This new publication is unlikely to make it onto the bestseller lists, yet it will play an important role in their relationship with the marque for many people. The new Leica Pocket Book review shows that the 9th edition incorporates an enormous wealth of knowledge. As a reference work, it is indispensable, especially after the death of Erwin Puts.
“A labour of love” is one English expression that I particularly like. And it is great indeed when someone has mastered a complicated task with real dedication and out of a certain selflessness. I think the term fits wonderfully into a Leica Pocket Book review now that the ninth edition has been available for a few weeks. After four years of work on The M Files, I can appreciate a little how much labour and how much love goes into such a project, and yet this is supposed to be an objective review.
My first thought when beginning the Leica Pocket Book review: Is this a hymnal?
To get this part done, let’s start the Leica Pocket Book review with the exterior. The book comes across as quite dignified. Leica-red hard cover, solid thread stitching, two book-mark ribbons and a format that makes the tome look almost like a hymnal. I’ll have to try it out to see if the neighbour in the pew notices… The book could also pass for a handy Bible. In Oskar 1:1, it would probably read like this: “In the beginning was the film, and the film was with Barnack, and Barnack built a device for it, and the device became the Leica”.
But no, no one’s religious feelings are to be insulted here. Even if many a Leica advocate occasionally seems to take on missionary traits (and Leica haters often seem to be outrightly zealous). The Leica Pocket Book is simply a fascinating collection of knowledge that, incomprehensibly, leaves most people cold and excites but a few.
A London team made the update of the Leica Pocket Book possible
The book is published by London Leica dealer Ivor Cooper of Red Dot Cameras. Dr Frank Dabba Smith from London, a recognised Leica expert whom we will return to later, is the main editor. The acknowledged technology expert David Slater contributed information on digital cameras. Smith was able to carry over the content from the earlier editions. My friend Mike Evans, who is generally known as the editor of Macfilos, was also involved as the final proofreader. So any Leica Pocket Book review should take for granted that there is expertise in the production of this book.
Almost all cameras and lenses Leica ever made are described
The result does not disappoint. The 0.7-kilogram book on rather-too-glossy art paper describes almost all Leica products over more than a century. It spans the period from the Ur Leica to the M11 and the M6 rebirth. It also features all R cameras, the early analogue SL models and their modern digital namesakes, the products from the defunct APS-C system and the medium format S system.
A bonus point in the Leica Pocket Book review: Even MTF diagrams are included
Perhaps the most valuable resource in the Leica Pocket Book is the listing of almost every Leica lens ever made. Each one is illustrated, briefly described and given a concise but accurate (as far as I can tell) rating. In addition, there are MTF diagrams and essential technical data. Information on the dimensions would have been nice (the weight was at least taken into account), and a lens section as well. Nevertheless, I don’t know where you could find more competent and compact information if you wanted to know, say, something about the different 35mm Summicron variants for M-mount.
Everything up to the new APO-Summicron-M 35 is in there
It is remarkable that even the most recent lenses have been included in the Leica Pocket Book. There must have been a remarkably short period of time between the editorial deadline and delivery (if only all Leica Pocket Book reviews were similarly quick!). Nevertheless, it is in the nature of things that this standard work will also be incomplete at some point. Will someone else then turn up to expand such a labour of love?
For the time being, however, my Leica Pocket Book review verdict is that we are very well served with the 9th edition. It marks the collected state of knowledge for the year 2023. Of course, it cannot offer the depth that the late Erwin Puts had achieved in his works. It is also stylistically not as, shall we say, unconventional as Puts’s sometimes massive works. In the Pocket Book, everything is trimmed to precision and brevity. Otherwise, this “pocket” book would probably have had 700 pages instead of only 427.
There is no room for chatter in the small print
What I also like are some concise but very thoughtful notes on buying collector’s items at the beginning. I appreciate the few introductory words for each lens, which provide a pleasant contrast to the usual review prose. I often notice how quickly one falls into such expressions as “the lens has character”, “it draws in a retro way”, or “the bokeh may seem a little restless to some”. In my experience, this is sometimes unavoidable. But Frank Dabba Smith and his colleagues have steered away from these pitfalls with enviable restraint.
Also helpful are the production or sales figures, some of which are even accurate to the year. They are given for all older cameras and lenses (lately, Leica has not been so transparent in this area). The book also comprises the listing of all serial numbers and years of production. The editors themselves write that there are imprecisions here. But by and large, this is, of course – for collectors and beyond – valuable information.
The Leica Pocket Book review in a nutshell: This book is a treasure for users and collectors alike
All in all, Leica collectors and users (in the foreword, there is a refreshing call to use Leicas for what they were made for – photography) have been given a great resource in the 9th edition of the Leica Pocket Book. And this applies whether they are Leica believers or not. Editor Frank Dabba Smith can certainly be absolved of the suspicion of religious red-point blindness. As a rabbi, he is entrusted with the really big things in life.
Nevertheless, Frank Dabba Smith is also a master of his craft in Leica matters, as was recently demonstrated in a very worthwhile documentary on Arte. This film shows what Frank had researched and how it led to his doctorate. How Ernst Leitz II saved many Jews from a cruel fate by giving them a new start in a safe foreign country. But this is only an insertion here, which nevertheless shows well what kind of person we are dealing with.
The Leica Pocket Book: A true labour of love
Without a doubt, the new Leica Pocket Book is the result of a great deal of dedication and expertise acquired over decades. We can only thank all those involved. This book will become an indispensable reference work for me, especially in its timelessly good, printed form. And also, in the light of my own efforts, I can, in this brief Leica Pocket Book review, only take my hat off to the result: It is indeed a labour of love.
Leica Pocket Book, 9th edition, 427 pages, many photos and diagrams, 11.5 x 19.5 centimetres. Red Dot Photo Books, London. Note: The first production batch sold out quickly in June 2023. So you may have to wait for your copy to be delivered, but it is good to get your name on the list as soon as possible. The book costs £30 from Red Dot Cameras. European Union and other overseas customers will need to factor in shipping, customs fees and tax.
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I used the 8th Edition for years and the 9th certainly does not disappoint! Great reference and extremely useful in making purchase decisions regarding older Leica gear.
Thank you William, but I don’t own an original Steel Rim, just a pedestrian common version. The rest seems a commotion about cosmetics, not usefulness.
It is probably important that the first print run sold out so quickly. Many people seem to want the book. I hope many of them are photographers.
The gods must be shining favorably on me and this Pocket Book. No sooner had I complained yesterday about not yet receiving the book, but today it arrived, very well wrapped and padded for its trip across the pond.
I opened it, concerned that perhaps the binding of such a stout little book might not hold up to spreading wide the pages, but they seemed quite robust and good (hopefully) for years off service.
I looked up a few items and was pleased by what was presented. Most specifically, I had been asking repeatedly whether there was any OPTICAL difference between the original non-aspheric 35/1.4 (which I own and use) and the new Steel Rim replica. No one would even acknowledge that I asked this question whenever I voiced it (at least 3 separate on-line queries). Well, both lenses are in the Pocket Book, along with their MTF curves, and the curves look very similar, similar enough for me to conclude that my old, very worn example is still what that lens has always been, and that its fine / odd effects at f/1.4 are in no way superseded.
My use of these MTF curves is, as I stated before, one of my main reasons for ordering the new edition!
Ed
Glad you got the book, Ed and that you like it. I don’t read MTF curves as that spoils the fun of using the lens on a camera and finding out what it is like. I’m strange that way, I also don’t like reading menus in restaurants and usually just order the first thing that my eye falls on.
The other point is that, irrespective of the MTF curves, your original Steel Rim will be worth a multiple of what the replica will fetch. A Steel Rim, with all the trimmings, sold for €26,400, including premium, at the recent auction.
I bought the red book from Frank at the recent Photographica Fair in London. I’m keeping my old blue copy as that is much thinner and fits my hands better. That and Laney’s big book are my most consulted Leica books, followed by Lager’s trio and van Hasbroeck’s book.
I saw your review of Helmut Lagler’s big books in LSI Viewfinder magazine. I saw copies of the first 3 volmes at the Ernst Leitz Museum shop and, strangely enough, on a table at the Leitz home, Villa Friedwart. Vol 3 seemed to be the most interesting, even if it is all in German. I weighed up the prospect of lugging the thing back home in my bag and decided against that. I may yet order it from the museum shop.
William
Glad it arrived so soon, Ed. The first print run ran out almost as soon as it was announced. I think Ivor would have ordered more initially, but storage is a problem. Anyway, the second print run is underway now.
When I was writing about the ELCAN 50/2, the lens that was sold with the KE-7A, I was trying to find more information. I asked Peter Karbe if Leica had any details on this lens, which apparently they did not, but I had found the actual patent on line, and Peter said “Give it to me and I will generate an MTF curve from that information” I did, and he did. I then could compare this theoretical MTF curve to what Light Lens Lab had sent me for their replica. They were very similar. I know from other information that LLL will do their MTFs from an actual lens, usually the very one they are reverse engineering.
I also do find the comment that the new APO Summicron ASPH lenses have similar DOF to f/1.4 lenses a bit of a stretch, to put it mildly.
But for me, apples and oranges. If the MTFs were good enough for Erwin, they are good enough for me, with also the facts of my inquiries about the ELCAN backing this up.
Ed
From what I understand, the Leica MTF curves are theoretical and not actually measured. If that is the case, they are of no value to me. They are the same people that say the SL f/2 lens have similar depth of field as an f/1.4 lens. That is a total lie and they showed a graph to back their statement. I compared my older Leica SL 50/1.4 to the Leica SL APO 50/2 and the 50/1.4 was the obvious winner. I have the Leica m 90/1.5 and it blew the SL 90 f/2 apo away. So two non APO lenses blew the APO lens away on depth of field. Another photographer that has Leica APO glass agrees that they are not F/1.4. glass for depth of field.
Hence, their mtf curves mean nothing in my view. If I recall, Zeiss was the only manufacturer that had real measured curves and were not selling dreams.
As for the book in general, it is an invaluable resource worth its weight in gold for those interested.
Thank you for the in depth review of this book. The religious overtones of Leica are hilarious. Having many older editions and Leica books in my library this one will have good company. I would like to add that I am/was under the impression that previous editions were taken from Erwin Puts larger writings including the latest Leica Compendium, of which there were digital copies available long after the books were sold out. With his passing up to date information would not be likely, thank you to those that made this possible. I find that each source of Leica information may include details or specs difficult to find elsewhere. Leica no longer prints their beautiful catalogs or sales brochures except in pdf form, they too had information that is not easy to garner once the publication is out of print and no longer available.
I agree with Ed that the Leica Pocket Book is one of my “go to” sources on Leica cameras and lenses. I was friends with the original publisher, Derek Grossmark of Hove Photo. My last edition is the 7th, just like Ed. By the time that edition came out, Derek had passed, but his daughter and son-in-law remembered me and sent me a copy. I still have the note from them tucked in my copy.
The MTF Curves were originally supplied by Erwin Puts, another gentleman whom I miss greatly. All of the earlier editions have become collector pieces and the prices for used copies are sky high. At least they are still appreciated.
I look forward to getting my own copy soon!
I am in the U.S. and ordered my copy as soon as it was announced. It has yet to arrive, but I remain hopeful…
What was, for me, so useful about the 7th Edition, which was the latest one I owned, was the MTF graphs which Erwin had placed in the volume. I found great use for them whenever I was testing lenses from a non-Leitz source such as Light Lens Labs, and for comparisons within the Leitz / Leica family. Those graphs were worth the entire price of the volume for me, since they were otherwise non-existent or hard to come by. The remainder of the information was indeed available elsewhere, either on-line or in my own library, but it was useful to have all of it so easily codified in a small volume.
I get asked frequently about old Leicas by family members who find them in their Dad’s desk drawer after his passing. “Is this a Leica, and can you give me more information about it, because I think my Dad picked it up right after the war”? The Pocket Book might be the first resource I check, even if I can recognize their camera from the on-line images given me. For more precise info, like serial number / date ranges, I go elsewhere, but the Pocket Book helps sorting things out at a first-stage level.
So, many thanks for the review, which only whets the appetite!
Ed