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Laney's Collector's Guide (2nd edn) - OOP & crazy prices


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Here in Norway you can order a book at the library at no cost. So I searched for Leica. No Laney, but I got myself a van Hasbroeck.

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3 minutes ago, J.Nordvik said:

Here in Norway you can order a book at the library at no cost. So I searched for Leica. No Laney, but I got myself a van Hasbroeck.

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That's good - we only have lending libraries😀

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here are some other titles:

 

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Any that is worth loaning?

 

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5 hours ago, dkCambridgeshire said:

I won a copy of Laney Leica Collector's Guide 2nd edition in a TLS AGM raffle.

Those listing the book at such very high prices on Ebay and Amazon have too high expectations.

I'm wondering if they've sold any copies? 

dunk 

I just bought Volume 2 on eBay for an offer of C$550 (listed at C$750), so yes, there are still idiots out there paying these crazy prices!  It's a new copy, 100%, so I can console myself with that fact :)

 

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On 1/28/2020 at 6:25 AM, romualdo said:

I was shocked to see the second edition Of The "Leica Collector's Guide" selling for over US $450 & up, second hand - I presume it's OOP

The price is set by an Amazon algorithm for all goods that has little to do with reality and only looks at how many units it can 'see', applies a 'rarity' multiplier if historically (to it) units have been readily available but it detects that many fewer units are available now.  

This is what can start to produce ridiculously high prices for a seemingly uninteresting item.  This is worsened because Amazon trawls other sources, including ebay, for availability and market price information to feed its algorithm but those same sources also trawl, amongst others, Amazon for their availability and market price information so a 'negative feedback loop' is created and pricing starts to spiral out of control and with no connection to reality and you're likely to find the same item at an expected and reasonable price at a vendor who's stock is not monitored by Amazon.

Pete.

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I have a background which includes both competition and consumer law. There is no law requiring a particular price, but fixing a price with other sellers or requiring others, particularly in a controlled supply chain, is illegal. As for the Laney book, while doing any of the foregoing would be illegal, selling a book that is scare, at a price that is higher than the original price , is not per se illegal. As for the Amazon practices, I would expect that competition authorities would look at all the available information about those practices in the event of any complaints.

As for the Laney book it is for potential buyers to determine whether it is worth the prices now being sought. My 2nd edition was certainly worth the approximately 60 Euros which I paid for it 10 years ago.

William

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I got another library book. Does anyone knows the long lenses pictured here. It looks like a Leica are attached in the second one.

 

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Then there is this TV-camera from 1936. I think I car read Ernst on the front of the lens. What is this?

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The two military photos show Astro-Berlin Fernbildlinse lenses.  These lenses are achromat long focus lenses; they are not true telephotos.  Astro-Berlin also used very long lens hoods.  The net result is that the lenses are huge.   Without doing a lot of digging, I am guessing the lenses are 800mm f5.0 or 1000mm  f6.3.  Astro-Berlin also made a 2000mm f10.0, but these are not 2000mm.  After World War II Tewe, also in Berlin, made lenses of similar characteristics.  Additionally Astro-Berlin made a reflex housing called Identoskop.  Most of these were made for Leica Thread Mount.  The Identoskop got to market just before Leitz' PLOOT reflex housing.

I have never seen the TV lens.

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Perhaps Nazi sense of humor in the gun / lens line up.

It is hard to see, but I think that in the photo you can see an Identoskop which would be on a Leica IIIc.  In the second photo you can see an optical viewfinder mounted to the rear tube of the lens.  Those optical finders are very rare.

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Here is a scan:

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Another scan:

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vor 9 Stunden schrieb zeitz:

Perhaps Nazi sense of humor in the gun / lens line up.

It is hard to see, but I think that in the photo you can see an Identoskop which would be on a Leica IIIc.  In the second photo you can see an optical viewfinder mounted to the rear tube of the lens.  Those optical finders are very rare.

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/48991-nicht-immer-nur-kaviar/page/298/?tab=comments#comment-3630634

 You wouldn't use these stuff outside any more 😉

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Actually in that time period, lenses 400mm and longer tended to be achromats and thus all had exactly the same physical length.  This included Kilfitt, Novoflex, Canon S & R Set lenses 600mm and longer, Zeiss 500mm f8.0, Tewe, Piesker, a few Schneiders, and of course the 400/560mm f5.6, 400/560mm f6.8, and 800mm (modified achromat) Telyts.  The very long lens hoods make the Astro-Berlin lenses appear overly big.

I am enjoying the thread referenced above.  I need to improve my German.

The viewing system in the second photo is quite unique.  It is too bad a closer shot with further detail is not available.

Note that there are two sizes of viewfinders for the Identoskop reflex housings.  The short viewfinder is 5x, but the image is upside down and backwards; this one appears to be in use in the second photo.  The long viewfinder in the German thread is 4x, and is correct up and sideways viewing; this one is seem in the referenced thread.  There is also a 45 degree finder.   The Identoskop also has a unique architecture in that it uses two mirrors; the ground glass is after the second mirror and is parallel to the film plane instead of perpendicular.  Eventually Astro-Berlin gave up on the Identoskop and offered mounts for Visoflex reflex housings, as seen in the referenced thread.

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1 hour ago, Wurlitzer1015 said:

Yet another post hijacked. "Laney's Collector's Guide" is this thread's title.  If you want to talk about big old lenses go start your own thread.

If you check you'll find that the member who started this thread about Laney's Collector's Guide also introduced the post about "big old lenses", which I think he is thoroughly entitled to do.  And is there any need for the aggressive tone?

Pete.

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