My head is aboot to kersplode..

[Michael Hetrick]

I bought Elements 6.0 and my wife got me a great textbook. Between that and the Magic Lantern book on my camera I am just about full. What must this be like for non-techies? I love technology, but this is a lot to absorb.

[pegdragger]

I just look at the pictures.....

[LAVrod]

I think if you are a photographer and can only have one adobe program the best one to have is adobe lightroom. if you can have both, great.

[Diamond Lil]

Mike,
Put the books down. Play with your camera and play with the software. Then pick the books up again.

[Michael Hetrick]

Mike,
Put the books down. Play with your camera and play with the software. Then pick the books up again.

Thats how you build bad habits!!!

[Diamond Lil]

No, no, no. Play with only what you have read and learned about.

[Michael Hetrick]

Oh, I'm doing that. I'm pretty good at learning techie stuff fast.

[EZE RIDER]

Mike,
Put the books down. Play with your camera and play with the software. Then pick the books up again.

One of the best ways to learn about anything. You must be a very good teacher Lil.

[Michael Hetrick]

One of the best ways to learn about anything. You must be a very good teacher Lil.

I sorta vehemently disagree with this statement.

I'm pretty deeply involved in training engineers out of college. We send a guy to school for 3 weeks, bring them home and let them observe an operator run the equipment for 2 weeks, then assign them a mentor and a list of procedures (and how many repetitions they need to accomplish) that has to be observed by their mentor. Maybe another trip or two to the lab for some more training in this time frame. This takes about 6 months. At that time we would take them back to the lab and test them on every procedure and run verbally test them on the whole schematic set. Only then are they qualified to work on the equipment alone.

If this is the way industry trains people, why is "just play with it" a good idea for consumer level. This is how bad habits, misconceptions, and simply missed information happens. Obviously you cannot follow our system to a T, but you can use the same theory. Read, watch, practice, test, do.

The best way to learn a piece of technology is to read the manual from cover to cover without any real goal. Just read it, you will retain some information. Next read it and find everything it is talking about on your gear. Finally, start small and work toward more complex tasks. This works best with ANY piece of technology. The reason people can't set the clock on their VCR is because they didn't grap the manual and head for the bathroom before they even plugged the thing in.

Alrighty then, I feel better.

[Diamond Lil]

Mike,

While I can agree with much of what you say, based upon my 23 years of teaching in a first professional degree program I also see it differently.

[Michael Hetrick]

Mines based on 30+ years of teaching people to run and maintain high technology multi-million dollar capital equipment. Why limit yourself with what you can learn dicking around with something when a small investment in reading the manual will open doors one never knew existed? If I had just dorked with my camera I would not have known how to bracket, shoot and download raw .nef format, and a boat load more. For me my time is very valuable and I am all about beating the learning curve.

But as an engineer I realize that I will always favor the systematic, organized approach versus something more organic.

And how come your name isn't bold anymore? Or is that on the other board.

[EZE RIDER]

Mike, I'm not one to argue a point to try to change someones mind. We all do things differently and who's to say who is right or wrong?

The method that works for me is to read the manual from cover to cover first. With my limited brain power I then use the item in question for a while. After a certain amount of experience with the device I then go back and reread the manual and always seem to absorb the maximum amount for my limited capacity.

[Michael Hetrick]

Mike, I'm not one to argue a point to try to change someones mind. We all do things differently and who's to say who is right or wrong?

The method that works for me is to read the manual from cover to cover first. With my limited brain power I then use the item in question for a while. After a certain amount of experience with the device I then go back and reread the manual and always seem to absorb the maximum amount for my limited capacity.

Yeah, I like the "read the manual the play with it" method myself. It is the "play with it and ignore the manual" method that seems to cause me problems. ;):D

[LAVrod]

Yeah it would suck to leave your new toy on the shelf for six months and just watch someone else show you how. Part of the fun is stumbling onto new things.

[Diamond Lil]

Mines based on 30+ years of teaching people to run and maintain high technology multi-million dollar capital equipment. Why limit yourself with what you can learn dicking around with something when a small investment in reading the manual will open doors one never knew existed? If I had just dorked with my camera I would not have known how to bracket, shoot and download raw .nef format, and a boat load more. For me my time is very valuable and I am all about beating the learning curve.

But as an engineer I realize that I will always favor the systematic, organized approach versus something more organic.

And how come your name isn't bold anymore? Or is that on the other board.
Mike,
You extrapolate way too much from my comment.
My name is bold on the other board.