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Monday, May 01, 2006
No download link???
As you all know, it hasn’t been that long since I got my camera. Hey, it’s only been about 5 months. Well, after five months I decided that simply point-and-shoot didn’t quite do it for me and I was interested in more professional pictures. As I hadn’t received a user guide with the camera because of the stupid shop employees, I did what I normally tried when I needed to download a user guide: went online.
The first site I tried was of course Canon’s very own. Hey, you couldn’t get a better place to download than the producer’s site! Well, actually that did not work as Canon did not have a download section for user guides…You’d expect to have that chance after having paid 500 euros on a camera. Think again!
Later on, after useless searches that only led to “purchase the guide” sites, K remembered he had downloaded a guide for his Canon camera. So we opened that page, K got the exact name of the guide and replaced the model, pressed search on Google and viola! A nice English version was then downloaded to a computer.
Now, I have been trying to get to the reason why Canon does not have downloadable user guides…Do they think non-customers would download them? Does it cost to much to have some links added to your site which would probably bring more visitors, given the large number of careless salespersons? Don’t they know that they often depend on people that will misplace the price covered manual to sell their products? Maybe it’s one of these. Still not a good enough reason for me, as a nice little customer.
So folks, here is how the possibility to download the user guide has suddenly become an important advantage offered by digital camera producers…
I bought a Canon camera online and I got the manual in Romanian. It's illegal not to receive the manual in Romanian, you should have complained to the store. It's useless to write to Canon, nobody will answer ever from a big company.
Don't ask yourself why they don't offer manuals for downloading. They just don't care about end-users worldwide online and nobody can do anything to repair this, they are just too big and the procedures are too slow.
I'm wondering why all companies don't have press kits online for journalists... But I'm not complaining because it gives me a headche.
Lou, thanks, but the feedback idea I will pass...The fault for the manual is not Canon's it's the reseller's. What amazed me is that do not realize how important a download link may be, although they have such links for drivers that also come with the camera...silly!
As for the camera, as I said, it is not that new, and you can see my so called works with it on my photoblog.
George, I dunno, in the age of Internet it is surprising to see how some companies dismiss its power...No bad feedback from me. Will just keep this in mind for the moment when I will buy a DSLR camera :) Professional style services! :D
How very frustrating. I misplace most of my user manuals, or they get lost between moves to one country or another. I've simply become content to a life more or less without them...
Also, I hope that you are not stuck at work today (May Day) like you were on Easter! I'm assuming that Labour Day is also celebrated on this day in Romania.
Hello. I'll write in English since it appears you wish to make the blog available to non-Romanian speaking people. I've bought a Canon A520 a year ago from Carrefour and the manual was inside the box, in fact the people that sell you the camera have not only to give you a manual in Romanian, but also show you how to use it, I think it's in the legislation.
Of course, Canon should have a manual available online, and most electronics manufacturers do. It seems they can only let you purchase manuals from their website, that's really lame considering you already paid a lot of money for the camera. If you lose the manual, you should at least get one for free.
Canon has a small camera service center available in Bucharest, somewhere in the Vitan area if I remember correctly. Maybe the people there can give you a manual in Romanian for free.
However, if you don't have much experience with the camera and the various shooting modes, the user guide won't make things much clearer. I recomend reading "Shoot like a Pro - Digital Photography Techniques" by Julia Adair King, published under McGraw-Hill, it clears up much of the terms involved in digital photography and it can prove useful. I got it from the internet, I have the feeling I should have paid for it though, but that's another discussion.
There's also a subforum at http://www.linkmania.ro/forums/index.php?showforum=157 for people to post some of their most beautiful photos (that is, no pics of "me and my friends yesterday evening" as the rules say), I think you have another blog for pics but maybe you'd like to post some there as well.
nwradu, I simply do not want to make my blog available to Roamnian speakers only, which are fewer than the rest of the blogosphere...
I know what the shop should have done and didn't, I also know it is not legal, yet I would still like to solve it through a simple download, not a law suite :)
I did eventually download the manual, form a different site, with no payment of course :)
Also, thanks for the photo taking tips, will check them all out :)
Name: Alina Home: Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania About Me: "This is my church. This is where I heal my hurts". It's also where I feel free and my preferred means of expression. See my complete profile
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Hi Alina,
You should send them feedback & let them know. They might see the sense in adding the links.
Congrats on the new camera btw. Waiting to see you do great things with it.:)