paper manual, online manual or PDF on your computer/phone?

All of them, including the carrots,

 

Meh, I don't read manuals. Just make it work.

 

The manual for the Orange Crush 100 amp is one sheet front and back. In this instance, paper seems just fine.

 

Online manual.
However, with something like your example of a camera where you could be conceivably away from a means of getting online, then I'd save a pdf to my phone.

 

PDF on my phone or on Drive. As a young man I rarely relied on a manual. Now I buy a product after I have DL'd the manuel. I wasted a lot of time hunt and pecking not reading the da*n manuel . I even read the manual for my wife's cameras, she never does.

 

I print out only the pages pertaining to me, so PDF.

 

I think it depends on where it's going to be used. I don't mind PDFs on my iPad for many things, but if I have to bring it out to the garage--some gas-powered yard implement, say--I prefer it on paper. Though sometimes I'll take it any way I can get it--for instance, I can't find where I left the paper manual for my Homelite trimmer, and can't find a copy online!

 

If I can't figure out a device without a manual, the device is poorly designed. But......If I do want to check the manual for specs or something, I'm happy to go on line and download a PDF, and save it to a file on my computer. About the only paper I tolerate these days, I use to wipe......never mind.

 

Remember your first time behind the wheel? I certainly wouldn't have gotten ANYWHERE in that thing without guidance.

 

Much prefer the old-fashioned printed manuals, but I've noticed that some manufacturers don't even produce them any longer because "everything is on the internet." Meh. More evidence of the decline of Western civilization.

 

for me: a PDF is fine for quick referencing, but if i have to 'study' a lot of material (especially with a lot of cross-referencing) i'd prefer it to be paper --- in my hands.

 

I like both PDF on my computer and a paper copy. Getting older, I like to have a manual handy and learned that I have saved time by reading the manual first....

 

If we’re talking about a camera with any advanced capabilities at all such as exposure controls etc, I want a paper manual.

For a lot of stuff, a PDF I can access on my phone or iPad is ok. I have a few PDF manuals stored as books I can access at any time.

 

As long a I can paperize it if needed, I'm fine with a PDF. I hate troublshooting one technology while fighitng with another - and underlining and highlighting my PC monitor gets messy sometimes.....

If I get a paper manual or have to print it, it goes in a binder I have for all my musical stuff -only way I'd ever find it if I needed it....

 

Online manuals have been a godsend to me on more than one occasion. I do repairs on all manner of stuff and some of it is old enough a paper manual would be impossible to find, but it’s rare i can’t find something online, even if it’s some photos of the manual pages. Stuff i do regularly i prefer a PDF on my computer. All that said, i grew up on paper manuals and would prefer them to anything else if possible. I’ve got a ton of old service manuals for cars, motorcycles, etc.