[Leica] The Osterloh M book

[Fred Zimmerman <fredz@mindspring.com>]

  I recently acquired the English translation of the Osterloh book, Leica
M: the advanced school of photography. The translation, by Rolf Fricke, was
published in 1987 by Umschau Verlag of Frankfurt and distributed by Hove
Foto Books in England and Seven Hills Books in Cincinnati, Ohio.
  It's 256 pages, with lots of color and black and white illustrations. My
quick guess is that about 20% of the material is pretty much identical to
the same author's (and translator's) book, Excellence in photography,
Applied Leica Techniques (Umschau, 1984). One major difference is that the
1984 book is oriented toward the R system. 
  The M book is very good, better in some ways than some other Leica books.
(And there is nothing wrong with the binding in my copy.) But the material
on equipment is available various other places, and while the material on
technique is good, there are lots of other photo books that do a good job
there.  
  In short, it ain't worth $671, or $250. I got mine from a fellow LHSA
member for $15. Now that I've seen it, I'd pay $45-50 for a copy if I
didn't have it. (Assuming an okay binding.)
 
Fred