If you’d like to see and use actual, physical images of genealogical records from Germany, many of them are available for completely free on FamilySearch.org. There are far more records on FamilySearch than the handful of transcribed/indexed records you get through regular the “search” function. To explore all that FamilySearch has to offer, you will need to dig in to the non-transcribed records in their collection.
First, go to the “FamilySearch” Search page. To the right, you’ll see a world map. Hover your cursor over Europe and Russia, and click. A pop up box will appear. Inside the box, scroll down to the “Germany” option and click the “Start researching in Germany” link that appears inside the box. On the “Germany” page, you can scroll down to view “Germany Image Only Historical Records”. There are hundreds of thousands of German records in this collection, which you would never find through a text search. Explore around and see what FamilySearch has to offer.
Thanks for these tips. I’m learning a lot, just a bit at a time.