JDMvW Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 <p>Just the other day I was at my local Barnes and Noble bookstore, and found some copies of</p> <blockquote> <p>Gustavson, Todd<br> 2011 <strong><em>500 Cameras: 150 Years of Photographic Innovation</em></strong>. New York: Fall River Press.<br> [from George Eastman House]</p> </blockquote> <p>For sale in the discounted books section.<br> It's a lovely book, as good in its own way as Gustavson's other recent historical work <em>Camera</em>, which has been mentioned previously on Photo.net<br> And it's for sale at remainder prices, for whatever reason.</p> <p>It's listed on the B&N website, but at a slightly higher price, I think, than I paid in store. Also at other on-line vendors, again, for a slightly higher price.</p> <p> </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted January 13, 2012 Author Share Posted January 13, 2012 <p>Not that Gustavson is without flaw. In this book (500 Cameras) he has contradictions on who invented the instant return mirrors and very little mention of any DDR contributions. Also Canon is pretty much out of the running. It seems that Nikon, as some of you already 'knew', was the only innovator (in conjunction with Kodak, of course) in recent years. ;)</p> <p>It's still a great book overall, and will provide plenty of camera p o r n for all of you while the weather slows down postings here on CMC</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_rochkind Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Yes, a very good book. JDM, I don't know what you're complaining about. My copy had 400 photos of Prakticas and 100 of Exaktas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted January 13, 2012 Author Share Posted January 13, 2012 <p>Marc, I'm sorry I didn't get that copy!</p> <p>Was that the edition from Friedrich Engels Haus? ;)</p> <p>We all have our own special interests, of course.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfophotos Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 <p>It's a fun book, and yes, not without errors. His earlier book, "Camera" has some of the same material, and at that time, I noted several errors, but never e-mailed him about them. This time, I did (he wrote that the Argus A did not originally take standard 35mm cassettes, among other things) and he promptly responded and thanked me for pointing that out. I think he may have been confused with the Univex Mercury. However, it's a book filled with camera porn, and some neat stories. </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troll Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 <p>I bought it and it's grossly overpriced. Make a good stocking stuffer when they remainder it, though.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Collins Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 <p>I think I paid $19.99 minus my member discount at B&N, so it wasn't much of a cost at all. It's a fun book but I do like "Camera" better. Any book full of pictures of cameras is a book I must have!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfophotos Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 <p>I briefly reviewed back in November here: http://randomphoto.blogspot.com/2011/11/camera-porn-500-cameras-by-todd.html</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_oleson Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 <p>I saw it at B&N and asked for it (and got it) for Christmas. It was never my intention to rely on it as a historical research resource, and I haven't read enough of it to have found anything to complain about so far. Certainly seems well worth the $15 to me, if only for the photographs.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim_momary Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 <p>It's on my nightstand and I read a few stories every night.<br> Tons of stuff I've never heard of or was deep murky about.<br> Lovely details courtesy of the Great Yellow Father of the North.<br> Jim</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 <p>I did not mean in the slightest that the "errors" or opinions in it were damning, merely registering a caveat.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverscape Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 ooh...yup, I got the book! I had to have it as soon as I saw it! :) As far as any "inaccuracies" are concerned, I don't know nearly enough about photographic history to be able to catch them. But I never intended to have it for historical research. I mainly just wanted it as a reference...and maybe a wish list for what cameras to collect! I look through it sometimes and if there is anything that looks like it would be really cool to have, I start hunting for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick_van_Nooij Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 <p>Added to the wishlist!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_jeanette1 Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 <p>The photos of the old gear are well worth the price of the book</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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