A Digital DON'T

Plugging in...

Digital cameras are easy to use right out of the box. In fact, they are so easy to take pictures with, the user guide is usually left in the box. Big mistake? Can be. We all use cameras to capture those moments we hope to make into memories and share with others, for better or worse. Digital cameras, pocket size, or professional SLRs, have dials, buttons, wheels, knobs, levers, viewers, and lenses. Suffice it to say, most non-professional picture takers, don't pay much mind to the buttons, wheels, knobs, levers, viewers and lenses. But they should...

The story begins at a favorite restaurant in the I-heart-you state of NY. Good friends breaking bread at a table. New camera comes out of box. Several people around the table try it out. Point, shoot, clicking noises. Repeat. Twelve times, repeated. Should have twelve shots of good friends breaking bread at the table, right?

Weekend ends, friends return to separate lives in non I-heart-you states. Tutor gets a call to assist in the transferring of those unique photos taken with the new digital camera. Tutor has seen many cameras, they are similar in their transfer methods from camera to computer. No surprises until the Tutor attempts to preview the photos on the camera, demonstrating the ease of previewing before transferring. All twelve images are there in full, glorious, VIDEO! Not a still photo in the bunch.

Apparently someone inadvertently knocked one of the dials, buttons, wheels, or knobs into VIDEO mode before the first photo was taken. When I asked the client about the VIDEO selection, I received a blank stare. No, no one had chosen video. WHAT? I have video capability - that is so cool, was the response.

Looking at the twelve videos was comical because while the camera was on, it was being passed around, so much of each video contained ceiling, table and floor footage. Videos require a gigantic amount of storage space and although the camera's storage readily handled it, the videos were so large, the client's email program balked [read:wouldn't send] at sending such gigantic files as attachments. The intent was to email the digital pictures to the friends. Although there are websites that allow very large files to be transferred outside of email, the quality of these videos was less than optimal for spending any more time on.

The Tutor showed the client the knob on the camera that allows for AUTO shooting, video, landscapes and close up shots. These symbols, surprisingly, match the same symbols in the USER GUIDE - and the user guide also contained a brief yet informative description of each symbol on the knob. Who knew?

I doubt this story will cause a major rush to read ALL user guides and instruction manuals, but, hey, someone wrote them, got paid to write them, and really tried to assist in the avoidance of some common digital don'ts. After all, reading is elementary!

ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, is the dial in the correct position, and is it turned on?

Unplugged