Years ago, a filmmaker or news photographer had to know a lot about the inner workings of their machinery in order to get satisfactory results. That's less true now.

Automobiles are a good analogy. In the early days of cars, drivers had to know how to fix tires and change oil and replace a fan belt.

Today, a good driver doesn't really need to know that kind of mechanical information.

That's not to say it's not important, it just means that the technology has advanced to the point where beginners don't have to wrestle with technology in the same way they used to--for cars or media production.