Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/02/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>How else do you explain the winder fiasco or the mystery drive? The explanations have been here for quite some time. Leica is a small company. They can't just whip up a motor drive like merlin the magician. They should have put more effort into it, but they haven't for reasons only they know. They had the motor coming, and then the company building it for them went belly up. It's not like they can just up and find a new company to do it without major compromises. As for the winder, that's certainly not a great thing that there were problems with the contacts. Leica had some design problems that only proved out after sending the winder out. They have a fix and will do it for free under warranty. Other than mine having problems rewinding, it's been flawless. Once the contacts are replaced, it will be great. I've played with the battery that fits on the bottom that Ted Grant has. Seems like a pretty nice battery/charger system, and a heck of a lot cheaper than Nikon's for the F5. Of course, it doesn't go 8 fps. ;-) Bottom line, the R8 line, when it's finished will be a superb system. Too bad it's taking so long, but for those of us who use the R system, it will be worth the wait. And don't talk to me about being slow. At least they are doing something as opposed to Olympus who has abandoned SLR development altogether. Nikon and Canon have a vast pro/amateur market to support quicker R&D. I'm not happy with Leica's slowness, but not enough to live without Leica glass. And Leica knows most of us feel that way, unfortunately. Eric Welch St. Joseph, MO http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch All generalizations are false.