Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/06/13

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Subject: Re: J. Eastland's R8 book (WAS: Re: [Leica] R8 microprocessor)
From: Ray Moth <ray_moth@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 20:12:33 -0700 (PDT)

Pascal wrote: 

Ray,

Like you, I also have Arthur Landt's book on the R7. And also his book 
on the R8 (in the German-only Fotoguide series). Apart from the 
camera-specific things, both of his books are clearly written by the
same author... only a few updates here and there on new lenses and
accessories etc.

Jonathan Eastland's book was, at the time, suggested by Ted. It's a 
good book, half of which covers the technical aspects of the R8 camera
body (in effect, a super-manual, with lots of info on flash
photography), with information on lenses and accessories making up most
of the other half. There are only a very limited number of pages
devoted to practical photography (less so than with Landt's R8 book).

The book contains indispensable information for those who have mislaid 
their owner's manual, and some useful information for all R8 users. As
with most camera-specific books, they are not stricly necessary but
always nice to have and to leaf through. Some very good photos too.

I consider Eastland's books to be of higher informational value than 
those by Brian Bower. Bower's books contain some nice pictures
(sometimes with very grainy prints, however) but I have found his books
to offer very limited added value (and I have the latest edition of his
R photography book and his Leica lens book).

Finally, both Bower's Leica Lens Book and D. Laney's Leica lens 
compendium are a complete waste of money compared to Erwin Put's latest
Leica lens compendium. This is the one book to have if you want to read
useful information on Leica lenses (instead of expensive rewrites of
Leica sales brochures and commonplaces).

HTH

Pascal
======================================================================

Pascal,

Thank you so much for your prompt and informative reply. The reason I
asked the question is because, living in Indonesia, I can't just pop
round to the nearest Leica dealer and have a look at it first. I have
Leica's official R8 manual, of course, but I've found that it's rather
brief in places and doesn't always explain things to the extent that I
need. Anyway, since both you and Ted think that Eastland's R8 book is
good, I'll go ahead and order it, along with Erwin's Leica Lens
Compendium of which everyone speaks so highly.   

Thanks again,

Regards,

=====
Ray

"The trouble with resisting temptation is
 you never know when you'll get another chance!"

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