Rating: 
Summary: A companion to "Collecting and Using Classic Cameras"
Review: This book is a companion edition to Mantale's earlier "Collecting and Using Classic Cameras." As such it duplicates many of the strengths and weaknesses of the earlier volume.The equipment discussed covers a wide range of European and Japanese cameras. As with its companion edition, it is sadly lacking in information concerning American made equipment. Mantale offers a lot of opinion, but the opinion tends to be of superficial nature. The book is profusely illustrated with "enthusiastic amateur" quality photographs. In summary: useful in breadth to a begining camera collector, disappointing in depth to the more serious collector. Caveat reader.
Rating:
Summary: A companion to "Collecting and Using Classic Cameras"
Review: This book is a companion edition to Mantale's earlier "Collecting and Using Classic Cameras." As such it duplicates many of the strengths and weaknesses of the earlier volume. The equipment discussed covers a wide range of European and Japanese cameras. As with its companion edition, it is sadly lacking in information concerning American made equipment. Mantale offers a lot of opinion, but the opinion tends to be of superficial nature. The book is profusely illustrated with "enthusiastic amateur" quality photographs. In summary: useful in breadth to a begining camera collector, disappointing in depth to the more serious collector. Caveat reader.
Rating: 
Summary: A good intro to SLR history.
Review: This is a very well organized and thorough book on the history of SLRs. It traces the design threads of SLR manufacturers from around the world. The hundreds of B&W photos of the cameras are very helpful identification aids. It is not an encyclopedia with exhaustive technical specs or a price guide with accurate dollar values. Instead, it is filled with the author's practical experiences in handling and using almost all of the cameras covered in the book through his decades as a professional photographer and used camera dealer. Unfortunately, this book is really too short to be a true user's guide. Even the Nikon F is covered in only a few pages. There is very little info about lenses beyond the author's personal opinions (all Leica lenses are superb, don't buy non-manufacturer lenses, etc) and none at all about other accessories such as flashes or motor drives. The camera descriptions themselves assume you already know how each one is supposed to work and concentrates on pitfalls and repair (or nonrepair) weaknesses. The book also suffers from the opinion of the author that any electronic automation is bad. His coverage of each company always ends abruptly when it begins to add electronics beyond a light meter - circa 1975 for most. Autodiaphram lenses are OK, but programmed autoexposure is not. Lastly, the author has included a lot of his personal photos taken with many of the covered cameras. They make nice eye candy, but book quality reproduction does not give any real indication of lens quality.
Rating: 
Summary: A Magnificent Book on Cameras and Lenses
Review: When I first read Ivor Matanle a few years ago I had never heard of this Englishman who writes so beautifully about cameras and lenses.
This book covers single lens cameras in several formats,rather than just 35mm. He has used the equipment he describes, and writes as well as a fine novelist. He gives the history of SLR's and tells about the rise of Asian cameras as Europe abandons innovation in design. But he plays no favorites.All cameras are treated fairly.
This is a book you will marvel at, if you are a user or a collector. Read it once; refer to it often. But above all, enjoy it and marvel at how well he writes.
With nearly 400 fine photos of equipment and pictures taken with these cameras, the book is a smorgasbord of information.
If I lost this book, I would drive 500 miles to replace it!
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