Leica pre M literature

Walter Ulreich

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thanks to a RF member I got a nice IIIc from 1950 and ordered a Summitar 2.0/50 from 1951 for it already. My first Leica, hopefully I will acclimatise to this Barnack camera. Normaly I use Contax IIa and Nikon S2 RF's, so usability of this new set will upset me somehow ;-).

For helping myself in handling and detail knowledge I would like to read about pre M Leica rangefinders. Please give me some hints which is/are the best book/s on this topic. IMHO most camera books concentrate either on collectors or users, only some rare authors cover both interests. On Leica are so many books, the chance for such a rare book seems high.

Please help me with recommendations,
Walter
 
Walter, I have no tip for a specific book; but once you know what you want check www.zvab.com for used books.

edit: check the vintage books from Theo Kisselbach, Windisch and Paul Wolff.
 
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Dear sebastel and Andreas,

many thanks for your advices, loaded down the e-books and read a lot. Good information and a lot of new knowledge for me. But I thought of more modern books like those:

Filippo Giunta: Leica Screw Mount Cameras
Gianni Rogliatti: Leica 1925-1975 Ein Handbuch für den Sammler
James Lager: Leica Illustrated Guide 1975
Paul-Henry van Huelsenbroeck: Leica in Colour
Dennis Laney: Leica das Produkt- und Sammlerbuch
Ulf Richter: Oskar Barnack. Von der Idee zur Leica
Olef Nattenberg: 85 Jahre Leica

Which if this list or other are recommendable?


With best regards,
Walter
 
The books on your list are mainly aimed at Leica collectors and detail in some length all the camera and lens variations as well as the obscure accessories Leica produced over more than half a century many of which you are never likely to encounter.
If what you want to know is how to use the camera all you really need is a copy of the "Leica Directions" which came with every camera and are still reasonably easy to find. They came in three parts, as far as i recall, the first one dealing with the camera, the second with the interchangable lenses and the third the accessories.
Also excellent for screw thread Leicas is the Leica Manual mentioned above and The Leica Way by Andrew Matheson. Choose the edition closest to the year of the camera you want more information about. There's little these guides don't cover though the Leica manual includes a lot of obsolete information on film types, developing times etc. S
 
You have to be carefull about "The Leica Way" by Andrew Matheson. It was first published in 1953 and a lot of different editions have been printed.

You can't go by the cover; I've one labelled "The Leica Way" on the front and spine but inside it's "The Leica and Leicaflex Way". That one's from 1972 and relegates the screw thread cameras to a chapter at the back with another chapter about the 39mm lenses.

FWIW, the second edition was 1954 and third was 1955. The smaller Focal Press guides from the 40's are very common on ebay and reasonable in price.

I'll wish you luck.

Regards, David
 
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