular
No - I'm not an E-M1 Mark II owner, but I have read Young & Johnson's equivalent book for the E-M5 II ( Mastering the Olympus Om-d E-M5 Mark II: Amazon.co.uk: Darrell Young, James Johnson: 9781937538736: Books )
It was pitched at roughly the right level for me - a newcomer to "serious" digital photography, but with a good understanding of the basics. It explains every function in plain English, saying not only what it does but also why and when you might want to use it, and then how to do it using the menus or controls.
They churn these books out for various cameras, and it shows. The book isn't without shortcomings. But I found it a lot more informative and understandable than the manual, and also well organised and well indexed. I guess the E-M1 II book will be similar.
= = =
On a broader issue, a common problem in both the design and documentation of technology is that very often the designers and writers of manuals are self-selected enthusiasts for technology and experts in that particular technology, even tending to the geeky. They move in rarefied circles, and often they have limited skills at understanding and empathising with the general public and communicating about their work in understandable ways with people who aren't already experts. They tend to forget that some things which they take for granted are not obvious to all, and this can adversely affect the usability and accessibility of technology design and also written materials.
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I bought the crash course. Very informative especially about focusing and tells you how to make changes to optimise what you want and the effects. For example he talks about back button focusing and why you would want to use it and how you set it up all the time showing you on the camera and menus. Note there is also in course material on general photo taking techniques.
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BradS
Mu-43 Regular
Thanks for the info, appreciated
Drdave944
Mu-43 All-Pro
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2012
- Messages
- 1,956
It would be great but all that BS doesn't really make it focus on moving objects that much better. Mk IV is better.
It looks like it's not available until August 15.
drd1135
Zen Snapshooter
I think manufacturers rely on the internet and forums like this to deal with most problems.
kuau
Mu-43 Regular
The package consists of two video files
The first one is is about 2hs 45 mins. It contains 1hr 15 mins on general photographics techniques such as perspective shots, contrast, composition, rule of thirds, digital photography exposure and more.
The EM-1 mk ii content takes 1.27hrs and is a good explanation of the functions and explanation of what the camera external controls showing how the work on the camera and demonstrations of the functions I found this very useful. There is also a crash course 16 min course on lightning with shows some good techniques on Em-1
The second video is shorter. 1hr 47 mins gives a deep explanation about the menu system (1hr 10mins) and video shooting and 12 mins on film and video history . There is an example of advanced sunlight shooting using the Em- 1 mkii
Overall I think it was worth the EM-1 mkii content and it was good to get a refresher on photographics techniques. There are obviously common pieces to all his videos that he directs at different camera's but I got a sense he knew some in depth knowledge about the Em-1 mkii.
It is worth $39 in my view. I mean that is about 10 coffees.
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alex g
Mu-43 All-Pro
Seems to me that Olympus's reasons for not supplying extended manuals are broadly similar to their reasons for frequently not supplying lens hoods as standard lens accessories: both cost money to develop and/or produce, and ultimately that cost would need to be passed on to the customer. Many photographers prefer not to use lens hoods at all for various reasons, so why make them pay for a redundant accessory? Making the hood an optional extra isn't a cynical act of profiteering as much as a way of reducing the price of the basic lens for those folks who don't want or need a hood in the first place. Ditto lengthy manuals. If a customer feels they need one, then there are third parties only to willing to supply commercial items which are presumably written by companies that know more about producing manuals than Olympus does. It's a demanding and specialist process, one with little in common with the actual manufacturing of cameras (or cars, or musical instruments or whatever it is, and as has been previously mentioned, the phenomenon is certainly not unique to Olympus).
I do agree that a little bit more information would sometimes be welcome, but I imagine that they aim to for a "consistency of brevity" across all functions, to avoid ending up with a patchy manual which addresses certain features more thoroughly than others.
I do agree that a little bit more information would sometimes be welcome, but I imagine that they aim to for a "consistency of brevity" across all functions, to avoid ending up with a patchy manual which addresses certain features more thoroughly than others.
barry
Super Moderator
Perhaps Oly support has some docs on the AF?
LundyD
Mu-43 Regular
You're definitely not alone in that regard. There's a generally highly regarded set of "Magic Lantern Guides" for primarily Canon and Nikon DSLRs that are much more useful than typical camera manufacturers' owners' manuals. I keep hoping such guides for flagship M43 cameras, but am not aware of any.
ThorEgil
Mu-43 Regular
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2012
- Messages
- 75
I have the mk1 version (Kindle edition). OK technical guide, worth the price. It comes with a facebook forum and a download page for updates/errata.
Rambling Sam
Mu-43 Regular
There is a solution, usually pretty close to hand in the form of either someone who has never used a similar camera or some pre-teen kid; Whilst they use the camera and manual, record the whole session and answer to that person's satisfaction their questions, regardless of how 'stupid' you think they are. Within that recording, the odds are, most of the manual's vagueness will be addressed. I have heard of some professional document writers using this method, and the resulting manuals are far better for it! Maybe it's a case of these people not being able to see the branches of trees in a wood?!
Rob E-W
Mu-43 Regular
"Think-aloud" methods are quite a useful research tool to understand shortcomings in user interfaces (and instruction manuals), but the recordings take a long time to study, and would often be rather useless as educational material.
Rick Waldroup
Mu-43 Top Veteran
I shot Olympus m4/3 cameras for a while, including the first OM-D. But the manual, along with the menu system on the camera was enough to send me in another direction.
CuriousMan
New to Mu-43
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2017
- Messages
- 3
It seems that the book by Darrell Young will be published December 2017 - January 2018. And I will appreciate it. As a lot of you guys have mentioned : Manuals are not written for reading - and those who write them are not responsible for the translations - they can be amusing, but .......
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