[Leica] Better man than I am (aka R8 Wimpy Winder saga)

["David Freedman" <dpfreedman@worldnet.att.net>]

Just wanted to chime in with my support for Stephen Gandy's take on the
hot-button R8 winder/motor situation.  I actually have one of the winders
and, yes, it is pathetically slow. Here I am chomping at the bit for the
full-fledged motor to be released in the fall just so that I can achieve a
framing rate half that of my Nikon F5.  It's obvious that Leica is playing
to a different constituancy than other camera manufacturers. That Leica
would choose to introduce a flagship camera in the late 90's with neither AF
(I can live with that!) nor high speed film advance (I'll have to live with
that!) remains baffling to me. I love my R8 for what it can do but miss
greatly the things it cannot. What an opportunity squandered.

All this having been said, I still feel that the Leica glass more than
offsets the design shortfalls in the R bodies and I am now more heavily into
the system than ever before (in fact, my 180/2.8 should be arriving today).

Just slipped into my flame-retardant Underoos.

Dave Freedman