Re: [Leica] R8 winder woes.

[Bernard <5521.g23@g23.relcom.ru>]

I've had my R8-winder combo stop winding mid-roll. And that has happened
several times (I shoot very much, so I can't say it happens often,
relatively). It's very very annoying. Someone once asked on the group
which camera we would take on a job with only one allowed (hypothetical
situation). My answer will have to be R7. I like the R8 much more, but
I've never had the R7 pull any such stunts on me. And in a fashion shoot
I can't afford to hassle with the camera and try and boot up the winder.
My batteries are always fresh and contacts clean. To me the R8 is the
perfect design, but not perfectly made. And for the record, I have a
later model.

Bernard.


David Strang wrote:

> I shot a football game yesterday with my R8 (winder and auxiliary
> battery pack).
> The winder has a almost fresh set of batteries and the auxiliary
> battery had
> just been recharged last week. After my third roll of film, the R8
> started to
> act strange. First, the winder would seem to stop prematurely.
> Touching the
> release part way again would see the winder advance an extra frame and
> then arm
> the shutter. Finally, I just tried using the manual crank from the
> stand off
> position and the display would light up, but the shutter would not
> fire.
>
> The only thing I could think of was that conditions: temperature 90F+,
> 95%
> humidity, hot sun on black camera. Maybe the electronics were over
> heated, or
> maybe the batteries were over heated.
>
> Looking at the film, that third roll had spots where 1, 2, 3, or 4
> frames were
> skipped over erratically.
>
> Has any one seen, experienced or heard of this happening with the R8
> and winder?
>
> I replaced the winder batteries with a fresh set, and after firing a
> few shots,
> the winder seemed to sound almost normal again. My opinion is the R8
> and winder
> is VERY sensitive to fluctuations in battery voltage. A couple of
> weeks prior to
> this the same problem occurred on similar conditions.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> BTW, I just picked up a DEMO 180f2, but the diaphragm was slow to
> close. Either
> dried lube or a weak spring. I sent it into Leica NJ where they
> specked it as a
> 3 hour bench job (covered by warranty) and turn around would be SIX
> weeks,
> though they would expedite to THREE weeks.
>
> The thought of being without my R8 and winder for 6 weeks makes me
> hesitant to
> send it in to Leica.
>
> Regards,
>
> Dave Strang
> dstrang@up.net
>
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