Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/11/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]There are no truly excellent books on using the M cameras still in print. The best books on using M cameras would be: "The Leica Manual" (15th Edition 1973) around $25 to $75 used "Leica M, The Advanced School of Photography" by Gunter Osterloh (1984) around $100 to $650 used (not a typo!!) Other good books would be: "Leica M6 TTL Handbook" by Jonathan Eastland ($45) "Leica M Compendium" by Jonathan Eastland ($45, older version of the above) And OK books would be: "Leica M Photography" by Brian Bower For arcane minutia and other such collector stuff the best books are: James Lager's three volume set "Leica - An Illustrated History" Volume I Cameras Volume II Lenses Volume III Accessories There about a $100 or so a pop and $200 each if you want the leather bound ones. If that is a bit rich for your blood (it is for mine) then Dennis Laney's "The Leica Collector's Guide" is a quite good and, at $75, much more affordable. To wade through all the different permutations of M, LTM (Leica Thread Mount) and R cameras, lenses and accessories, the following books are pretty good: Ghester Sartorius' books: "Identifying Leica Lenses" ($25) Identifying Leica Cameras" ($25) And the Hove Collector Book series: Leica Pocket Book 6th Edition ($15) Accessory Guide 2nd Edition ($15) And a good place to buy all this? http://www.photomall.com/flpbks.htm http://www.classicconnection.com/frame_inventory.htm (good prices on Lager books) http://www.alibris.com/cgi-bin/texis/searcher http://www.bibliofind.com/ and many other sites that any good search engine can find. Do not forget my original advice though! Cheers John Collier > From: JBelen@aol.com > > Dear John, > I appreicated your musings about Leica books. I agree with your > semi-tongue-in-cheek remarks. However, I have never used a Leica M6 and > figure that I should get something besides the instruction manual. I have a > lot of experience shooting medium format, but no experience with a > rangefinder. What books would you suggest? > Thanks, > Jack