Among all technical and historical books published concerning LEICA cameras,lenses,and accessories, which ones you prefer and why ? Which books are classics one must have when interested in LEICA products. Thanks. Jean-Pierre Auger, (Montréal)

-- JEAN-PIERRE AUGER (paphoto@videotron.ca), December 08, 2001

Answers

The Leica Manual (last edition was, I think, the 15th edition published in 1973). It's a great primer on 35mm photography and provides a wealth of information on Leica's up through the M5.

-- Jim Reed (jimreedpc@aol.com), December 08, 2001.

Jean-Pierre, sorry to add this question on your thread. Is this book any good: Leica M6 to M1 Rangefinder Practice?

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), December 09, 2001.

I have a lot of books. For historical data on things such as serial numbers to date links and production runs, you can't beat the "HOVE Pocket Book", especially when you factor in the price. I must have answered a dozen questions on this forum with this book(let) that sits on my computer desk.

A more embellished version is the "Leica Collector's Guide" also from Hove, which has more narrative and photographs.

I have a book called "Leica, a history illustrating every model and accessory" from Paul-Henry Van Hasbroeck that cost more than some of my first cameras. It is very thorough, and has color pages that would make you consider cutting the photos (of the cameras) out and framing them.

I have Erwin Puts "Leica Lens Compendium", which is of interest only from a historical perspective. After you read about your actual lenses, all that is left is history and philosophy.

In the realm of technical, I have all of the recent books on the M6 TTL that have been released in the last couple of years, and most have went right on the shelf a half hour after opening them... they are just a lot of fluff (how much can you say about a simple camera with about 6 controls?). One book that I always find myself glossing through is the great "Leica M advanced school of photography" from Gunter Osterloh. I learned so much from this book... beyond the hardware phase. It is out of print and hard to find. Additionally the construction is terrible, (all of my pages are out of the book cover!), but it commands high priced on the used book market.

Another favorite book(s) is the "Leica Lens Practice" from Dennis Laney. This book rectifies my problems with Erwin Puts' and the other historical books in that there is total segregation between the lens mounts... If you are reading about M's, you don't suddenly go into Rs without notice. Besides great advise on putting together an outfit, there are great spec sheet type write-ups on all of the current glass as well as HONEST narrative on the performance. If a lens needs to be used at f/2.8 under 5 feet for best performance, it says so, (the Osterloh book does the same thing). I have several editions of this book, so as lenses are added and dropped from the Leica program, I'll have good references incase a used lens presents itself.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), December 09, 2001.

"The Leica Lens Book" by Brian Bower is also good - it covers the latest ASPH lenses. "Lieca Lens Practice" by Dennis Laney is good too but a new edition should be released to cover the latest lenses as Leica has produced quite a lot of new lenses in recent years. Regards,

P.S. "Leica M Photography" published by David & charles is also good - it has a lot of beautiful photos.

-- tom tong (tom.tong@ckh.com.hk), December 09, 2001.

Please consider also the three (big) volumes of LEICA books by James Lager: Vol. I Cameras, Vol. II Lenses, Vol. III Accessories.

They reflect the results of 30 odd years of research and it seems impossible to find anything in the LEICA WORLD which J. L. has not found and described in detail already.

Not terribly cheap those books, but worthwhile.

Best wishes

-- K. G. Wolf (k.g.wolf@web.de), December 11, 2001.