Not so much helpful instruction, since others have already provided
that; just an observation about the Super Program.
When I got mine, I noticed that it did a lot of things and figured
I'd better read the manual. On page after page, the manual mostly
told me, "If you do this, the camera will do exactly what you'd
think it would do if you did this. It's a really well designed
user interface -- intuitive, easy to learn, and easy to use. (Note
that the last two are non synonymous -- there are many devices or
systems which are easy to learn but cumbersome to do anything
useful with because the only way to use them is to act like a
novice all the time (the Pine mailer for example, or my Motorola
cell phone), and similarly plenty of examples of things that are
delightfully easy to use -- and powerful tools -- once you learn
them but take a while to learn to that level (e.g., the vi text
editor, or a high-end audio mixer). Because problem domains
differ, not all types of tools _can_ hit both of those targets
simultaneously, but even in domains where it's possible, too few
tools actually manage to pull it off. The Super Program is an
example of a tool that does.
As I recall, there were one or two bits that I had to read the
manual for or ask about here, and flash compensation is only
"obvious" once you've already learned it (and IIRC not described
in the manual -- it's also the one clumsy operatin on that body),
but ISTR that a lot of the things I felt the need to look up
amounted to, "It can't possibly just be a matter of ... oh, it is.
Huh." I'll try to remember what things I actually needed to _learn_
rather than just be reassured about (maybe I asked a question here
and can find it in my archive), but it's so good on the easy-to-use
front that it becomes hard to remember what it was that confused
you once you've gotten your answer.
Although I'm in the "hate setting the shutter speed with the
darned buttons" camp, I loved the Super Program and hope to
replace it someday (it's one of the bodies that got stolen).
It's not _that_ awkward to use manually except in comparison
to a KX or K2, as long as you're not wearing winter gloves (in
which case the buttons are nearly impossible); I'm just spoiled
by having had those other cameras handy. (That said, I wouldn't
suggest the Super Program to someone who will shoot in manual
mode most of the time, unless they love the buttons, but if you're
going to use the other modes a lot and only occassionally go
manual, or if you have a K2 or a KX to switch to when you know
you're going to want manual, the Super Program is about as easy
as it gets for something with that many features.)
And now for a comparison that will make absolutely no sense to
most people but make one or two of you go "Ah!":
Y'know, in some ways the user interface of the Super Program
reminds me of learning VAX assembly language. "Wouldn't it be
nifty if I could combine this addressing mode with ... oh wait,
I can, and it does exactly what it ought to. Huh. What kind of
weird-ass CPU is this that I don't have to memorize a bunch of
"you can't do that to this register" rules?" And finding out
how flash compensation works on the Super Program reminds me of
looking at the hexadecimal machine code on the VAX and realizing
that the "immediate" addressing mode was implemented in the
hardware as "auto-increment indirect using the program counter".
-- Glenn
