><< Any volunteers for other areas? >>
>
>Please, please, the chapter about 50mm lens variations!!! :-)
>
>Serious, I could provide a price guide as part of the book. At the risk
>of putting the cart way before the horse, you can keep a book title in
>ciculation for much longer by doing periodic editions. We can't count on
>Olympus providing any new equipment to justify a new edition, so
>annually or semi-annually updating a price guide would help sell books
>to those who had already bought one. It would also give authors a chance
>to polish their previous efforts, esp. if new information comes to
>light. Not to mention it draws in the collectable resellers who don't
>necessarily have a passion for Olympus, but need to identify stuff and
>know what it is worth, much less have some basic information available
>to describe what they have.
>
>Gary Reese
>Las Vegas, NV
This is a fantastic idea. Maybe it is time to put a horse in front of
this cart. I'm talking about someone who can take the next step into
investigating the feasibility of an OM guide project -- contacting
publishers about the idea, engaging in some research, assembling an
editorial board, determining a way to match topics with chapter authors,
locating the most authoritative authors for a particular topic,
soliciting photographs, directing layout, etcetera. I realize this is all
exploratory, at this point, but I think the next thing we need is an
editor who can give this project a shape. The book will need a "central
nervous system" before all else.
Much as this project excites me, I don't believe I have the in-depth
knowledge or experience to lead it (although I'd be pleased to serve on
the editorial board). On the other hand, I doubt few people would
question the depth of Gary's OM knowledge or his devotion to the OM
community. If I recall past conversations correctly, Reese has managed
"virtual" projects like this before, where there was a need to pull
together diverse information from members who were separated
geographically, and get the information assembled, edited, and published.
That experience certainly recommends Reese for the position. In addition,
I think that a lot of folks would purchase the guide to obtain Gary's
extensive price guide alone (or perhaps the price information in
combination with Gary's SQF tables), making that chapter critical to both
initial and subsequent sales. Plus, unlike many of us who have a "hobby"
orientation to the OM, this is Reese's business, and the value of having
an experienced professional at the helm shouldn't be underestimated.
Gary, if you're reading this, I don't mean to be "volunteering" you
(well, yes I do, but I feel bad about it), and I don't mean to be
applying undue pressure, but if you have an interest in the project, may
I ask, on behalf of the list, that you at least consider the position of
editor of this project? This doesn't mean that the rest of us will not
shoulder our share of the burden--we'll support you with chapters,
photos, you name it--but I believe this project will need a good,
knowledgeable, and experienced editor to get it to the next stage, and I
think you're the man. I'll bet everyone else thinks so, too.
In the meantime, I've been thinking about topic divisions for the book
and reviewing my other photo guides. (While it might be premature to be
"volunteering" authors at this point, we should at least be thinking
about topics, yes?) A lot of the topic divisions are obvious. But perhaps
the whole list could think about this for a bit. I've put together an
amalgam of the topic headings I've found in other guides, modified them a
bit for OM, and listed them below. What other topics should or could
there be? What's missing?
Potential Content:
Camera bodies
Intro - what's available
OM Achievements & landmarks
How the cameras work
Evolution
Variations
Accessories
Motors, Winders & Backs
Viewfinder (screens, varimagni)
Flash
Cases
Lenses
General
Glass types
Coatings
Variations
Wide Angle
Normal
Telephoto
Macro
Hoods & Accessories
Filters
Technique
Macro & Macro Flash
Astrophotography
Available Light (Thinking about the OM-2 here)
Other
Care & Maintenance
Basic OM Instructions
Troubleshooting
Storage
Using OM
The OM Way
The OM Community
Traveling with OM
Photo Examples
Collecting OM
Hunting
Price
Condition
Appendices
Tables
Resources
Fun to think about, isn't it?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Kelton Rhoads, PhD
Los Angeles, CA
krho@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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