When ever I watch videos about camera bags/backpacks, it seems everyone carries their user manuals for their cameras. Is there a point to do this? To me it is wasted space, I see no benefit from walking around with them. Am I missing something?

 

in case there is some odd setting that you might for some reason decide to use?

 

It's not like you're carrying an encyclopedia. You could also buy Photobert cheatsheets. And if you have a smartphone that'll let you read pdf files, you can carry them that way.

 

Those are some good points. I never thought about that.

 

people carry the manual for their camera

 

Maybe they're beginners?
Or worried about getting an error code and just want to look it up?

My bet is that when they first bought the body they put the manual in the bag for reference and just never took it out.

 

I have them in my bag because I don't want to put them somewhere at home and not finding them when I need to look something up.

 

I carry my user manual. Sometimes I forget certain setting when shooting things such as timelapse because I don't use it as much.

Its always smart to have a reference on hand in some form.

People can choose to dismiss as a waste or stupid...they are usually the ones who screw themselves out in the field.

 

I don't carry the physical manuals, but I have pdf versions on my netbook and I usually take that with me when traveling. I actually have PDF versions of lots of diff manuals that I find handy to reference.

 

Just read the manual like it's the bible a couple of times while your taking a dump, and you're golden. there are a lot of hidden useful options that can help you other than the obvious settings. Other than that I cant think of any reasons to why you should carry it. I mean, unless you read the thing and know about the options, you're not going to consider it while shooting.

 

Medic, right now, w/o looking can you set your camera up to do bracketing? To do time lapsed shooting? Do you know what ever sub menu for your auto-focus can do and which setting you need, w/o looking at the manual?

 

I do because I am incapable of remembering what the symbols mean for the four different metering setups and also because I regularly get trying to set a custom white balance.

I should just write those down on a piece of paper...

 

ya know, the first sign of getting old is forgetting.

 

Actually, I know all of those, except the time lapsed shooting. But like my post said. How would I know my camera can even do bracketing if I dont read the manual? For the longest time I did it manually, eventually I read the manual, and learned about a lot of the functions it can do that I wouldnt have known exist other wise. My reply took into account that you not only read, but also practiced using the features.

 

Don't that comes up a lot when I'm on workshops. Even if people have read the manual.

 

If you buy it not knowing what is can do, is just as ignorant as using it and not knowing what it can do.

 

if a DSLR is your first, chances are you wont know every feature. And really, all you really need is iso, f/stop, and shutter speed. Everything else is an extra, and can be considered unecessary but we deem it to be necessary.

 

I keep my manual in my camera bag so I won't lose it. I've never referenced it in the field, nor do I anticipate having to. But I like to keep everything together.