Remember No Question is too Dumb To Ask...

[simon_leung3]

As a friendly reminder to those who are new to this forum. We are all here to

help one another,no matter how great or small the question. All of us are here

to learn from each other. I am a self-taught photographer and everything I

learned I just asked questions or to figure out for myself.

 

Don't be afraid to ask or ask when in doubt,is my philosophy. I admit medium

format is one of the more difficult formats to learn and one of the more

difficult cameras to use.

 

Topics from Film Loading to Using the camera properly, are valid questions.

Each camera operates differently. For example, I own a Rolleiflex TLR that

shoots 6x6 format and the other camera is a Mamiya RB67 Pro-S which shoots 6x7

format. These cameras are as different as night and day. They operate more or

less the same way,but the controls are so much different.

 

So,go ahead ask...

 

Good Luck.

[JDMvW]

You're absolutely right--no question is too dumb to ask.

 

However, the 48th time it is asked in as many days may be stretching the point a little. You cannot post a question here without being prompted to do a search on the topic. So why do so few people seem to do so?

 

I will admit that some people are so out of depth that they cannot even comprehend a Google search, and we should be gentle to these innocents or "naturals" as they used to be called.

[mikeseb]

I'm with Mr/Ms von Weinberg. There ARE some questions too dumb to ask--those which

have been answered here many times, and whose answers unfold before the Googling eyes

of the asker.

 

And since when did medium format become "one of the more difficult formats to learn"

and "one of the more difficult cameras to use"? Many of them are as simple as can be, with

no programmable whiz-bang to learn, no layered menus on a tiny LCD screen to navigate.

ISO, f/stop, shutter speed, and shoot.

 

Granted this is a learning forum. Problem is that too many people who use these forums

have not done the basic self-research before coming here expecting to be spoon-fed.

This demonstrates sloth and a disregard for the time of others. It's not too much to ask

that someone has at least gotten his/her a-- off the couch, so to speak, and looked into

things a little before showing up here with the hand out.

 

End of rant. Any questions?

 

:)

[david_m]

No question is too dumb to ask but some questions ARE too dumb to answer. Like any question you could find the nanswer to in 2 minutes by using Google.

[jean-louis llech]

Michael, you are so right ! <i>"Too many people ... have not done the basic self-research before coming here expecting to be spoon-fed"</i><br>

Sadly, it is not specific to medium format photography, but a common problem of our civilizations. It's nothing but laziness.<br>

The most important thing which I received during my university years was not knowledge, but inquisitiveness. And that's probably what lacks today. My tutors teached me how to search and find. And it was the most valuable present that I received during all these years. It is useful even now, some thirty-five years later.<p>

 

But we must admit on another side that people are now flooded with too much information. Much more than several years ago, when Internet did not exist yet. And it is well-known that too much information kills information.<p>

 

Besides, some very simple but important tips should be repeated as often as possible, to avoid troubles for new users. An example, which is common to many MF cameras (Hasselblad, Mamiya, Rolleiflex and probably many others) : always cock a camera before attaching or removing a lens or a magazine.<br>

Such simple questions could be summarized in a general introduction, or a knowledge base, and should probably be able to avoid many "dumb" questions.<br>

Is it also "spoon-feeding" ? ;>)

[jimmy_english]

There is another side to this.

 

I gave my wife a Yashica D that she uses often. Simple to load and use. Just load film, wind the knob, set the shutter/appeture according to the pictograms on the film box, cock the shutter & shoot. Well - I thought - since I have an SQ-A, I'll get her one too. It has the auto exposure prism & her photos will be somewhat better. WRONG!!! The seemingly minor step up in complexity puts her off. She seldom uses it(almost never). If one day she were to come on this forum to ask a question about its use some of the answers would end her interest completely.

 

I agree that there are no questions too dumb to ask - but - there have been some off putting answers from our "betters".

[q.g._de_bakker]

Every question deserves an answer.<br />People who feel that the answer should be about finding other ways to get the answer should simply ignore the question.<br />After all, if all you are going to do is telling people off for not trying to find the answer another way themselves, you might as well spend the effort giving the answer, or not spend an effort at all.

[simon_leung3]

18 years ago,when I was working for the local camera shop. The store manager deliberately jammed an used Hasselblad 500c/m with 80mm f/2.8 lens attached. If I unjammed the camera, I got the job. I removed the back and took a dime or a quarter and turned the set-screw inside the camera to either left or right,until I heard a "click".

 

He shook my hand and said "How did you know about that?" I said,"I read part of the Hasselblad Repair Manual that there is a set-screw inside the camera just underneath the lens. It uses a Phillips Flat Screw,just simply turn it with a coin or a small screw driver until you hear it click."

 

That was actually part of my interview. I wound up getting the job and was later promoted to Mamiya and Rollei Medium Format Specialist for the store. I worked there from the time I was 18 or 19 till the time I was 21.

[johan_de_groote]

Google is fine if you know what to look for. But sometimes, certainly when new to a rather specialised hobby like this, you just don't know how a knob or function or technique is called. So yes, it is a dumb question if you know the answer but only then.

 

Also don't overestimate google and the internet. Very often you find the same information and even then it is very hard to assess it for correctness. Having someone talking from experience is far more valuable.

 

The hardest part is the intermediate level. Then what you find with google is too basic and what you read in specialised books is too advanced. And when you ask the question on a forum you have the same problem: the masses don't know what you are talking about so you get answers that have nothing to do with your problem and the specialists find it below their esteem to answer or are incapable to explain it simple enough.

 

And while lots of those MF camera's are indeed "simpler" than the auto-everything new ones they are harder to use: you have to do the thinking yourself! So maybe they only have a manual 3 pages long and handful of knobs instead of a few hunderd pages and a few dozen buttons they are in fact harder to grasp. Turning one of those DSLR's on and shooting with it isn't hard when it is on full auto. I have a lot more trouble taking a pic with my Kiev then with the 300D.

[enw]

Q,

 

That was perfect!

[john_gleason1]

I think that skill at talking to Mr. Google (and at understanding his responses) is not necessarily the critical issue.

 

The fact is that a lot of the questions asked on Photo.net have been asked (and answered) here many, many times before. Is it unreasonable to expect someone to consider that possibility, and then to spend a few moments looking for and ingesting earlier relevant discussions? I think not.

 

If nothing else, that approach is likely to provide a broader range of answers than those triggered by a particular (the most recent) phrasing of a familiar question. The would-be questioner might even find that someone else has phrased the question in a much better way than he/she was about to try.

 

I hang around Photo.net for fun, but I've spent a couple of decades on email lists and discussion boards, helping to provide support for a type of rather technical software. In that setting it's been demonstrated, repeatedly, that perhaps 80% or so of all questions asked have already been answered --- very clearly --- by the documentation that accompanies the software. (And at that, most of those answers are to be found in the Read Me First document!)

 

But the same questions get asked repeatedly because many users of the software make absolutely no attempt to answer the question for themselves --- including by reading the documentation provided.

 

Some of the questions here at Photo.net seem to have that same kind of character to them, I'm sad to say. Just my $0.02.

[wai_leong_lee]

1. It takes less effort to respond "google" than to type out a complete answer which already exists on the Net.

 

2. Google is fast, to-the-point and more importantly, may outlive all of us of this forum.

 

3. People should take some effort to search before asking. Especially if they're coming into MF. I don't expect MF guys to be utter newbies to photography, not in the film days, and not now. Since they're probably experienced enough 35 mm users, they can't claim new-ness as an excuse for waiting to be spoon-fed.

[john_elder1]

I agree that there are no questions that are to dumb to ask. HOWEVER, what several of the above posters fail to realize is that there ARE questions to dumb to read. If someone sees a question that has been asked a million times and that someone has read the question and answers a million times, then I would say that is dumb, on the part of the reader, not the poster. If you don't like a post for any reason, don't read it. Seems simple.

[wai_leong_lee]

Q wrote: "People who feel that the answer should be about finding other ways to get the answer should simply ignore the question."

 

I don't agree. Two things may happen with this approach:

 

a. He gets his question answered, meaning he will never have incentive to search for answers that already exist.

 

b. Nobody answers, in which case he concludes that people are ignoring him. He may search after that, or he may continue to wait. I'll bet the latter, since he already ignored the option of searching to begin with.

 

Long-term, both scenarios may breed more people waiting to be spoon-fed.

 

At least telling people to search will have a chance of reducing this tendency.

[q.g._de_bakker]

Wai-Leon,<br><br>re "a."<br />Photo.net is not an educational or correctional institution. A community like this exists so that the lesser experienced can learn from the more experienced, not about the latter not wanting to share, but <b>about photographic matters</b>.<br/>Someone asking a question here should be applauded for knowing that this is an excellent place to find answers, because that's all we (should) do here: exchange experiences. Not blow people off because they lack a bit of that.<br /><br />re "b."<br />Oh yea of little faith... <br />Just because you would not feel inclined to help a fellow photographer, it does not follow that the Photo.netters understanding that this is a community, and what the purpose of a community like this one is, would also not do so.<br /><br />So <i>"long term"</i>, a community like this would degenerate into a place where an "incrowd" of toughs discusses nothing of any importance, relishing in the fact that they have claimed this place as their own. Because they know all the answers, and would not bother any of their equals by asking anything should it ever occur that they do not. Newcomers not welcome, until they have proven themselves to be one of the lads, and do not need Photo.net to find answers to their questions too.<br /><br />That's not something i would like to encourage. On the contrary.<br />Would you? Really?

[q.g._de_bakker]

P.S.<br>Photo.net of course <i>is</i> an educational institution. One one that 'teaches' photographic matters. It's not a correctional thingy.

[wai_leong_lee]

Q-- I help people. By not spoonfeeding them.

 

You and I view "help" differently.

[wai_leong_lee]

I'm glad to see that, the majority of posts here agree that people should start by helping themselves, rather than wait to be spoonfed. They even noted that a reminder to search the archives even pops up when making a post, a clear indication that people should help themselves first before posting questions.

[simon_leung3]

All these are good responses and I for one object to spoonfeeding answers.

[john_bellenis]

This topic has been covered before, many times in many different forums.

 

A simple search would have discovered that before posting or answering.

 

;O)

[john_bellenis]

On a more serious note... I have never read so much elitist, pretentious twaddle in my life.

I am totally with Q.G. on this one - this forum is supposed to be an active, helpful

community, not merely an archive with policemen castigating anyone who dares mention

anything that has already been addressed.

 

If it bugs you (and seriously, it's a forum - why would you care for a second?) then skip

over the offending question. If not, then lend the newbie a hand - and point out he may

get further help through the archives if he chooses. Are you worried about the sites

archive size, bandwidth, what? What exactly is the concern, why would it irritate ANYONE?

What is this nonsense about "spoonfeeding" or trying to correct peoples search techniques

- how noble, how elitist, how condescending and seriously, what a lot of utter BS!

 

If people want to feel superior and belong to a club with it's own little rules, fine - let's not

make it here though, eh?