Book Review: Collecting and Using Classic Cameras , Ivor Matanle

A useful but not authoritative text

Ivor Matanle may be the first writer on classic cameras to write of
them not merely as baubles but working photographic equipment for
contemporary use, and for that alone he deserves a certain kudos.
However, I have several problems with this book, especially in this
edition. From the other works he has done it's evident he's a good
black-and-white photographer, but this printing doesn't reveal this:
the quality of photoreproduction is not excellent.

Matanle is British, and the American reader will note that there are
differences in nomenclature, in the cameras and lenses that are
readily available (many items common in Britain would never be seen
here), and in practices and attitudes regarding using cameras and
lenses. While it's good to be exposed to foreign viewpoints, we are
two nations separated by an almost-common language sometimes.

As a prime example, how could one cover "classic cameras" and not
discuss Graflex? Simply put, although technically "large format" (at
least in the most common 4x5 size, although there are smaller
Graphics),no photographer's experience is complete without having used
a Speed or Crown Graphic-handheld, with sheet film or a rollfilm back.

Although most of the cameras available today would seem like alien
implements to photographers of fifty years ago, the principles of
photography have not changed, and in fact many of the best cameras-M
Leica, Hasselblad, Rollei TLR (yes, still in production)-are
substantially similar today as when Frank, Dean and Sammy were on the
charts, Marilyn was still the hottest movie star, and John Glenn
getting ready to orbit the Earth. Others are very different from
anything made now, yet sometimes capable of very good work with a
little knowledge, and more conducive to doing so than today's popular
microprocesssor-controlled polycarbonate affairs which often simply
get in the way of, rather than facilitate, good photography. In
addition, a camera that's still working-or easily made so-after fifty
years stands a good chance of working fifty years from now, which is
almost certainly not true of some modern cameras.