What the manuals don't tell you!

[MRT]

It is easy to find information on how equipment works normally. But what about when odd things crop up? A camera manual may tell you how to take great photos but fail to mention those 'orb' things entirely (which is a great pity as it would have saved everyone a lot of trouble!). The manual for your dictaphone may well fail to mention that long-play mode means a very restricted frequency range, which tends to make random noise sound like EVP. If you see a face in the background trees in a digital photo, is it a ghost or just pixelation?

This sort of thing - what the manual failed to mention - is the source of so many paranormal reports!

[MRT]

I've noticed something else - some people are deliberately creating situations where equipment is at or beyond its limit of 'normal' use to find 'paranormal' phenomena.

An example is taking photos of nothing, at night, using a flash when it's raining! This is pretty much guaranteed to produce orbs (from the raindrops) with almost any camera (even high spec ones). Apart from orbs, the photos typically show nothing at all because everything is too far away for the flash to illuminate. I suspect people have discovered this by trial and error but probably have paranormal theories as to why it's good at producing orbs.

[bobdezon]

I concur, but even though you can point people to this very pertinant information they will usualy immediately discount it because they cannot admit that standing around in graveyards every night for the past 12 years photographing orbs, was infact an utter waste of their time. They want to feel needed and important, or that their "work" is important and necessary. They belive they are pioneers in the field, and if you give them a reason to doubt their work has any relevance they fre@k out and discount everything you say.

[MRT]

They belive they are pioneers in the field, and if you give them a reason to doubt their work has any relevance they fre@k out and discount everything you say.

Been there, done that ... :smiley:

[Cuddles]

There are two main problems that I can see with manuals trying to give this sort of information. The first is that there are simply too many possible scenarios for them to cover them all. Things like telling you to hold the camera steady are very simple and happen so often that a reminder could be useful. Taking pictures of polar bears with their eyes closed during a snowstorm just isn't something that happens often enough to make it worthwhile giving advice about.

The other problem is that most of these things are really none of their business. What the manufacturer is concered with is the camera. If something can go wrong with the camera, they will try to give some information about it. If something is wrong with the way you are using it, that's your own silly fault.

I think the problem is when you say "It is easy to find information on how equipment works normally. But what about when odd things crop up?". If the odd things crop up while the equipment is working normally, it's not the equipnment's fault and has no reason to be in the manual.

There's also the fact that many people wouldn't understand the explanations and wouldn't care even if they did. For example, if you're recording a video, everyone knows that long play reduces quality but can record for longer. Very few people actually care why this is the case, so there is just no good reason to include this information in what is supposed to be a short, easily understood manual.

[MRT]

I think the problem is when you say "It is easy to find information on how equipment works normally. But what about when odd things crop up?". If the odd things crop up while the equipment is working normally, it's not the equipnment's fault and has no reason to be in the manual.

Actually, some manuals do cover 'common mistakes'. What they don't cover is 'uncommon mistakes'. Manufacturer's could easily cover this sort of stuff on their websites if lots of people were reporting similar problems. A few do, but the information isn't easy to find.

I am not having a go at equipment manufacturers at all! I'm just saying that the reason some people jump to the conclusion that they have a paranormal phenomenon is because they can't easily find any normal explanation.

Of course, the fact that some websites and TV programmes are actually promoting paranormal explanations for these things hardly helps! ;)