The value of squeezing is not displayed

[levieuxrenard]

I’m getting to know my new A850, though I find there is actually very little new to learn for a user of the A700. As far as I can see, only the top LCP mini=panel, arrangement of the top-plate buttons, micro-focus adjust, setting the APC size capt, menu item, the workings of the Intelligent Preview and the mirror lock-up function are new.

So for these I have reached for the A850 instruction manual.

Now, I know I won’t be the first or last user of a product originating from what used to be called the Far East to have a quiet chuckle at some of the language used. We probably all have our own favourite instruction manual language howlers. “Gently scratch the backside of this card in right spot to reveal your code” and “Press Star followed by a harsh key to complete the request” are two of my own.

In my A850 handbook I did not have far to look to find the first pearl: right on the front cover we find “Before your operation”. This alarmed me a little, as I am presently in and out of hospital in Glasgow and I was wondering if the far-sighted Sony people had some advice for me on pre-op preparations. Alas not.

Then on Page 79 where a list is given for what to expect from the various creative styles, we read that Clear is ‘for capturing images in a clear tone with limpid colors in the highlighted area, suitable for capturing radiant light’’ while Deep is ‘for capturing images with deep and dense color expressions , suited to capturing the solid presence of the subject.’ With some effort you can just about arrive at the beginnings of a notion of what all this actually means. But the language here and elsewhere is so imprecise, so fluffy as to be almost meaningless.

The A850 manual is by no means the worst ever produced. But just a bit of care and cash spent on this manual, and so many others like it, could have made it a hundred times better. Imagine how readable and useful it would have been if they had got someone like Gary Friedman to write the thing! One of my biggest interests is in language; it’s also an occasional source of income for me. I don’t speak Japanese but I (and probably a good few others) would gladly have proof-read a manual like this for not all that much money. Then users of the camera would have had a fighting chance of understanding how to use functions like the creative styles.

Now, it’s easy enough to have a laugh at the expense at what are probably criminally underpaid translators in some Asian language school sweatshop for whom English is definitely not the mother tongue. And it’s not as if we native English speakers are polyglots ourselves. But I’ve never really understood why a giant corporation like Sony can produce marvels of technology and then explain how to use them in such inept language.

I realise that many people hardly ever read manuals anyway, and so this is no burning issue for them, but you would think that how you package, present and support your product should be worthy of some thought from major camera makers like Sony.

I’m curious to hear whether I am alone in caring about this, and also to hear if other forum members have their own favourite instruction manual gems.

PS
Sony’s support site also has this cracker, found on their FAQ page for the A850:
“When an astronomical telescope or the microscope is attached to the camera, adjustment of exposure is realised by changing the shutter speed. (The value of squeezing is not displayed.)”
As Manuel of Barcelona used to say, “Que?”

[Javelin]

Thats because on Sony cameras the squeezing is left out of all the lower speced cameras. I think it's one of Barry's beefs. At least your A850 has squeezing... my A700 doesn't

[KevinBarrett]

Squeezing briefly appeared in the a700 with firmware V2, but was quietly removed again with firmware V3.

[Greg Beetham]

Not from a camera manual, but a little ripper just the same. I built a 486DX4-100 back in the 90's to run some DOS astronomy software, (it was plenty of power for the task), the instruction manual for the mainboard showed how to configure the jumpers for the various brands of CPU's, (I was using the Cyrix page, the Intel page was similar). The thing that stopped me in my tracks for a while was the footnote.
ps: VER:2 RN11 not install and afterwards.
There were quite a few other good ones in that particular manual but that one was definitely the best for producing mental distortions, the main board 'in the box' did not have the RN11 row of jumpers on it, that's how the penny finally dropped as to what they were talking about, my board was obviously a VER:2 although I couldn't see that marked on it anywhere.
Greg

ps. Definitely worthy of a Fawlty Towers -Manuel "ke" or "Que" complete with totally vacant expression.
pps. I would love too know what 'squeezing' is in the A850 manual.
A100 KM24-105

DSC03203.jpg (39.84 KiB) Viewed 2921 times

[UrsaMajor]

I’m curious to hear whether I am alone in caring about this, and also to hear if other forum members have their own favourite instruction manual gems.

Over the years, I've seen a number of entertaining and/or puzzling language errors in manuals. The one that sticks in my mind the most was actually in a repair manual for a copier.

In the 1970s I had a friend whose first language was Japanese, and who worked as a freelance Japanese - English translator. She was looking to get a contract with a Japanese copier manufacturer to do all their work, and wanted to demonstrate the room for improvement of the manuals that were being done for them by a Professor of English at Tokyo University. She decided that the best choice for that purpose was the English-language version of the service manual for one of their smaller copiers.

Since I am an engineer with a better than average command of my first language (English), she hired me to mark-up the English-language manual to indicate what I considered to be either poor usage of English, or technically incorrect material (in the translated version). I did so, and ended up with every page covered with red ink - even with an honest effort to avoid a biased review.

The part of the manual that will always stick in my memory was a section of about 1.5 pages that discussed making repairs in the high-voltage section of the unit.

At the END of that section - where you would read it AFTER making the repairs - there was a warning in a large and bold font that said (in different and poorly chosen words):

WARNING - BEFORE YOU WORK IN THE HIGH-VOLTAGE SECTION, BE SURE TO DISCONNECT ALL POWER FROM THE UNIT.
FAILURE TO DO SO MAY RESULT IN SEVERE INJURY.

My memory of that manual - translated by a University professor - has left me with great admiration for anyone who can write with genuine fluency in a second or third language. Even when my command of other languages was far, far better than it is today, I was never anywhere near close to that fluency. (I have a Swiss friend who is fluent in seven languages and reasonably good in four others. I am in awe of him.)

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[Dr. Harout]

I can write down some jokes on this issue, but restraining due to rude words.
Instead I'll note this: in a Chinese "restaurant" (which resembled more like an uncleaned kitchen room) we decided to try some Chinese recipes, so asked the guy who obviously was new to the States to serve us with some of their SPECIALTIES and a few minutes later he comes up with cups of teas saying while bowing "SPECIAL TEA for you"...

[pakodominguez]

If you are trilled by manual(s) translated to English, you can't even imagine how (bad) they are in Spanish...