Re: my first motor drive experience

["joe b." <joe.b@private.nethead.co.uk>]

In message <9607290438.AA29446@thillana.lcs.mit.edu>, Patrick Sobalvarro
<pgs@thillana.lcs.mit.edu> writes
>Instantly: CLAK CLAK CLAK CLAK CLAK.  What a bizarre experience.  How
>can you tell what the hell you're taking pictures of?  This makes me
>think about the heavily-advertised 10 fps drive of the Canon EOS 1n
>RS.  What do you use 10 fps for?  Count: 1, 2, 3.  Okay, now you have
>to load a new roll of film!
>
>I guess real motor drive users have the reflexes to make some sense
>with these things while squeezing off these high-speed bursts.  But I
>surely don't.

The use I have for a fast drive like that is oddly enough, portraits! I
do a kind of portrait where I like to catch fleeting expressions and
with automated winding I can often catch a second glimpse a fraction of
a second later- with the drive set on single frame (I have not yet had a
use for a constant 4-5 fps or whatever it is). The Leica R winder is
quite slow and clunky and cannot do this as it winds at about 2 fps. It
sounds more like steam locomotives shunting than a winder. It is
probably the slowest winder I have ever used, and I find it frustrating
to have to support the extra weight for such a slow winding speed!
Having said that, I seem to have damaged a tendon in my right hand from
when I did a few rolls with the motor drive; something to do with
supporting all the weight with my left thumb (which supports the lens
which in turn supports the camera which in turn supports the motor
drive) so I'm currently back to R with manual winding, M6 with winder
(small, light, fairly quiet and pretty fast, now *that's* a good winder)
or EOS.
-- 
joe b.