The Leica Manual 1937 & 1938 free pdf download

[greyelm]

For those of you interested in old Leica books here is a link to a couple of early editions of the Leica Manual to download in pdf fomat.

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=leica AND collection:universallibrary

I don't think it is economic to print off copies as they are over 500 pages each, but they are certainly a great source of early Leica material.

Malcolm

 

[payasam]

Malcolm, is this the Morgan & Lester book? I have that (downloaded), and it covers a great deal more than the products of E. Leitz.

 

[greyelm]

Yes, that's the one (2 editions). I found them when I was looking for info on the Micro Ibso attachment for photomicrography. I am a retired diagnostic microbiologist and I have one of these gadgets (it was sitting around the lab for more than 20 years unused so I inherited it!) and the Leica Manual has a chapter on Photomicrography.

 

[sqjaw]

Thanks for the Info Sqjaw

 

[johannielscom]

Got it, thank you!

Nice literature over Easter, with a 1938 IIIa in hand 😛

 

[payasam]

I recall seeing a Leica on a microscope around 1957 or '58. The connection will probably have been through the device you have, or through something like it.

 

[greyelm]

I recall seeing a Leica on a microscope around 1957 or '58. The connection will probably have been through the device you have, or through something like it.

I've got a couple of old microscopes at home and have done some trial fittings with the attachment & my IIIa and I will try some test shots later. The photomicrographic set-up I used to use at work was a £7000 Nikon digital camera attachment for our Nikon microscope, wysiwyg, exposure was easy. With the Leica set-up, focussing is covered ok by the attachment, all I have to do now is work out the shutter speed. From what I have read I will need to do a few test shots at different shutter speeds and then use this to estimate future shots. If I am successful I will post.

 

[payasam]

A microbiology friend at Sussex, where I was a graduate student in the 1970s, once asked for help with her photomicrography. Something to do with using and processing document copying film. What's relevant is that the lab had microscopes with photographic attachments which were not cameras in the proper sense. The brand was Olympus, I think, though I might be wrong there.

A quite large number of photographers -- who had nothing to do, professionally, with microscopy -- have done excellent work, mostly abstracts, by putting cameras on microscopes.

 

[colyn]

It won't download for me. I've tried several times throughout the day and it stops after 35-45MB download.

 

[greyelm]

I just tried again and it came down in 3 minutes. Just for info here's what I did.

1. Click the title (2 listed) on the page you first go to
2. On the second page on the left is a small box with a list, one of which is PDF.
3. Right click on it and 'save link as'

I hope this works for you. Its worth downloading both files as there are some differences.

 

[colyn]

I just tried again and it came down in 3 minutes. Just for info here's what I did.

1. Click the title (2 listed) on the page you first go to
2. On the second page on the left is a small box with a list, one of which is PDF.
3. Right click on it and 'save link as'

I hope this works for you. Its worth downloading both files as there are some differences.

This is what I just did and again it stops part way through and will not resume. I even let it sit for over an hour earlier..

 

[Eric T]

Thanks for the link. The first chapter of the 1938 Leica manual (a chapter by Manuel Komroff entitled "The Leica Comes of Age") is a fascinating read.
It talks about the demise of he salon print and that the Leica and the film used within it have made photography a modern medium.

Here is a quote:
"How is one to account for the rapid decline and death of a whole school of photography, a school that held sway for so long and during the most important time in the development of photography? Was it killed from the outside or was it poisoned from the inside? What were the main factors that led to so definite a revolt?"

Does that sound familiar to anyone who reads about the sift to digital photography today?

Eric