What a mistake - the poor Pentax K-3 manual

I think that Ricoh-Pentax will find they have shot themselves in the foot over the apology for a Manual that is provided. I found that the K-7/K-5 manuals left a little to be desired. But the 110 page manual for the K-3 is so scant in useful information, it is just a little more than useless. So much so that an electronic version has been provided by Ebooks4cameras.

Come on, Ricoh-Pentax! Don't the Pentax aficionados deserve better than this? It's a great camera, but you get the thumbs-down for the lack of a decent manual. Are you really so strapped for cash that we don't deserve a good manual?

Terry

What is the problem exactly? I always found the manuals tools me everything I needed to know from a camera operating point of view.

Yes, me too. I usually find that a trip through all the menus on the camera reasonably self-explanatary, and any items that I was unsure of seemed to be explained in the manual. I usually prefer printed manuals but I have to say I now find it quicker to use the pdf versions as you can search for keywords and find things much quicker.

It might not be so easy for someone coming to the K3 fresh but upgrading from the Kr I've not had any problems, in fact I've not really (in a very bloke kind of way) read the manual at all.

Isn't the digital world supposed to be "intuitive"?

I don't see much wrong with the manuals, they describe all the functions. Maybe we should be happy we get a manual at all, rather than just a CD?

When I had simpler cameras I didn't need a manual. I noticed my son's new K3 was much slimmed down (despite double spread pagesa)from that amazing little book with my K5 which I still dip into sometimes when messing with settings, mirror lock, custom mode set up etc.

Ricoh trimming such things as well as leaving out AV leads etc seems the norm to me. The trend of other makes stopping putting chargers in is a more worrying.

I've not got a K-3, but quickly looking at the PDF Manual it looks very poor and hopefully they will issue a bigger one shortly.

It's only 112 pages so a lot must have been left out. Catch in Focus and White Balance settings spring out straight away as not being covered properly plus obviously a lot of other settings.

The K-5 Manual was 383 pages and the Nikon D7100 Manual is 384 pages so 112 pages can't possibly be complete.

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I recently purchased a KIIs from another member and the manual supplied was for a K5 and in French Working on the assumption the only major difference between the K5 and K5IIs was the absence of the AA filter it wasn't a hanging offence. I'm also assuming the usb cable and video cable are common to the K7 and K5 models as these were not supplied either

I think its in everyone's interest to invest in a good camera manual - both as a user of it and the producer. The media format (paper / electronic) I don't think is important these days, but the layout, intent & scope certainly is.

I'm a great fan of learning through context - and, no, camera makers are not responsible for photographers general learning of the subject, but they should take responsibility for learning about their cameras. Whats a good model? There's the 'Magic Lantern' type guidebook at one extreme and dry listing of features and menus at the other. With electronic menu displays offering intuitive operation now, as well as explanatory notes as you use them, there's no place anymore for dry listings type manuals. We now need a good balance between clear, consise listings of functions and options, and good examples of practical application to place the options in context.

So for example, take something fairly obscure - 'AE linked to AF point' on or off .... when would you need it? You might not think you need it, and many may not even be aware of it - but a good scenario description of two alternatives would cement the idea - say for example a portrait where the skin tones will be in the mid range, as opposed to a seaside scene with bright white sails bang in the middle of the frame.

Just offering such explanation, a practical guide to the camera operations, will add value to the features themselves in users minds - and thats got to be a good thing for camera makers.

A good manual is importand for any piece of equipment. it is very frustrating to be able to look up any query one has with it.

Especially the modern types of equipment, be it a camera or a smart phone or similar.

A printed manual has the advantage, that it is easy to carry if required. The K5 manual is not bad, but it was guaranteed not written by a user but possibly by the developer of the camera.
Quite a few items it is assumed that you know already most of it. Why should you? there must be plenty of people who use this type of equipment for the first time.
You know,the old saying: when all else fails, consult the manual.

Also If one pays 1300 dollars or more for a camera, one should expect a decent explicit manual.

I can see the cheap Chinese rubbish not having a decent manual, but just some B&W hand drawn images to tell you how it should work, but not for an expensive precision piece of equipment.

Regards, Horst