what cheat sheets do you carry?

[antonio_rodriguez_sanchez]

<p>f16 rule under different conditions of light/ISO, speed/Av. I attach a small table to the camera case. Manual of the camera and flash as well.</p>

<p>My first camera (an AE-1) came with one in its case, I always found that useful for "those situations" where sometimes metering is difficult for the camera. I use it always with my Mamiyaflex (doesn't have a meter).</p>

<p>Also, consider, I am a very manual kind of guy, got used to it. And still shoot film, I guess f16 works with digital, but don't know for sure, it seems the gray card doesn't, so, just to let you know.</p>

<p>Cheers.</p>

[chris_laskey]

<p>None. I prefer to do the footwork the night before. Along with checking through all my equipment, I'm thinking through what I visually want to achieve the next day, whatever the particular job may be. If I'm not sure about specifics (say what shutter speed to freeze the action at a sporting event), I'm doing the footwork before the event. And if I'm presented with something new or unfamiliar, I trust myself to take some quick test shots and adjust accordingly.<br>

<br /> I'd strongly recommend leaving the cheat sheets at home. There's no doubt shooting events for money can be nervy, especially when you're still new to it. But if you're going to make a career out of it, trusting in yourself to adapt is going to take you farther than relying on a crutch.</p>

[savagesax]

<p>I carry manuals, because I can't memorize every function offered with the 1Ds Mark3. There's also a lot of information on 2 dvd's sold separately sold by Jumpstart. That's about 5 to 6 hours worth of valuable information, a lot of this is not in your manual. I feel that you are missing out and messing up if you don't carry a manual with you. What happens when an error code pops up? How do you clear the error? What do you do when your flash won't fire? Is it heat related, wrong setting? If you have several strobes set up, why are the strobes firing before your camera flash is firing? Or why isn't your extra Canon or Nikon flash firing as a slave or as the main? Do all of you know how to reset your camera's and flash units? Another problem related to error codes could be your flash card. Do we all know these error codes and how to reset the camera? My guess is respectfully no we don't. The most common error is #99, but what if the error is #63? Can you fix that?</p>

<p>I think we should know the answers, but when we don't it sure is wonderful having a manual to figure out the problem. I have had camera failure, unable to fix it when shooting the formals or something, so I pop on another flash or switch bodies. At the reception, when I have a few minutes free, I'll fiddle with the camera/flash, and open the manual if needed.</p>

<p>I also carry a list of must shots. I've never been sued and I surely don't want to be asked by the judge why I didn't get a shot of something or somebody and have to tell the judge I forgot.</p>

[macmoss]

<p>There are some great answers here, and as you notice, they are all different, because the experiences reflected by the respondents are as unique as the way they work.<br /><br />As you acquire a more firm sense of your own needs, this will fall into place.<br /><br />For me, after 40 years, I still never use a camera without the full manual at hand or nearby. It's just familiarity with Murphy's Law; the one obscure piece of info you might need that's not in your head, will become absolutely necessary when the manual is not handy.<br /><br />Secondly, for location shots, I always scout, shoot, and contact beforehand when I can, doing e.g. creative street fashion shoots. Most of the time, the prepared ideas get thrown out, but if producing them gives me a greater sense of confidence, it was worth the work anyway.</p>

[jimmckinnon]

<p><strong>Denzel</strong> - Nothing wrong with carrying some reminders. I wouldn't want that pilot flying without going over his <strong>written </strong>check-off list prior to the flight. Thanks for bringing up a good subject.</p>

<p><strong>Kat - </strong>Welcome to PN. Certainly is nice to have someone who is <em>perfect </em>join the ranks. Strange, though, how I don't anticipate aspinring to be just like you...</p>

[garydem]

<p>i carry 2-one in my photo bag and 1 in my wallet. the one in my photobag is the BOOK "Kodak Digital PhotoGuide", about a 5x7inch book. it has got every chart that you could ever think of. some in chart form, others on wheel dialit form. in my wallet is the adjust numbers for differnt lenses for my pano tripod head. also, both of my pentax dslr manuals.</p>

[cmphoto]

<p>Danzel,<br>

I have a "cheat sheet", but it is to remind me what to pack for a location shoot. I, of course<br>

never remember to even pull out "the list". Just yesterday I was headed down the road-thankfully<br>

not far from home-thought the load looked a little thin in my Sienna...forgot my softboxes! Nothing<br>

wrong with lists...I might go one step further and suggest actually CHECKING your list..note to self.</p>

[silvercityphotography]

<p>I don't respond to often to forum questions but I felt inclined to this time. Photography is mostly a hobby for me but I also do a little freelance work on the side. My full-time job is being a firefighter and believe me, we carry cheat-sheet. Not because we don't know what we are doing but because when a life is on the line we don't usually have time or get a second chance. We have one shot to get it right or someone dies. At two o'clock in the morning when we just can't seem to remember what pressure we need for that hoseline, or what that medication is for that the patient is on we have to look it up. </p>

<p>So I don't see anything wrong with having cheat sheets to jog your memory for setting shutter speed or aperture. After all, most of us aren't just pointing and shooting.</p>

[twatkinson]

<blockquote>

<p>no one, in any profession (doctors, engineers, pilots included), can say they are 100% prepared for 100% of the things they may encounter</p>

</blockquote>

<p>All of my lists, cheat sheets, manuals and other various paperwork give me the confidence i need to FEEL 100% prepared. When I feel prepared I can breeze through the day, allow my creativity to flow freely and generally perform to the best of my ability. All because I KNOW I have a backup plan. I've encountered plenty of things I didn't expect, but because I was prepared I was confident, and because I was confident I had no problem handling the situation. I still say if it works for you, go with it. </p>

[danzel_c]

<p>talitha, that was my point! why count 100% on memory 100% of the time when you don't have to. as the fire fighter points out, his cheat sheet saves lives! great comments and examples from others who have chimed in!</p>

[betty_lowrey]

<p>I absolutely HATE "must take shot" lists. I'm not there to recreate someone elses wedding, I'm there to capture what really happens. For the formals I do brides family, grooms family, and bridal party. That's the only guideline I really follow. The rest is captured as is.</p>

[jmg1911]

<p>A note for all the superior types - Most airlines will summarily dismiss a pilot that does Not refer to his checklist for takeoff and landing.</p>

[james_cox3]

<p>You are spot on Danzel, why risk having a brain fart at a crucial moment ruin the day.</p>

<p> </p>

[rjacksonphoto]

<p>Although I rarely have to refer to them, my manuals are on my laptop whenever I travel. Also, I'm a doctor and believe me, I have all kinds of "cheat sheets" loaded on my Iphone. Laboratory unit converters, formulas for medical calculations, Five-Minute Clinical Consult, Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics to name a few. Big time-savers and, if I have any doubt about what needs to be done, I'm pretty sure my patients are more than happy for me to quickly review various recommendations.</p>

[phillip_bond]

<p>This is only a guess:<br>

Those who replied more in line with Danzel are hobbyists/part time shooters.<br>

[twatkinson]

<p>I can't speak for others, but wedding photography is my only source of income. It seems to me that somewhere along the line the OP's question ("what type of reference material do you bring with you to a wedding?") got confused with "is it ok to check my manual at dinner to figure out what this button does?" If having a cheat sheet or ipod with some inspiration help you do your job better then go ahead and don't worry for one second what a few other photographers on photo.net may think of you. </p>

<p>PS - Jerry's pic pockets (which will be available for ipods and iphones soon) and the photographer's toolkit look book are both very popular and used by a number of people who shoot professionally. </p>

[alan_ginman]

<p>On my old thyristor flash unit I Dymo taped the words MODE, APERTURE and SHUTTER SPEED to make sure I set everything that had to be set. After doing this I never set something incorrectly again.</p>

<p>I apologise for actually answering the question the OP asked. I promise I won't do it again.</p>

<p>Cheers</p>

<p>Alan</p>

[fotografz]

<p>Phillip ... </p>

<p>I tend to think it is the opposite. I am hardly a "hobbist".. </p>

<p>I've been doing this for a very long time, and in my experience, its the smug and over confident that are usually the ones who make the biggest mistakes because they fail to recognize that they are human and subject to human error just like anyone else. </p>

<p>If you do this long enough, you will experience the "Fog of War" at some time or another. It has to happen just once to prove the value of some notes or a quick guide in the bag. </p>

<p>And yes, Airline Pilots have check lists ... AND a second person checking their checking ... called a Co-Pilot.</p>

<p>I also agree with Bob Bernardo ... who I'm certain is NOT a hobbist and DOES know what he is doing. Today's digital cameras are pretty complex and ever changing. Having a reference guide can't hurt should the odd thing pop up. </p>

<p>Before becoming a full time photographer, I was an art director that hired the best photographers in the world. Most had tech assistants to do the remembering for them. One top shooter told me we had to wait a minute while he figured out the Nikon Digital SLR he was using because what we wanted to do was so complex to set up on that camera ... yep, he whipped out the manual.</p>

<p> </p>

[joel_tomaneng2]

<p>I'm really not getting this argument. These "reference manuals" are small. I have three or four of them in my bag and don't notice that they're there. These things weigh less than a pound. If someone was using a "cheat sheet" (say after every other shot) and this was slowing down the shoot to the point it was slowing down the wedding (yes, I've seen this before), then I would say no. But if you're killing some down time (e.g. you somehow got to the reception hall before everyone else), this is a great idea. Danzel -- like the ipod idea, especially if its a ipod touch/ iphone... something you can fit in a coat pocket. Overall, use some common sense, take a few notes if necessary, but don't let it be a crutch.</p>

[gabriella_lucia]

<p>I carry the metering mode symbols for Canon. After many years I still mix them up.</p>

[pcnilssen]

<p>I have cut out some advanced operating instructions for my SB-800 flash, which I do not use too often. I have laminated these cut-outs, so that they are easy to read and not prone to smudges, cuts and other "abuse"</p>

[david_ralph1]

<p>Experience counts.

<p>But, pilots may not be the best example. Airline pilots, any pilot for that matter, always use a written checksheet at takeoffs and landings. That it is the protocol. The most experienced pros do. Any error or oversight is fatal. The checklist is to help insure that human error, that one in a million oversight, does not occur. For photographers, there is usually a chance to shoot again or substitute a similar shot. Sorry.</p>

[david_ralph1]

<p>OK, to respond to the original poster. I am amateur, for 40 years. Film equipment was simple in the sense there were few controls, and once the film was loaded, those protocols were fixed for the roll. No cheat sheets ever, except to put film box end on the camera or in the case for the film loaded. Today, I carry a summary of the manual, or Thom Hogan's summary, though I only rarely refer to them in advance if the shoot will be in difficult light.</p>

<p>OTOH, as an available light shooter in the main, what I absolutely cannot remember are the menu settings for an SB-800 flash. The menu designer should be shot forthwith. Nikon should give refunds and an apology along with a huge discount on the SB-900. So, I laminated a cheat sheet to turn the SB-800 and SB-600 (way different menus those two) into off camera slaves controlled by the camera.</p>

[jamie bushley]

<p>I carry the camera manuals in my bag but I have never needed to look at them during a wedding. Error codes are the only thing I might need them for, and if I can't figure out a code I'd pull out a backup body and lens before the manual. I've had a few error codes pop up and I fixed them in about 2 seconds by re-seating the lens and restarting the camera. I knew what to do because I've seen that code before in other shooting. The custom functions are pretty easy to figure out once you've gone through them enough.</p>

<p>You need to know your equipment to the point that it's an extension of you and totally understand what is going into making each shot. If there's a few reminders you need, you need to burn them into your brain and that will come with experience. You can write them down, and that should help you learn it, but the goal should be to not have to look at it, and just know it.</p>

<p>A surgeon doesn't say "oh wow that's bleeding a lot, let me see what I should do in my book." they just clamp it and stop the bleeding. They researched the procedure before hand and understand what's going on during it. They know what can go wrong and have backup plans for those situations, just like we should. Most surgeons are specialists who do the same thing over and over again, they know the anatomy of that area well and know what needs to be done. I'd much rather have an experienced surgeon who knows what he's doing than a kid out of med school checking his notes while I bleed to death. Surgeon's have to go to school for years and then "apprentice" for years as a resident. Unfortunately that is not a requirement for photographers, but at least it's unlikely that we'll kill someone if we make a mistake!</p>

<p>All that being said there is one "cheat sheet" that I bring to every wedding. It's a copy of the wedding contract which has the brides and grooms and other key players names, as well as the scheduled times for the ceremony and reception start. I know my camera like the back of my hand because I use it all the time, but I'm bad with people's names, so I find the list of names very handy. Brides don't seem to like it when you call them "bride" instead of their real name! I did that once a few years ago, when I was working on a big cruse ship in NYC and had the weddings all pre-booked. She gave me such a dirty look I knew I couldn't let that happen again! Most parents respond fine to "mom" and "dad" in my experience, but if there's both "mom's" in one photo you need to know their names! Knowing the names helps a lot in posing group portraits, or just getting someones atention. People also feel much more respected when you call them by name. I don't make it obvoius that I look at my list of names, and don't refer to it often. I just learn the names as the day goes on and double check it prior to meeting the clients.</p>

[neilambrose]

<p>I think this discussion has polarised to the extremes. Might be worth focusing on the original post.</p>

<p>I can see the benefit of taking a camera manual for emergency reference if someone isn't comfortable with the technical details, or has moved to a new model with a different set-up. I don't have any use for one myself because I work with equipment that I know inside out, but that's the product of sticking with the same gear for a long time.</p>

<p>But I wouldn't endorse someone working with such insufficient knowledge of their equipment that they have to refer to the manual as a matter of routine, and I suspect that no one else would either.</p>

<p>What most surprises me is the notion of having a look-up table of exposures 'for stopping different types of action'. That's not akin to an airline pilot's checklist. Not even close. Not unless a pilot's checklist says 'stick forward = fly down; stick back = fly up'.</p>

<p>There are some things that should be so transparent that keeping a reference guide is unnecessary. For a photographer, I would suggest that understanding exposure is pretty fundamental, and an absolute prerequisite for professional work. About baseline to a doctor remembering how to take a pulse. This is not the sort of stuff that anyone should have to rely on a written guide for.</p>

<p>I have to say I'm surprised that pocket guides have a place in so many people's kit bags. I didn't take my first wedding until I could shoot all day with a mechanical camera and no light meter and be completely comfortable about getting good results. I figured that was the basic minimum skills level I needed, and I'm not even old school. But I guess it's now normal to work with a lot less.</p>