Extensive Photographic and Camera Collecting Library Chapter Two.

December 18, 2017

#215

Gentle reader,

Thank you for your enthusiastic response to Chapter One of this series. It truly warms my heart that such a varied and august group is at all interested in what I have to say. 

The first chapter may be found here:
Extensive Photographic and Camera Collecting Library Chapter One  

A word on the size of the images. I use a desktop PC with a 23" wide monitor. I set the shortest side of my images at 1008 pixels which equates to 14 inches @ 72ppi. If read on a PC or laptop, the images will usually be much larger than the book or object is in reality. IF one clicks on any image, an new window opens atop the old and one can either click-through or use the left/right arrow keys to view the photos. On that page the images are smaller and do not require a large monitor to view. On a device, I guess one swipes and squeezes or expands the photos. I do not use devices, so am not sure. The one exception is the first image which is sized to be the same width as the text.

Before I continue the series, a little how-to. One of my FaceBook fellow classic camera collectors and users, queried the group about quality auxiliary wide angle lenses. The kind that screw on the front filter threads. I'd suggested to him to look for one from the Olympus IS series of cameras. 

Because the room between the bookshelf and the desk upon which I am typing is only a few feet, I needed a wider lens than I have for my Nikon DSLR. So, I followed my own suggestion and used this lens made for the Olympus IS3DLX: 

Here again, below, is the photo which was still so wide a subject, so that I had to shoot downwards from behind the desk to get it all. The lens is a Nikon 18-55mm. With the cropping factor of 1.5X that 18mm equates to 27mm in 35mm size. Adding this 0.8X lens which reproduces about 21.6mm in 35mm film size. Note the 52mm-55mm step-up ring which separates this lens a few millimeters away from the Nikon's front element.

Note that it bows the top of the shelf outwards. That is partially due to my downward angle and partly due to wide angle lenses. I have a photo of all of my family taken with a 28mm lens to get us all in. Smaller kids are on a couch in front of adults with wooden arms which of course are parallel to each other. Yet in the photo, the arms are spread wide.

Note also that the books at the edges are a little blurry compared to the rest. This too is due to edge distortion properties of less expensive wide angle lenses. This Olympus B-28 lens cost $185 new in 1997, so it wasn't cheap, but it wasn't expensive either.  The IS-3DLX was the pinnacle of the IS Series. It retailed for $1,000 in 1996. A lot of money then and now.

The lens was designed specifically for the IS-3DLX lens' 35mm end. My Nikon lens, basically the "kit" lens, is not expensive either. It is equal to a 27mm lens, not a 35mm lens. Now you may argue multiplication or in this case, division(?) is still math. I don't know. BUT, it is an inexpensive way to get probably the best front-mount Auxiliary wide angle and telephoto lenses. There is a lot of crappy aux lenses out there. Go for a known brand.

Due to no flash being used, these images are far from sharp due to slow shutter speed.

All these images, except for the whole shelf, were made with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 digital camera which has a Leica Summicron lens. A superb lens in any book. Due to the amount of light I was using, the flash was not deemed needed by the camera for all these shots above and throughout the entire series of chapters.

I decided to separate the books into categories. CAMERAS, CATALOGS-MAGAZINE ANNUALS, COLLECTING, DIGITAL, EQUIPMENT, GLAMOR, HOW-TO, KODAK (series), LEICA (with a subcategory COPIES), LENSES, LIGHTING, MAKING MONEY, MISC, NATURE, PHOTOGRAPHS, STUDIO, SUBMINIATURE, and TIME-LIFE (series).

Since this is for a camera collecting group of readers, I'll start with CAMERAS:

This first group is part of a series from HP Books, most written by Carl Shipman. The one above is from 1981.

This one could also be under the How-to category. From 1977 and number 5 in a series of how many?

Since my first 35mm camera that I purchased at age 39 was an Olympus OM-10, naturally, I wanted all the information I could get on the subject. This one is from 1979.

The first Nikon camera I bought was a Nikomat (non-USA name for Nikkormat) EL-W. All black it was, the "W" stands for Winder which the chrome models could not adapt to. 1978.

Nikon SLR cameras with none of the budget models. From 1982, forth edition. 

Douglas St. Denny is a British man that divides his time between Hong Kong and the UK. I never met him, but we e-mailed back in the day. He was an expert on Chinese cameras and wrote this definitive guide on them. He later started a web site called camprice.com. He was developing this site as the go-to place to find out what cameras were worth up to the minute. He tasked me with 110 cameras since I had so many at the time. I do not know if the site still exists. As you can see, he autographed it to Colonel Bill Arps, my camera collector-mentor and dear friend. Undated copyright.

As a result of losing World War II, Germany was stripped of many of it's patents and copyrights. One of which was the camera industry. Soviets took all the Zeiss equipment and most of the people to Ukraine where factories were set up to make the same cameras and sell them as KIEV models. Canon and many other companies started making copies and/or improvements on Leica cameras. Russians were blatantly copying Leica cameras and lenses prior to WWII and continued afterwards sticking to the M39 screw mount lens format. A great many FED, Zorki and other cameras were produced of varying quality.

This guide by Peter Dechert (sound's German) covers those cameras and includes those made prior to WWII which were similar to Leicas but not copies.. Copyrighted 1985, this one is from 2001. 

From the publishers of McKewon's camera price guides, this tome by John R. Baird in an exhaustive look at Kuribayashi-Petri cameras. Of which I had quite a few. 1991.

Nikon rangefinder cameras were created by copying Zeiss Contax pre-war 35mm rangefinder cameras. Although the lens mounts are the same, I am told there are differences that prevent German lenses from working correctly on these Japanese gems. By Robert Rotoloni and copyrighted 1981, this one is from 1993.

Speaking of Zeiss pre-war cameras, this guide by D.B. Tubbs from 1977, this being a 1980 edition, covers up to the beginning of Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939.

I prefer to have the dust jacket on the books I buy, but this one is missing. THE CONTAX WAY by H. Freytag and is from 1953. Hand drawn illustrations of the cameras in general with black and white and full color images made with Contax cameras. A lot of information and charts.

A two-part book which is divided by WWII. Almost no photographs. None of cameras. A historical treatise edited by Peninah R. Petruck. Both 1979. 

From 1978 with barely disguised Nikon and Leica SLRs one the cover as well as medium and large format camera. By Hubert C. Birnbaum and from 1978. A good overall guide to film photography with various formats covered.

Once considered a hard-to-find book, Joseph A. Bailey, Glass, Brass, & Chrome is one of many camera books by Kalton C. Lahue and from 1972. A good book on the history of cameras.

What might be called a coffee-table book, albeit on the small side,  this edition from Kodaks' George Eastman House was written by Eaton S. Lothrop, Jr. Another camera expert author. Copyrighted 1973, this revised edition is from 1982. An interesting selection of cameras from the museum. Tucked inside is a price guide showing their value in 1982. 

A pair of tiny books from Focal Press. These are pocket sized books one carries with them while shooting. The Contax Guide which of course relates to Kiev Models too is the 5th American edition from 1950.

Below, the book is larger than the camera it covers. My brother sent me a Rollei 35 which is a German-made model, out of the blue. He'd heard I started collecting cameras. Several family members and friends gave me cameras. This is a First Edition from 1969. 

That's all I have for you today. I hope you continue to enjoy the series. I'm enjoying making it and remember, if you are interested in purchasing any of these books, send me an e-mail or private-message me through FaceBook.

Thanks for looking, I really appreciate it.

Scott

December 18, 2017