Book recommendation on M6 photography

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Does anyone know of a good book for Leica M photography, ideally b&w photography?

cheers,

pat

-- Patrick (svenburg@yahoo.com), February 13, 2002

Answers

Per Mike Kastner's recommendation from several months back, I picked up a copy of Gunter Osterloh's EXCELLENT book titled, "LEICA M - the advanced school of photography". Unfortunately, this book is out of print, but you can find it periodically on eBay, or even in Amazon's used book section. I bought my copy at a camera swap meet for $20, which was a real bargain, IMO.

However, I think the BEST series of books for photography in general and for B&W, specifically from a technical standpoint, are three from Ansel Adams' titled, "The Camera", "The Negative" and "The Print".

:-),

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), February 13, 2002.


"An Uncertain Grace" by Sebastiao Salgado.

MH

-- Michael Hintlian (michael@hintlian.com), February 13, 2002.


Ralph Gibson's "Deux Ex Machina." A professional retrospect of photographs. If this doesn't inspire you, nothing will.

-- Glenn Travis (leicaddict@hotmail.com), February 13, 2002.

with out doubt, the Ansel Adams book, The Negative, The Camera, The Print, are unsurpassed.

-- mike (thearea19@aol.com), February 13, 2002.

The camera,negative,print, by Ansel Adams are great books. If you have used book store near you should be able to find them used. They have been in print for so long that it should be easy to find. New the three are around $100.00 hard cover. Good luck By the way has any one seen the Ansel Adams video. PBS did it I think. It shows him printing and talking about his photographs. It's great when he puts one of his fiber based prints in the microwave to dry quick so he check his highlight detail. I took it out at my local library. Scott

-- Scott (scottevans@attbi.com), February 13, 2002.


I was going to say something rude about Ralph Gibson's photography but I reconsidered. One of the best B&W books I have read is David Vestal's Craft of Photography. Bill Pierce is one of the best writers on B&W Leica photography. Look at his article 'Developing and Printing' in the Leica Manual, 15th Edition. Black and white 35mm photography is very personal and subjective. I just checked Leonard Freed's 'Photographs' out of the library. Good luck.

-- Don (wgpinc@yahoo.com), February 13, 2002.

I picked up a copy of Osterloh for $15 at my local camera store, but I've seen them for 10x that much and more. The pages are falling out of mine, I guess there were some badly-bound ones. But it's an excellent technical book on the M (through M6 classic)with no glaring errors (like the part in Eastland's M Compendium where he says you can vary the M6's metering angle by switching the frame selector lever!). But otherwise I happen to like the M Compendium. However my favorite M book of all is Brian Bower's "Leica M Book". Some say it's superficial and some don't think the photography is inspiring. For me it was a revelation: that the M can be a good travel/scenic/landscape tool. For someone like myself who has no interest in producing grainy B&W's of ugly people doing mundane things, it made me dust off my Leicas (well, ok, a Leica that's been sitting almost always needs more than just a dusting)and rediscover how great they are--for *just about any* kind of photography.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), February 13, 2002.

Try Fred Picker's "Zone VI Workshop". It's the best I ever found at interpreting Ansel's B&W Zone System in a simple, understanding manner. I especially valued his teaching how to conduct meaningful tests of your equipment and not just relying on the findings of others. You should find it a great starting book.

-- Alec (alecj@bellsouth.net), February 13, 2002.

As Jack pointed out, Gunter Osterloh's book is out of print. To make things worse, that English translation wasn't that of the last (German fourth) edition, which itself is already 7 years old. FWIW, this German version is not out of print but but still available here. I don't remember where I said this either, but I did phone with him last year and he said that the next edition (in German) should appear this upcoming autumn. He wasn't sure whether an English version would be able to appear at the same time.

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), February 14, 2002.

"ugly people doing mundane things"

great remark!

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), February 14, 2002.



salgado uses leica r, nonetheless his books are great. ralph gibson is devoted to his leica m and you can see it in his pictures (ugly people doing mundane things?). rodschenko is a good classic.

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), February 14, 2002.

What about Josef Koudelka Exiles? That's my favourite.

-- J.Major (jmajor@login.com), February 14, 2002.

FYI, I went looking for Gunter Osterloh's book on the net. I found two copies; one for $600 and one for $375.

Thanks for all the great replies.

-- Patrick (svenburg@yahoo.com), February 14, 2002.


If you want, I'll send you one tomorrow for $40 plus shipment. (The book's in German.)

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), February 14, 2002.

The Leica Manual, 15th edition, published by Morgan & Morgan. Anything by Ralph Gibson (my personal favorite is Apropos de Maryjane, an intimate look at his partner - rangefinder work at its best)........

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), February 14, 2002.


Patrick:

I'll sell you my english copy for $75!

;-),

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), February 14, 2002.


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