Re: R Drives and Winders

[pgs@pa.dec.com (Patrick Sobalvarro)]

   From: John_McLeod@designlink.com (John McLeod)
   Date: 02 Oct 1996 16:26:04 GMT

   I have a Leica R6 and am considering the purchase of either a motor drive or
   winder...

This is a belated answer to your question because I unaccountably
stopped receiving digests for a while and didn't get around to
fetching the missing ones until now.

I have a Motor Drive R4 that I bought used and use on my R6's.  To
answer your questions:

o Reliability: this drive has surely been beaten up, and it works like
  a champ.  On the basis of this limited information I'd say they're
  pretty solid.
o Usefulness: I only bought it for macro photography (and the winder
  would have done the job just as well for me, and I thought I was
  buying a winder until I saw it).  I wanted a winder for macro
  photography because I kept on knocking things out of focus and
  alignment when winding the next frame on.  The motor drive works
  only as well as the winder for this.  I for one do not need 4 fps.
o Loudness: I haven't heard the winder, but the drive certainly sounds
  loud to me, especially in 4fps mode (I had to try it).
o Hand grip: it feels comfortable enough, but it's not particularly
  useful for macro photography, which is where I use the motor drive.
o Overall satisfaction: sure, it works, and a well-used one was cheap.

Compatibility notes: there are two motor drives that will work on the
R6: the Motor Drive R4 and the Motor Drive R.  The Motor Drive R4 is
cheaper, because (a) it's older, and (b) it lacks some features of the
Motor Drive R.  The first extra feature of the Motor Drive R is that
the handgrip has an additional bottom release.  The Motor Drive R4 has
a mechanical linkage to its handgrip, and only a button on the top of
the grip can release the shutter, so it is a little awkward to use in
portrait mode with the handgrip.  You can remove the handgrip, in
which case the bottom release on the front of the Motor Drive R4 and
the shutter release can both be used.  Additionally, the Motor Drive R
was designed so that you can use the strap lugs on the camera body,
whereas with the Motor Drive R4, if you use the handgrip, you have to
use one strap lug on the body and one on the handgrip, which really is
very inconvenient if you remove and replace the drive.  In summary:
the handgrip for the Motor Drive R4 is kind of a pain to use, and the
one for the Motor Drive R is better.

You can use the Motor Drive R with the R7 if you buy a taller handgrip
(the R7 is taller than the other bodies).  I don't know if an
equivalent taller handgrip is available for the Motor Drive R4,
although I think the drive itself will still work with the R7.

The R8 drive and winder will apparently be different and incompatible.
Hope you find my belated reply useful.

- -Patrick