Resources
Photography Techniques and Collections
The Street Photographer’s Manual by David Gibson.
The Great LIFE Photographers: a superb collection of the best photography that appeared in this long-running magazine (requires free Internet Archive account to access).
Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection: check out 15 Staff Selections and 15 Popular Requests from this collection.
Classic Film Photography Gear
Books
Camera: A History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital and 500 Cameras: 170 Years of Photographic Innovation by Todd Gustavson (both require free Internet Archive account to access).
A History of the 35mm Still Camera by Roger Hicks (requires free Internet Archive account to access).
Collecting and Using Classic Cameras and Collecting and Using Classic SLRs by Ivor Matanle (both require free Internet Archive account to access).
Discovering Cameras, 1945-1965 by Robert White (requires free Internet Archive account to access).
A History of Photography in 50 Cameras by Michael Pritchard (requires free Internet Archive account to access).
From Daguerre to Digital: 150 Years of Classic Cameras (requires free Internet Archive account to access) and Retro Cameras: The Collector’s Guide to Vintage Film Photography by John Wade.
Instant: The Story of Polaroid by Christopher Bonanos.
Magazines
Modern Photography (requires free Internet Archive account to access).
Popular Photography (requires free Internet Archive account to access).
Websites
Casual Photophile: an excellent website with lots of thoughtful and very well written articles about classic photography gear.
Camera-wiki.org: a wide-ranging source of reference information that was very useful when I was doing my research for my Questar history.
Camera Manual Library: do you have a classic camera but lack the instruction manual that would have accompanied it? You’ll find more camera manuals at this website, which is maintained by Michael Butkus, Jr., than you can shake a stick at.
Learn Camera Repair: feel emboldened to disassemble your classic camera? This website has tons of service manuals and useful tutorials.
MikeEckman.com: a great resource for lots of vintage cameras.
The Praktina System: a website by Alberto Taccheo dedicated to a trailblazing yet underappreciated system camera. Includes a page on my very own Questar-modified Praktina FX camera—thanks Alberto!
Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar lenses: I have a special affinity for this very unique lens. Check out Casual Photophile’s Carl Zeiss Biotar 58mm f/2 Review and this Carl Zeiss Biotar 58mm f/2 full service and lubrication tutorial, through which I learned how to service my own Biotar lens. The Phoblographer also has a good review of the Carl Zeiss Biotar 75mm f/1.5 lens.
Modern Digital Photography
Complete Digital Photography by Ben Long: see my review of this very useful book.
Digital Photography Review: I’ve lost many hours of my life ogling photography gear reviews on this website.
A Complete Guide to Editing Photos on Your iPhone by Dan Helyer.
Places to Buy Things or Get Them Repaired
Blue Moon Camera: incredible selection of vintage gear and film. If you’re a film photographer and you happen to be in Portland, Oregon, make Blue Moon a mandatory stop during your visit.
Advance Camera: first-rate camera repair shop also located in Portland, Oregon. The wait times can be long, but then again that’s probably because word is out there about the quality of repair service they deliver. I had one of my Nikon F camera bodies serviced there, and it shoots like it’s new.
MPB: great selection of quality used photography gear. I bought my Canon EOS M50 from MPB.