Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/05/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>On the subject of winding, motorized or not, any idea why the R8 manual >wind lever requires one long throw instead of being ratcheted? Another >longstanding habit of mine the R8 runs counter to is that I'm used to >winding in two short strokes (both for consistency with my M3DS and >because that doesn't pull the right hand so far out of position). The R8 is not the only R Leica that does this. I like ratcheted film advance as well, but miss it. Ratcheting would allow two quick short throws, and a better gear ratio could give one shorter throw instead of having to throw the lever what almost seems like more than 180 degrees. Unfortunately though, both of these features offer more things that can go wrong. I'd settle for the more durable R advance if it means that it makes the camera less likely to break down. Fewer gears and ratchets may mean fewer hassles for the user. It also keeps the production costs down. I suspect that these are some of the reasons why Leica uses the long R throw levers. They do, however, use ratcheted levers on the M6, and started with a double stroke on the M3, so this does seem to be somewhat inconsistent. - -GH