bmattock
Veteran
For those who might be interested, Google has scanned and put online a lot of books, including full text of some which have expired copyrights. They're easy to find, you can search them, most have been converted to text as well as the original scans, you can download them as PDF files, and you can store them in your 'library' if you're signed up as a Google user (free).
Here is the URL for the 'advanced' search:
http://www.google.com/advanced_book_search
As an example, I entered "Photography" under 'find results' and then ticked the radio buttons for 'full text only' and 'books'. I could also have chosen a particular date range, author, or etc, but for this example, I wanted to keep it simple.
I clicked the 'Google Search' button and got over 6,100 results. I just took the first one I saw as an example:
"Photography: Being Simple Simple Chapters for Beginners on the Art and Practice of Photography," by Rev. A.H. Blake, M.A., published in 1901.
This particular book might not be of any interest to some photographers, being as it is so old. However, it might be a fascinating history of the practice of photography as it existed in the early 1900's. There are lots of books like that, most older (since the copyright had to expire before the entire text could be made available for free download as a PDF). Some are much newer, and you can read them entirely online, but cannot download them, due to the copyright not being expired.
However, you don't just have to search for 'photography'. For people into home developing and doing their own custom chemistry, try 'photographic chemistry' and see what you come up with. Or try 'pictorialism' or 'ansel adams' or 'josef maria eder' etc. I'm sure you can some up with some interesting searches and some equally interesting results.
Good luck and happy hunting. Hope this information is of use to some of you.
Here is the URL for the 'advanced' search:
http://www.google.com/advanced_book_search
As an example, I entered "Photography" under 'find results' and then ticked the radio buttons for 'full text only' and 'books'. I could also have chosen a particular date range, author, or etc, but for this example, I wanted to keep it simple.
I clicked the 'Google Search' button and got over 6,100 results. I just took the first one I saw as an example:
"Photography: Being Simple Simple Chapters for Beginners on the Art and Practice of Photography," by Rev. A.H. Blake, M.A., published in 1901.
This particular book might not be of any interest to some photographers, being as it is so old. However, it might be a fascinating history of the practice of photography as it existed in the early 1900's. There are lots of books like that, most older (since the copyright had to expire before the entire text could be made available for free download as a PDF). Some are much newer, and you can read them entirely online, but cannot download them, due to the copyright not being expired.
However, you don't just have to search for 'photography'. For people into home developing and doing their own custom chemistry, try 'photographic chemistry' and see what you come up with. Or try 'pictorialism' or 'ansel adams' or 'josef maria eder' etc. I'm sure you can some up with some interesting searches and some equally interesting results.
Good luck and happy hunting. Hope this information is of use to some of you.
btgc
Veteran
Thanks for reminder. Recently I gogled for particular camera model and some keywords (had issues with charging shutter) and found one of those repair books, covering several makes, including one I searched for. At least it described how to open front of camera, so it saved me some time.
ampguy
Veteran
Have you found any good current books with full text? The good ones I've browsed have many pages omitted by the copyright holder.
bmattock
Veteran
No, I find the same problem. There are some, but you have to hunt for them. I put in the publication dates of Jan 1990 to August 2009 and got 727 results for full-text books, but not all of them were strictly about photography (search value was 'photography'). However, like browsing in a library, it did take me down some interesting paths, like this one:
However, I am much more interested in the history of photography personally, so the results I do find suit me very well. I'd be somewhat disappointed if I were looking for full-text recent books.
However, I noticed that Google has been scanning and putting online full text recent magazines, and I hope that they will be able to do so with some of the photography magazines. Popular Science is online, as is Popular Mechanics (all issues ever!). There are some good articles on photography and photographers in recent issues of New York Magazine and the New Yorker, and even a few in magazines like Popular Science.
Sorry there is not more that is recent, but copyright holders have the right to refuse to let such information become available for free.
biomed
Veteran
Book link
Book link
Thanks for posting this link. I read a little from PHOTOGRAPHY - BEING SIMPLE CHAPTERS ON THE ART AND PRACTICE OF PHOTOGRAPHY.
Here are a couple of bits from chapter 1 -
"As to what sort of camera; we should have first to determine between new and second-hand instruments. We are personally strongly in favour of a second-hand apparatus to begin with. It is often possible to get a nice instrument second-hand for the price which we should have to pay for an inferior article new, but it is only fair to warn the inexperienced that unless he has at hand a really competent friend to advise him, he may burn his fingers rather severely in these second-hand transactions."
"Distance is always reckoned from the camera not to the nearest object, but to the nearest shadow, because that is what you require to get out: the high lights must take of themselves."
Download a copy and read this 100+ year old publication.
Book link
Thanks for posting this link. I read a little from PHOTOGRAPHY - BEING SIMPLE CHAPTERS ON THE ART AND PRACTICE OF PHOTOGRAPHY.
Here are a couple of bits from chapter 1 -
"As to what sort of camera; we should have first to determine between new and second-hand instruments. We are personally strongly in favour of a second-hand apparatus to begin with. It is often possible to get a nice instrument second-hand for the price which we should have to pay for an inferior article new, but it is only fair to warn the inexperienced that unless he has at hand a really competent friend to advise him, he may burn his fingers rather severely in these second-hand transactions."
"Distance is always reckoned from the camera not to the nearest object, but to the nearest shadow, because that is what you require to get out: the high lights must take of themselves."
Download a copy and read this 100+ year old publication.
sleepyhead
Well-known
bmattock', THANKS for bringing this to our attention.
Cheers, Yaron
Cheers, Yaron
selloutboy
A.g. De Mesa
Thanks for this bmattock!
I know this won't beat opening a book but it is a good resource and a fun hunt for information and materials
Thanks!
I know this won't beat opening a book but it is a good resource and a fun hunt for information and materials
Thanks!