read the book

[back alley]

i just finally finished reading the peter dechert book on canon rangefinders.
i got this in trade with rover and never had more than a quick glance at it.
but today i decided it was time to give it the attention it deserved.

i started the day with a great pot of coffee, a full breakfast and this book.
after a wonderful dinner and an evening pot of coffee the book is done.
i was able to sit for nice chunks of the day and just relax with the book.

lots of information and for a canon fan it's a must read. i would have liked a bit more about the lenses but in fairness the book is called 'rangefinder cameras', so i really cannot complain.

my only real concern is that i now have a couple more cameras that i'd like to find and buy.

joe

 

[jlw]

Agreed. This is one of my favorite camera books: not only does it contain good info, but the sections on the company's history and development are written in a thoughtful, engaging style.

 

[taffer]

Finished a couple books last week. One was this same Dechert's, and agree with Joe that it would be nice to have some more info on the lenses but alas it's true, it's 'canon rangefinder cameras' after all.

Nice book to have and read and good source of info.

The other one was Hicks & Schultz 'rangefinder, history, camera, thechniques'. Well, my first impression is you can end with this book pretty fast. There's a lot of free space on each page dedicated to pictures, usually on the bottom so we could say it's a sort of half-frame text book. Nice reading but clearly aimed to the Bessa range of cameras/lenses (that's stated on the first page anyway), sometimes I would like it to be a bit more consistent (ie 'Contax IIa's better left to collectors and not users', 'Leica CLs being more expensive than their M counterparts', 'Canon 7 has a 'RF-only' option on the frameline switch 😕 ) but still nice to have it for 15 euro.

Oscar

 

[rover]

I always go back to referance the Canon book. You will too Joe.

Oscar, I agree with you about the Hicks, Schultz book. That is abou their rangefinders and the cameras they like, not a general history.

I just read my on the Trail of Contax, parts 1 and 2. Very interesting history focusing on the Contax RF cameras. I have a better understanding now of why Contax cameras did not do as well as their competitors. A combination of the trauma the war inflicted on the company, and their internal failures to keep up and modernize themselves, technically and corporately. I can easily imagine that Zeiss is one of the great corporations in the history of the world and a study of their history is as interesting as any others.

 

[back alley]

I always go back to referance the Canon book. You will too Joe.

I always go back to referance the Canon book. You will too Joe.

i agree!
i can see me looking through it quite a bit actually.

joe

 

[Russ]

Art & Fear,(The Perils of Artmaking), On Being A Photographer, and Letting Go of The Camera.

These are all "must have and read" books!

Kiron Kid

 

[Huck Finn]

I got Rudolf Kingslake's "AHistory of the Photographic Lens" for Christmas. I've already had it out of the library 2-3 times, so it's about time I got a copy of my own! 🙂