Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/01/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Xavier Logean wrote: > > Do you have any advises on good leica books ? > Being a bit of a newbie Leica owner (March 1998), I have in the last year bought the following: Leica Pocket Book by Hove Books Leica Accessory Guide by Hove Books Leica M Compendium by Jonathan Eastland Leica M Photography by Brian Bower Leica Reflex Photography by Brian Bower Leica Collectors Guide by Denis Laney Leica M The Advanced School of Photography by Gunter Osterloh If you are looking for a good reference book that covers the Leica system but doesn't tell you how to use the stuff, I'd recommend the Leica Collectors Guide. The Pocket Book and Accessory Guide are good (small sized) companions, but much of the information is duplicated between the small books and the Guide. The Collectors Guide (for some reason without an apostrophe) covers the entire Leica system (as far as I know), from LTM cameras and lenses, through M system, R system, accessories, darkroom gear, enlargers, projectors, you name it. Details variations in manufacturing, numbers produced, and other info. Great book. Latest edition was August 1992, so it doesn't cover the latest stuff (such as the R8, M6HM, M6TTL, new lenses). I prefer the "Leica M Compendium" over the "Leica M Photography". Bower's book covers more of the old gear, but I still found Eastland's more useful and less naive. Bower's has more colour photographs in it, so it's better for gazing at over a cup of tea rather than actually reading. The best book on Leica technique is Osterloh's, but it's close to impossible to find in good condition and at a decent price. Every now and then some twit advertizes on the LUG that they have it for US $125 and a loose-leaf copy at that. Probably the same person who buys Scotch for CAN $16,000. For that price I'd expect it to be autographed by Shakespear and hand-printed by Gutenberg. In fairness, most of the information exists in other places too (of which the LUG is one), but it's nice to have it all in one place on your bedside table. In England, the Leica Collectors Guide by Laney is about £35 through the Internet bookshops. The Pocket Book and Accessory Guide are £9 each, and there is a Price Guide for another £9. Good value for money all, IMO. M. - -- Martin V. Howard, Application Systems Laboratory, | Dept. of Comp. & Info. Sci., Linkoping University, | Just "DOHH" it! SE-581 83 Linkoping, Sweden. Tel +46 13 282 421, +----------------+ Fax +46 13 142 231; marho@ida.liu.se; www.ida.liu.se/~marho