Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/02/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Yesterday, I took delivery of the Motor-Winder for the R8. It has = serial number 425 and is made in Portugal, altough the packaging box = says made in Germany. Quickly tried it out, and here are some first impressions (which = confirm those already presented on the list): 1=B0 Finish of the Winder is outstanding, it is in perfect harmony = with the R8 body. 2=B0 Built quality is great: metal like the body. It gives that = typical "Leica quality" feeling. Downside: it is quite heavy for what = it really is (extra 270 gram, which brings the total to around one = kilogram). I do not really understand why it should be that big and = yet only give room for two miserable 3V 123 type lithium batteries = instead of 8 AA-batteries. Compared to my Nikon MD-12 motordrive for = the FM-FE series, it is only slightly smaller, but weights = practically the same. A pity. 3=B0 Mounting the unit on the body caused some problem. At first, the = winder did not forward the film. I had to unmount the winder, and = noticed the two protruding hooks on the motor transport coupling on = the winder did not correspond with the small holes for these hooks on = the body, so film advancement was impossible although the winder was = mounted correctly. Second time, it worked alright. 4=B0 Adding the extra power-pack (available in Summer) would be a = major burden in my opinion. The extra weight and volume do not match = with its capabilities, moreover when this power-pack does not = eliminatie the batteries of the motor-winder. In fact, the power-pack = does only provide for film advancement, and does not power the camera = itself. If you are considering the extra battery horsepower, you = might as well go for the full-fledged motor-drive which will give you = about the same volume & weight, but with higer specs (4 frames per = second) and better handgrip. 5=B0 Speed is rather slow. Like Lucien said, I doubt whether it is = truly 2 frames per second. More likely to be 1 to 1.5 frames. So if = you are intending to be using the winder for continuous shots, better = look elsewhere and wait for the motor-drive. But the winder is great = for all those "lazy" people (like me :-) ) who want to forget to = advance the film manually, and be ready at all times to "fire". 6=B0 Great bonus: the winder is very silent! What a difference with = my previous Nikon MD-12 motordrive (but, of course, this was a real = motor at 3.5 frames per second) for the FM. While the Nikon drive = attracted all attention to you when you were using it, I doubt = whether will look up to someone using the winder on the R8. So this = is a good thing. 7=B0 As far as batteries are concerned: the two UCAR 3V 123 type = lithium batteries I had to purchase (they are not included with the = winder!) costed me 360 BEF each, this is 9.5 USD. So the winder takes = for 19 USD worth of batteries. I really hope I will be able to take = at least 30 films of 36 pictures before they give up. Otherwise, the = running costs of the winder would be very high and probably much = higher than the motor-drive. Only experience will tell... :-) Pascal Belgium - -------------------------------------------------------- Sent on a Macintosh PowerBook G3, the fastest laptop on the planet - -------------------------------------------------------- <<< PGP public key available on request >>>