Pentacon Six pictures in illustrated books

[pandreas68]

Hi,

I'd like to ask especially those of you from the former eastern block countries like Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungaria and others whether you know illustrated books with the pictures made by Pentacon Six equipment.

I did look for such books from Eastern Germany and found quite a few which I found worth for buying even that some of their best are very cheap obtainable:

W. Gerhard Heyde, PentaconSix Praxis. Interesting in it is Georg Brenner's remark about the grease and shutter problem: Estimating shutter speeds by ear instead of by setting...

Georg Renner, Biwak auf dem Dach der Welt (Bivouac on the roof of the world). Contains some good pictures, but unfortunately very small. The book is also historically interesting because it is an unofficial travel guide for "Unerkannt in Freundesland" ("Unknown in Friends Land", so to speak; the Germans in the East used a kind of trick to made visits in the high mountains of the CCCP/USSR though it was forbidden.) Very cheap.

Sieghard Liebe, Gebirgsfotografie (Mountain photography). Contains many photos, which obviously originate from the Pentacon Six. Among them some of Georg Renner and this time in an appropriate size. Also in this book you can find the hint to the shutter noise as indication of true shutter speed. Very cheap.

Horst Schröder, Faszination der Nähe (The fascination of closeness). Absolutely worth seeing macro shots, especially of animals. The shooting procedure with the P6 is well explained at the beginning and not too complicated. Quite cheap.

Harald Lange, Tierfotografie (Animal photography). Also includes pictures by Horst Schröder. Harald Lange has written very positive about the Pentacon Six and especially about the Pentacon 5.6/500 in Heyde's Pentaconsix Praxis. In this book he writes in great detail on S31f what a suitable camera must be able to do (and none of the then contemporary GDR cameras could do) - very remarkable for the fact that the book is from 1988. He anticipates the end of the GDR, at least in terms of photography. In the history of photographic technology, he condensed the GDR into a few lines off the many pages. It suggests that Lange had a Nikon F2 equipment and maybe a western medium format camera since he wrote a lot about the F2 as well as about Rollei. Nevertheless, some of the photographs in the book seem to be from the Pentacon Six and they are also worth to have for me. Quite cheap.

Dieter Demme, Erfurt. 3rd edition with editorial deadline 20.6.89. This book does not only have beautiful Pentacon Six photos but also shows the approaching end of the GDR. It still reports on the achievements of socialism with its five-year plan, but with a certain openness that allows reading between the lines. Very cheap.

Manfred Uhlenhut, Guido Knopp, Als die Mauer fiel (When the Wall fell). Contains many P-Six photos by Manfred Uhlenhut from the time of the book's title. Also very worth seeing. Together with Dieter Demme's book, the book is also a very nice testimony for (East)German "street photography", which is not so easy anymore, especially not with a P6. Quite cheap.

The books Fascination of Proximity, Animal Photography, Mountain Photography and Erfurt share the same almost square format; practical - square - good... ...in the book Erfurt there are double-page pictures, however Dieter Demme managed to do it.

If copying the authors name and the German book title into amazon you'll get the appropriate listings.

Looking forward to obtain information on some further illustrated books especially from other countries where the Pentacon Six was used as "Professional Camera".

[pandreas68]

Another one:

Charlotte & W. Gerhard Heyde, Bernd Blume, Ulrich Linkner. Torgau. (4th edition 30.4.1988). This book is about a small town named Torgau. Many of the pictures show the life in the late German Democratic Republic (GDR). Most of the pictures unfortunately are quite small but some are good examples for GDR street photography and photography in schools and (people owned) companies. Many of the pictures have square format and some more may be cut so that most of the pictures should be Pentacon Six pictures. The text from Ulrich Linkner may give an example for a "Bildungsbuerger" (somebody from the education/cultural society) who adapted to socialism and the system; I can't read anything between the lines. Quite cheap available.

[pandreas68]

Another one:Klaus Morgenstern/Klaus Tippmann: Zwickau.1st ed. 1981. The book contains pullouts for a picture index as well as graphics. Compared to normal GDR quality, the paper is quite good as almost always in such photo books. One highlight of th pictures from Morgenstern: An indoor pic of a soviet delivered factory for concrete boards from which thiese typical buildings in the east are made from. Many pictures are double page spread, as if the picture is intended as panorama view already when taken. At some shots the grain is irritating as if a 35mm negative is used. The most shots however seem to be done by a P6. The text from Tippmann tells about a very motivated communist hard liner.

[visualopsins]

[John Klein]