Marshaling Your Photographic Resources

Today’s Post by Mark Toal

As a training representative for Panasonic, I frequently hear from customers that they don’t understand what’s in the manual that came with their camera and can’t figure out how to use certain features.

These days it seems like all companies are trying to cut down on printing and shipping costs and are making smaller printed manuals Have you ever seen the kind of manual that comes with any Apple product? It basically tells you how to turn it on and where to go online for assistance. In the internet world that same approach applies to everything from cars to cameras. Whenever I get something—anything—new, I check online to see if there is a PDF manual available. You can put the PDF file on your phone or tablet and that way you can have it with you all the time. (Note from Joe: I always used to put camera manuals in the same camera bag as their manuals and it makes the bags too heavy, so I really like Mark’s idea.)

Another great source is online videos. Anything you want to know and more is on YouTube. Since I work for a camera company I recommend that customers got to YouTube and search for the Panasonic channel and then use the search box to refine your search to specific products. Let’s say you want to know how to use the Wi-Fi on your LX100 camera. Just type “Lumix LX100 w-fi” and it will take you to a video explaining how to use it.

Most companies have a Web site or YouTube videos explaining how to use almost everything. If you can’t easily find it on YouTube just do a Google search. Try to be fairly specific. Use the manufacturers name and product number to help narrow down your search.