Orphancamera manuals gone?

[Greyscale]

I tried to view a manual at Mike Butkus' excellent resource website, and every .pdf link now redirects to an "account suspended" page. This would be a tragic loss if this turns out to be a permanent loss. I know that Mr. Butkus depends on freewill donations to maintain his site, and I know that I, and probably many others, have been derelict in providing the financial support that his site deserves.

 

[Gumby]

Unless it is a temporary problem, that would be a shame, a tragic loss.

 

[Gumby]

... but it might be a problem at your end. It works fine for me.

 

[Greyscale]

... but it might be a problem at your end. It works fine for me.

Gumby, have you tried to download a .pdf? The .html pages are fine.

This is what the pdfs redirect to:

http://www.cameramanuals.org/cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi

 

[Gumby]

Just did. Worked OK.

 

[OlliL]

Greyscale, it would probably make sense, that you give a specific example?!

 

[Greyscale]

Any .pdf that I tried to download redirected me to that account suspended page. Any and every one. But now, they will download. My apologies for crying wolf.

 

[Greyscale]

OK, this one still redirects for me

http://www.cameramanuals.org/canon_pdf/canon_eos_a2.pdf

As does this one, the one that I needed to download:

http://www.cameramanuals.org/canon_pdf/canon_eos_a2.pdf

 

[sevo]

The frontpage is updated, too - probably a glitch in redecoration.

 

[Greyscale]

Downloads are hit and miss, nothing for Nikon will download. Hopefully Sevo is right. Perhaps we are in the middle of a file migration.

 

[lam]

I've always pondered old sites, and their eventual demise.. Someone should be cataloging all the film gear knowledge sites and storing them or hosting/mirror them elsewhere as they are taken offline 🙁 for the betterment of film in future.

 

[68degrees]

Its true. I just tried the new trick I learned (archive.org) and the download wont start because the bills werent paid. So sad.

 

[kdemas]

Has anyone tried emailing him? His email is listed on the site.

 

[sevo]

Its true. I just tried the new trick I learned (archive.org) and the download wont start because the bills werent paid.

Hardly because of that - the site has been maintained in the past few days. It is either a temporary matter of moving, or someone has requested that some content be taken down because of a copyright violation. The site is rather vulnerable when it comes to the latter - most makers do sell the right to their obsolete manuals to publishers at least in Germany (Schaltungsdienst Lange) and Britain (OTCWorld), and the same will happen elsewhere. If only one of these many companies complains, that might put a end to the site even globally, as the Internet cannot be told to stop at a national border.

 

[divewizard]

This alternative one works fine: http://www.butkus.org/chinon/

 

[oftheherd]

Has anyone tried emailing him? His email is listed on the site.

I just sent an email. I will see what if anything I get in reply.

 

[pdh]

I'm still getting "account suspended" for any pdf links I try

 

[menthel]

I had this problem this morning too.

 

[btgc]

most makers do sell the right to their obsolete manuals to publishers at least in Germany

how about people (myself including) scanning manuals for desupported gear and putting online? seems like a good material for column 🙂

 

[Roger Hicks]

how about people (myself including) scanning manuals for desupported gear and putting online? seems like a good material for column 🙂

The only problem -- more theoretical than real -- is that manuals are copyright, and it only needs one copyright holder to object...

Cheers,

R.