[Leica] old Leica books

[rpalmier at depaul.edu (Bob Palmieri)]

Folks -

Well... I have found my copy of the '62 Morgan & Morgan Leica manual to 
be pretty useful a coupla times.  It really helped me distinguish the 
various LTM bodies; the end result, however, being that I decided to 
stick with my M's for the moment.  This decision will likely help my 
photography in the short run by simplifying my gear decisions as I try 
to get out the door.

Actually, considering how gadgety the whole pursuit could get it's 
amazing that photographers persevered enough to get shots outside of 
the" 50mm slice-o-life beyond 1 meter" universe.

The "Leica 50th Anniversary Product Directory" (1975) has been helpful 
in finding some product codes for the odd accessory...

A book which may prove useful in the near future, however, is a volume 
I picked up a few weeks back called "Available Light and Your Camera" 
from 1955.  It's a collection of first person accounts from a number of 
photographers (HCB and Dan Weiner, among others) in which they discuss 
approaches and chemical preferences (take this as you may.)  Natch, 
pretty much everybody was quiite enthusiastic about the Leica gear of 
the day (although some were Contax carriers and some used the 
well-known Zeiss-lens-on-LTM-body rigs.)  One of the main things I was 
reminded of (besides the fact that it's really time for me to start  
developing my own B&W again and I gotta get me some of that Harveys 
777) is that the 35mm snappers of that era really optimized 
film/developer/time/temp parameters for every roll; none of this "Tri-X 
in D-76 1:1 for just about everything" kindof stuff.
They really took advantage of the "film is cheap" mindset.

Also, that  "Super XX" sure seems to be a nice emulsion...

Bob Palmieri