Help:FAQ

This is a work in progress.

Hello! This page tries to answer a few common questions about what Camera-wiki.org is, and how it works. Click "show" after any question to expand it and show the answer.

If there's anything else about the wiki you think is unclear, feel free to click the "discussion" tab above this page and request an explanation there.

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What is a wiki?
A wiki is a website where a collection of linked pages can be edited collaboratively, directly from a web browser. The most famous example, of course, is Wikipedia, which has a good page explaining the concept (and the origin of its odd name).

What is the relationship between Camera-wiki.org and Camerapedia?

This wiki builds upon the earlier work of Camerapedia.org, which was founded in October 2004 by Brandon Stone. In January 2011, the former Camerapedia.org contents were transferred to new hosting at camerapedia.wikia.com. A number of earlier contributors were uncomfortable with their content being hosted on a for-profit, ad-supported service, Wikia. To address this concern, on 22 January 2011 users Steevithak and Voxphoto invited the community to organize an alternative non-commercial wiki. It is Camera-wiki.org, which launched on 7 February 2011. The community of users quickly adopted the Camera-wiki.org Flickr discussion group and Flickr photo pool (adding about 27,00 photos in its first two months). The rate of new edits at Camera-wiki.org is significantly higher than at Wikia; and our editors are the ones with past experience with the organization and culture of the wiki.

What's to stop Camera-wiki.org from going commercial too?

Camera-wiki.org is organized by individuals on at least three different continents, who don't know each other personally. We try to share responsibilities and ownerships so that no one person could singlehandedly cripple the work. For example, camera-wiki.info is registered by a different person from camera-wiki.org; different people have server passwords, etc. We are also aiming to establish nonprofit status which would formalize organizational (not individual) ownership of domains and other assets.

Can you answer a question about my camera?
Post your question in the discussion forum of our Flickr group and someone will try to help! (But if you want to know, "is this old camera valuable?" the fastest solution is to search completed auctions on eBay.)

Your wiki has no/incomplete/wrong information about Camera X! Will you fix that?
Camera-wiki is a bunch of separate pages written by dozens of volunteers in their spare time. There are many cameras in this world, and even some entire brands, for which no one has had time to write a careful article. If you know something we don't, why don't you create a login and help us? (And if you have clear photos of the item, please submit them to our photo pool on Flickr.)

I'd like to add some information, so what should I do?

Please create a login and sign in, and then you'll see an "edit" link above most of the pages in the wiki. Click that and you'll be able to make additions or changes to the text. We have one important request, which is that if you create an account, please add a brief sentence on your talk page or your user page saying hello. Unfortunately many accounts are created simply in an attempt to add spam links to the wiki. Anyone adding spam is immediately blocked; but we also treat "silent" accounts as suspicious, and we generally delete them if they go unused for more than a few days. We also strongly suggest looking through the Help pages and understanding how existing wiki pages are constructed before you make any significant changes.

Must additions to the wiki be in English?

The browser language preferences for camera-wiki.org's visitors are 58.6% English (as of March, 2012); with the next most common language being German, at 3.6% percent. Articles for camera-wiki.org should be in the English language, with the exception of brief phrases in other languages which can help identify items or illuminate terminology used by manufacturers. Camera-wiki.org prefers to use the native spellings of proper names from other languages: See the markup reference page on inserting accented characters. US conventions of spelling and usage are familiar to the greatest number of site visitors (color, gelatin, aluminum, etc.), and in starting new articles these are preferred. (In the case of markup "align" tags, the US spelling center, rather than centre, is mandatory.) When editing existing articles, maintain consistency with the spelling and usage which predominates.

How are wiki pages constructed?

While displaying as a normal webpage to most visitors, behind the scenes a wiki page is constructed with a special syntax called wiki markup. (This resembles XHTML, but is not exactly the same.) You can get a look at wiki markup by going to our Sandbox page and viewing the page source code—you are welcome to start typing some markup there yourself, to see how it works (though you'll need a login first). Under every editing window, there is a link to the Editing help page, which explains the most-often-used markup tags. For examples of trickier wiki markup, see this Wikipedia help page. (Be aware that Wikipedia's {{templates}} are typically not the same as the ones available in Camera-wiki.org.)

How do wiki pages link to each other?

A particularly important bit of wiki markup syntax is the internal link from one wiki page to another. This is done by typing the [[Target Page Title]] in double brackets. (You don't need to memorize that: above every edit window there is a button with a blue Ab icon; clicking that will type a placeholder link for you.) The phrase between the double brackets must match the page title exactly (including capitalization, spaces, punctuation marks, etc.) or you'll get a dead link (which appears in red). But a handy trick of the wiki markup syntax is that you can make the hyperlinked word or phrase be something other than the exact page title: Insert a "pipe" character (the vertical line at the far right on your keyboard) after the page title, and add the text as you'd like it to appear. Like this: [[Exact Page Title | this text will appear in blue and link to the named page]]

How do I start a new Camera-wiki page?

For just about any camera made in the past 100 years, Camera-wiki.org is very likely to have a page for the manufacturer already. Check this company list and search the wiki for all the possible name variations. Frequently a page here for a camera maker will include lists of camera models (example). Links in blue are to pages that already exist (note: sometimes several model names link to a single page that discusses them all together). A link in red indicates a page title that someone thought ought to exist, but which doesn't yet. If you click a red link, an edit window opens saying "You have followed a link to a page that does not exist yet. To create the page, start typing in the box below." And that's what you do! If a camera in the list appears in black, or doesn't appear at all, there's one more step. On the right side of the page, aligned with the relevant subheading, there is a link "[edit]". Click this and you can add changes to the camera list. (On pages with no subheads, just click the top tab on every page that says edit.) In the camera list, type the exact model name if it's missing; enclose the name in double square brackets: normally [[Manufacturer CameraName]]. Click the Save page button, and when the page refreshes you'll see the phrase has become a red link. Now you can proceed to click that and start typing the content for the new page. We currently have a New Camera Page Template under construction. If you copy the source from that page, you can fill in the placeholder text and images with ones of your own.

How should wiki pages be titled?

Many camera models are designated with an obscure string of numbers and letters: MSX 1000 or QL17 GIII. Others go for the more minimalist: A or II. If the pages were titled that way, visitors searching for particular cameras might never find them. For clarity, page titles should be the full version of the camera name, including the brand. (In the 21st century, the "manufacturer" typically subcontracts actual manufacture to some unnamed company where labor is cheap, but we take "manufacturer" to mean the company that is ultimately in charge of design, manufacture and marketing. This manufacturer and the brand are typically identical. By contrast, in the 1950s manufacturer and brand were typically distinct: Leitz/Leica, Nippon Kōgaku/Nikon, Konishiroku/Konica, Société Optique et Précision de Levallois/Foca.) Examples of good article naming are Canon Canonet QL 17 GIII and Leica II. For consistency, it's good to specify the brand within the page title even when the camera is named so distinctively as to render the brand superfluous; therefore "Pentax Spotmatic" for the camera often simply called "Spotmatic".

What is a template and how do I use one?

In the jargon of wiki markup, a template is a special word or phrase {{enclosed in double curly brackets}}. You may think of these as shortcuts, which automatically transform or expand into something else when the finished page displays. For example typing {{stub}} in the page markup will expand to a colored banner looking like this: This article is a stub. You can help Camera-wiki.org by expanding it. An example of a more complex template is the one used to place Flickr images in wiki articles, discussed under the question How are photos included in Camera-wiki pages? There is a list of Camera-wiki.org's most-used templates which shows the many ways they are used in our pages.

How are photos included in Camera-wiki pages?

Photographs illustrating what different models look like are extremely useful to Camera-wiki.org. Our Flickr photo pool was created as our central repository for wiki images. Any photographs of cameras or other useful illustrations are gratefully welcomed there. While the wiki text itself is licensed under "copyleft" (GFDL 1.3), we wish to uphold photo copyrights and give credit to everyone who was kind enough to contribute images. Wherever possible, we encourage using our Flickr image template, filling in all its fields correctly. This appends an "image rights" link to every photo. We offer a help page on how to add photos to wiki articles using this template. Because we rely on Flickr's bandwidth for hosting all our images, we must respect their terms of service, which require a click-through link back to the Flickr page where the image appears. Thus the image template asks for two URLs for each photo. The first is the link to a Flickr user's own photo page (including its membership in our photo pool—i.e. the URL should be in the form http://www.flickr.com/photos/UserID/123456789012/in/pool-camerawiki) while the second is the "deep link" to the actual .jpg file hosted on Flickr's servers. Locating these two URLs is unfortunately a bit complicated. You may wish to start by looking at a step-by-step tutorial. (Eventually we hope to offer a more automated way of importing Flickr images.)

How can I group several images together on a page?
The markup syntax for that gets a little more complicated. Once you understand how our Flickr image template works, you can combine several image templates into another, larger template. It's probably simplest to copy and paste the code from the relevant section of the help page "adding images."

What is a redirect? How do you make one?

A redirect is a special type of wiki page. It intercepts a search or a link to a particular page title, and redirects it to another one. Why would you do this? Well a visitor might search for any of "Yashicamat," or "Yashica-mat" or "Yashica Mat" (of which the odd-looking third version is actually the correct one). Wiki page editors might inadvertently create links with the same variations. Redirects can send all of these to the correct page. Likewise, shorter and longer versions of a camera name like "Spotmatic" or "Asahi Pentax Spotmatic" can redirect to Pentax Spotmatic. Redirects also help with wiki organization. As it happens, the Yashica Mat is part of a series of related cameras, and it makes sense to treat them all in a single article, Yashica 6×6 TLR (crank advance). The names of each individual model in the series can be redirected to this one master page. The markup syntax is very simple. On a page whose title is the wrong term, there is a single line, #REDIRECT [[Target page name]] The button #R at the top of the editing window inserts this markup automatically; then you just type the desired page name, and save.

What are Categories, and how do I use them to index my page?

Categories help people find related information. At the bottom of every article page, there will be a few links, which would (for example) take the visitor to other cameras of the same style, from the same country, or by the same manufacturer. Other kinds of categorization are possible too; but we recommend sticking with categories that already have many members. (Hint: do a "Find" within that page within your browser to see if some relevant category term might be in use already.) The camera output of Japan and Germany is so great that a country category for either would become uselessly long. Instead, there are subcategories such as "Japanese 6x6 TLR" instead. If you believe that a new category is necessary, check the naming of other categories that already exist and that would somehow parallel your new category, and name your new category analogously. Category tags are typically added to the bottom of the page markup. If the camera is neither German nor Japanese, they are in the following format: [[Category:Manufacturer]] [[Category:Camera type]] [[Category:Country)]] [[Category:Film size (if not 120, 35mm)]] If it is German or Japanese, or if one or more of the categories would otherwise have too high a "population", then more specific categories are used (for example "[[Category:Japanese 6x6 viewfinder folding]]").

Why does one of my photos appear in the wiki, when I haven't authorized this?

A large percentage of the images in Camera-wiki.org were originally placed in the pages of the former site Camerapedia.org. Those links were preserved when Camera-wiki.org was first established in January 2011 as a non-commercial "fork". We made every effort to locate "all rights reserved" photos in our pages, and sent invitations to photographers to add them to our Flickr pool, confirming our permission to display them. In a few cases, the original contributor of a photo could not be contacted. There may also be cases where a photographer has had a change of heart, and no longer wishes us to use their images. And finally, remember that Camera-wiki.org is a volunteer effort. It's possible an inexperienced editor used one of your photos before reading our very clear guidelines for adding images. In any of these cases, we will be happy to remove any image at your request. If the photo originates from Flickr, you should contact any of the pool admins via Flickrmail for help. You can also start a topic on the wiki's Community discussions page and a wiki admin will follow up with you. Please be aware that your image may also appear in the pages of the commercially-hosted Camerapedia.wikia.com. We have no connection to them; and so cannot compel them to remove your images.

Camera-wiki.org is awesome! How can I help?

Thanks! If you really know cameras, we are always happy to get thoughtful, constructive additions to our wiki articles. If you can provide clear photos of a particular item (particularly a rare one), we'd be grateful if you would add them to our Flickr photo pool. Page authors use the label "stub" when a page is missing important details or needs more expansion. Adding text to a stub is always appreciated—especially if you have the item in your hands, and can note its essential specs and unusual features. Do you own any specialist collector books, vintage magazines, or old publications from manufacturers? Camera-wiki.org articles benefit greatly when you can cite an original source to confirm a fact (dates, prices, etc.), and you footnote this properly. If you have some background in wiki administration, there are always a few housekeeping tasks we could use help with too (you don't need to be a camera expert). Do you work in a non-profit? We are aiming to set up nonprofit status, and would love your assistance in that process. Finally, we are always happy if you could chip in a bit of money for our hosting costs. There is a PayPal donation button on the Donate! page of our blog (the PayPal link is not hosted on a wiki page which anyone can edit!) Thank you, and enjoy your visit to Camera-wiki.org!