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Downloadable Leitz/Leica Instruction manuals library on Wiki?


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Just a brief update. I now own the domain leica-library.com and have paid for a year's hosting and service with Wordpress for this domain. I now have to work out what software I will use for managing and indexing the library. I had hoped to use Microsoft Sharepoint, as I am a 365 subscriber but I am not sure it is available for Mac. Microsoft charge us Mac users the same price for Office 365 but provide a somewhat inferior product to what they provide for Windows. 

 

Wilson

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This is a timely initiative, to gather scans of old and unusual Leica paperwork, for archiving in a reference library for enthusiasts. In another generation many of these paper resources will likely disappear into "the tip" i.e. thrown out by families who consider it as useless garbage.

In my other hobby, Meccano, we enthusiasts have created an on-line repository of vast quantities of publications, dating from 1906 to present (Meccano has been made for over 110 years!).

I will be happy to contribute with scans of Leica material I have gathered. From my experience I know this is a long process to prepare good quality scans, but it will be worthwhile. And ... be careful when handling old paper, treat it gently.

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I would appreciate advice from anyone who has set up a library within Wordpress. There are a number of plug-ins for Wordpress but the people who write and sell these, do not seem to have a clue about explaining how they work or how to go about installing them within a Wordpress framework. I am reasonably computer savvy, having been using all sizes from mainframes to sub-micro over the last 45 years but I have just been reading through the "read me first" for a library plug-in and it is total gobbledygook. 

 

Wilson

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Perhaps it was linked already:

 

The "Wiki" of the german branch of this forum has some manuals:

 

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.de/index.php/Bedienungsanleitungen

 

When you scroll down you find a few manuals for screw-mount bodies.

 

Unfortunately no IIIb but only one for the IIIc. I don't think that the differences really matter. More problematic might be that they are in german.

 

Perhaps more helpful than the original manuals is The (New) Leica Manual by Willard D. Morgan and Henry M Lester. The book first appeared in 1935; I have the 12th Edition from 1951. It covers all aspects of fotographing with a Leica, from handling the camera over darkroom praktice till using the camera for many different aims.

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Perhaps it was linked already:

 

The "Wiki" of the german branch of this forum has some manuals:

 

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.de/index.php/Bedienungsanleitungen

 

When you scroll down you find a few manuals for screw-mount bodies.

 

Unfortunately no IIIb but only one for the IIIc. I don't think that the differences really matter. More problematic might be that they are in german.

 

Perhaps more helpful than the original manuals is The (New) Leica Manual by Willard D. Morgan and Henry M Lester. The book first appeared in 1935; I have the 12th Edition from 1951. It covers all aspects of fotographing with a Leica, from handling the camera over darkroom praktice till using the camera for many different aims.

 

There is not a big problem with the camera manuals for the mainline models. Between Mike Butkus, David Young and a number of other sites, they are pretty well covered. At some later point it may be possible to set up a part of the library website with hyperlinks to the other sites' camera manuals. The initial idea is to cover the manuals which are not covered by the other sites and to access the resource of the members on this forum, to get them to scan and send me (when and only when up and running) copies of the scans or a PDF of those manuals.

 

Wilson

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Perhaps it was linked already:

 

The "Wiki" of the german branch of this forum has some manuals:

 

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.de/index.php/Bedienungsanleitungen

 

When you scroll down you find a few manuals for screw-mount bodies.

 

Unfortunately no IIIb but only one for the IIIc. I don't think that the differences really matter. More problematic might be that they are in german.

 

Perhaps more helpful than the original manuals is The (New) Leica Manual by Willard D. Morgan and Henry M Lester. The book first appeared in 1935; I have the 12th Edition from 1951. It covers all aspects of fotographing with a Leica, from handling the camera over darkroom praktice till using the camera for many different aims.

 

I cannot recall if I specifically have the IIIb manual, but I do have the IIIa manual in the Hove Edition from Steyning books which is easily available. I have the original IIIc manual identical to that mentioned above, except it is in English. The IIIc manual is also easily available in a Hove books edition from Stenying Books as are the IIIf and IIIg manuals. In addition I have original IIIf manuals for both Black Dial and Red Dial variations as well as the I and II f and the IIIg manuals. I have many others too numerous to list here, including all film M manuals other than the M7, which I think is available from the Leica website. The only major gap in my colIection is in respect of the R and Leicaflex cameras. The collector who sold most of the other ones to me had them, but I turned them down as I was not interested in those cameras. I have Willard Morgan and Lester guide (1937 version) on Kindle on one of my iPads, but, for the life of me, I cannot recall where I got it. 

 

What would be needed as well as the the domain name would be a website to which uploading could take place. I wonder could Andreas facilitate the hosting of this? There would be design needed on this with upload and search functions and other features. Then somebody would need to act as webmaster/moderator to avoid double-loading etc. One step that might be useful would be to circulate a spreadsheet into which members could insert details of the manuals they already have. This could also cover accessories ( I have a good few of those as well). The big imponderable here is copyright and the possibility of challenge, particularly by whoever still holds the copyrights for Hove books. I certainly would be wary about uploading anything directly from those books while they are still on sale.

 

My own view is that it would be nice to see this provided by Leica AG. I already have a substantial amount of cameras and lenses going back to 1926 registered on the Leica site. They have all of the makes and models of cameras going that far back listed for registration purposes. It should be easy to link manuals off that list.

 

Just some thoughts.

 

William

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William, 

 

 

I have already purchased the domain name of Leica-Libary.com and a year's hosting with Wordpress, including 6GB of storage. I am doing this with Andreas, who will handle liaison with Leica on an informal basis. A formal request for copyright waiver would likely face stiff resistance. The facility will not permit people to upload their own stuff, as this would be a recipe for chaos. For it to work, the quality of scans has to be checked to see that they are reasonable and fully legible. They have to be indexed and tagged, so that they can be found from various indices, alphabetical, Leica Telegraphic Code, Leica numeric reference etc. A pot into which everyone chucks any old scan or file, would rapidly become an unusable mess. Initially I shall be the sole librarian but as it grows I will be seeking volunteers from the forum to assist with the work-load. At the 6GB storage size (quite a lot of PDF's) size, I am happy to keep funding this but if it takes off in a big way, an alternative method of funding additional storage will have to be sought. Sponsorship from dealers with an advertisement banner is probably the easiest way. 

 

Wilson

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William, 

 

 

I have already purchased the domain name of Leica-Libary.com and a year's hosting with Wordpress, including 6GB of storage. I am doing this with Andreas, who will handle liaison with Leica on an informal basis. A formal request for copyright waiver would likely face stiff resistance. The facility will not permit people to upload their own stuff, as this would be a recipe for chaos. For it to work, the quality of scans has to be checked to see that they are reasonable and fully legible. They have to be indexed and tagged, so that they can be found from various indices, alphabetical, Leica Telegraphic Code, Leica numeric reference etc. A pot into which everyone chucks any old scan or file, would rapidly become an unusable mess. Initially I shall be the sole librarian but as it grows I will be seeking volunteers from the forum to assist with the work-load. At the 6GB storage size (quite a lot of PDF's) size, I am happy to keep funding this but if it takes off in a big way, an alternative method of funding additional storage will have to be sought. Sponsorship from dealers with an advertisement banner is probably the easiest way. 

 

Wilson

 

Thanks for that, Wilson. Your thoughts and plans are exactly the same as mine. Keep us posted. I have already spent quite a bit of money building up a substantial collection of Leica material but I am happy to share this with others provided there are no copyright or exploitation issues.

 

 

William

Edited by willeica
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If haven't already got it here's a link to a 1938 edition of Leica Manual by Morgan & Lester

 

 

 

 

 

https://archive.org/details/leicamanual000737mbp

 

I don't wish to seem negative or ungrateful but at this point we are weeks if not months away from having a live working online library system to which data can be added. I have to learn how the Wordpress web hosting process and system work, in relation to running an online library, which is neither transparent nor easy. I have to select the correct library plug-in or stand alone software, which will not just cope with today but with what we might hope the library will become. This needs to come from a sound company, which will be there to provide support in years to come. Software companies have a tendency to come and go or get taken over and their original product dumped. My intention is to get this right first time and hopefully good rather than quick is my aim. 

 

Wilson

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.....  the quality of scans has to be checked to see that they are reasonable and fully legible. 

 

Can I suggest that when you are ready to take documents, you issue guidance notes on scanning and outputting - file type (pdf I would assume?), pixel dimensions and dpi, compression, colour space (sRGB is a sort of 'standard' for such documentation), image sharpening and all other parameters which are relevant, etc. - for various original document sizes. This would at least ensure that anything supplied would have consistence. Its a fair undertaking and will need a lot of thought and work before anything goes live.

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Paul, 

 

I will do that when I manage to work out how the various library plug ins work on Wordpress. I think the people who write the manuals for them must have dropped out of a flying saucer, because most of what they write makes no sense whatsoever and they miss out whole stages in the process, which may be obvious to them but not to someone coming to the product for the first time. Luckily I have found a book which was free with my Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscription: "Everything you need to know to Start on Wordpress from Scratch" by Arnold De Vries, which makes sense albeit a bit simplistic but at least gets me started. 

 

Wilson

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