Any recommendations for tech books on digital video and photography?

[yoda313]

I bought some tech books on video production and digital photography at a book sale earlier this year. They are quite old though, late 80s and 90s vintage. So the tech is woefully out of date but the basics and filming and photography are generally the same its just the nuts and bolts under the hood change.

I'd like more up-to-date books on the basics and more advanced background on video and photography. I guess I don't want the super technical where you have formulas and pages and pages of blueprints. But a nice mix of real world info and detailed info would be welcome.

I plan on checking these out of the local library someday in the near future.

Also now that I have a tablet if you have trustworthy wiki links or hobbyist websites that would make for a good read I could check them out. Its more comfortable reading lengthy websites from a tablet in a chair than reading a monitor at a desk.

This is just hobby reading. I'm not looking to start a video production company or anything like that. So its not urgent. But informative reading is what I'm looking for.

Also I'm not opposed to any worthwhile youtube links. Thanks.

[jmac698]

You could try this http://www.poynton.com/DVAI2/
I have his older book, which contains a lot of the analog stuff, and I refer to it a lot and have used it for formulas for programming, to doing filtering in Avisynth, and for answering questions in the forums.
Not saying it's the best, just because I haven't looked around a lot, but it did go into quite some depth explaining the basics from how vision works, what is color, color spaces like Lab to YUV, all the way to sampling theory and analog standards. It was called Introduction to Digital Video, you could also find it on his site but it's old now.

[yoda313]

Thanks jmac698. Its weird the only link on that page that works is the table of contents.

I wrote down his name so I can look him up later whenever I'm at the library or going online again.

Keep the suggestions coming. As I mentioned websites and youtube are welcome as well as physical books. I don't want to really buy any books but I can do kindle on my tablet. I can also do ebooks from my local library as well (most of them I think - its a mips based android tablet so its capabilities are limited).

Edit - here is a main link for the guy - http://www.poynton.com/notes/DVAI/index.html

[jmac698]

I had to mention him because he's famous on the internet. He did a lot of promoting of correct technical knowledge with these documents:
http://www.poynton.com/ColorFAQ.html
http://www.poynton.com/GammaFAQ.html
A lot of people referred to them.

And here's the book that I read
http://www.poynton.com/notes/TIDV/index.html

There's another really famous book but it gets pretty technical. I think it's this one, also famous on the internet:
http://www.dvddemystified.com/

Aha, this is the one I was thinking of:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/187870723X/dvddemystifiedA

This is a great book and goes into a lot of detail - if you happen to be an engineer. Some chapters could be too much for you.

[yoda313]

@jmac698 - thanks I appreciate it. I'll check em when I can.

[budwzr]

There are no general "How To" books, other than basically someone re-interprets the program's help file.

Like Example: A "Making Fades" exercise will discuss basic fades that any newbie already knows, but offers no advice on "where" to fade.

The books are written to help artists figure out the tools, not so much how to edit or create anything.

One book I did enjoy though is "The Art And Science Of Digital Compositing". I paid $45, but they're $55 now. Anyway, here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Digital-Compositing-Second/dp/0123706386/ref=sr_1_1?...of+compositing

[yoda313]

Thanks budwzr. That book looks good. Maybe my library has it. I might try to get there this weekend and look up the books mentioned so far.

Keep em coming.

[intracube]

American Cinematographer:
http://www.theasc.com/ac_magazine/digital_edition.php

Click on 'Preview this issue' to see the current digital edition. You can look at earlier editions by modifying the url. Format is acMMYY/?ap=1

The focus is on big budget films and camerawork/lighting as you'd expect, but it's always an interesting read.

[jmac698]

I agree. I found that a fascinating magazine. It doesn't go into detail about programs, but talks in general about techniques.

[yoda313]

Well my library didn't have any of these books. I did pick up a kind of generic book on digital photography. I'll be browsing through it and might get something useful.

One thing I did pick up on a whim was a book called Understanding Manga and Anime. I've been watching a lot online the last few years and of course went through the whole Robotech series. This should be an interesting read. Some stuff I've never understood. I'm sure some of it I'll never fully get without being immersed in the culture where it comes from. But maybe this will shed some more light on it.

I might try ebay for some of these or similar titles. If I can get em for under 10.00 I might. I know the links you gave for amazon were in the 30s and 40s. But there might be something similar that I might like.

Thanks again for the info.

[jmac698]

Try Scribd. Just sayin'.

[yoda313]

Thanks jmac698 - never knew about the place