This is the original review we wrote for this book for Issue 1 of Classic Camera Magazine; it is a measure of how highly we rate the book that we chose it for issue number one.When I first saw this book I thought it was going to be a compendium of instruction leaflets. It is not. It is a book offering guidance on the selection of a classic camera for use. Very little assistance is given in the actual use. This does not matter as the book offers a vast amount of information covering 35 mm. and rollfilm cameras. The entertaining style makes it a book to be read from cover to cover - several times - rather than one to dip into a couple of times and forget.
The author offers his opinions of many different cameras, based on his wide experience, but inevitably where two camera collectors are gathered together there will be dissent, and you will find much in this book that will make you nod in agreement, or shout in disagreement!
The book is beautifully produced, on art paper, with plenty of illustrations. If I have a criticism it is that the pictures were too separated from the text that deals with the subject of the picture.
Since writing that review some eight or nine years ago, the book has been out of print and reprinted by popular demand. Not many books which are so specialised in their subject can make that claim. We rated this book highly eight years ago and we still rate it highly.
Unfortunately it is now no longer available from amazon, but well worth seeking out second-hand.
Ivor Matanle has another book published, Collecting and Using Classic SLRs, which we have not yet read. This looks at classic single-lens reflex cameras. We expect it will be to the same high standard as his first.
Click to order Collecting and Using Classic SLRs from amazon.co.uk.
Click to order Collecting and Using Classic SLRs from amazon.com.
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