[Leica] The RapidGrip Prototypes

[TTAbrahams@aol.com]

Well, as both Henning and Noel have talked about the RapidGrip I thought it 
was timely for me to fill in the missing details. The prototype RapidGrips 
were indeed delivered to "Le Grec" while we were having dinner there. You 
can't get better service than that! The RapidGrip is substantially "beefier" 
than both the TMP-grip and Leica's plastic one. I always had a problem with 
these grips; there simply was not enough "meat" to hold on to the camera by 
the grip. The fingers hit the camera body before the palm of the hand could 
touch the grip. It makes the camera larger, particularly with the Rapidwinder 
on it, but that was the intention from the beginning. There are occasions 
when you want to be able to hold the camera firmly in your hand and the 
RapidGrip certainly allows for that. The weight is about 80 gram (slightly 
less than 3 ounces), but by the time the attachment screw and the cap and 
insulator for the spare battery chamber is added, it will probably top 3 
ounces or  100 grams.
 The current prototypes have no cap and insulator installed and the 
attachment is with a slotted brass screw as well as being in raw alloy. Time 
simply did not allow me to finish these parts before our trip to California 
on Monday. There is still some minor fine-tuning remaining on the design, but 
at least it now has a "real" feel to it, rather than lines on a 
computer-screen or odd pieces of metal on the workbench.
 The alloy is a 6000 series aluminium, chosen because it is slightly more 
"flexible" than the 2000 series or the Rapidwinder alloy. It will be 
available in black only, at least for the near future. It will have a hole 
tapped into the top of the grip that will be able to hold a Softrelease, 
either as an extra, or when you do not need to use one. In the bottom there 
will be a slotted cap that covers an almost 2" (50mm) deep bore that can hold 
several batteries (SR 76/SR 44/Duracell) for the battery hungry meter of the 
M6TTL. It will have an insulated sleeve and a springloaded insulator in it. 
This means that the batteries will not be stuck in the bottom of the "well". 
The cap will either be made from a non-conductive composite or from alloy 
with a non-conductive insert. The RapidGrip will attach to later Rapidwinders 
(the ones that have the offset tripod bushing in the "Leica Baseplate" 
position) or on the regular baseplate of the M-camera (not the M5 though!). 
The attachment will be by either slotted screw, large diameter with 
substantial slot in it, or possibly with a lock similar to the Leica-grip, a 
folding "key" type grip. The decision on this will be made when the pricing 
of the parts have been established. It is not a cheap grip, I have tried to 
hold to a target price of  US$ 110, including shipping by airmail and some of 
the decisions will be made based on keeping that price.
 Unfortunately it is virtually impossible to attach the RapidGrip to a M2 
Rapidwinder. It can be done as I just did on one of my M2's today, but this 
involves drilling and tapping several holes in the winder and in the grip and 
some of the screws have to be run through the tracks of the winder. This 
means that for all practical purposes it will be a permanent installation on 
these winders. On the M6 Rapidwinder you can attach or remove the RapidGrip 
in seconds and shift it between cameras.
 I hope to have the final parts designed and to start production in late 
August and to have regular supplies of the RapidGrip in September (after 
Photokina).
 Once we are back from California on the 4th of August, I will have a couple 
of more prototypes and these will be anodised black and have more "classy" 
looking attachment screws.
 As there will be close to 30 LUGgers getting together in San Francisco next 
weekend they will have a chance to see and handle the prototype RapidGrip.
With "a firm grip on reality",
Tom A

Tom Abrahamsson
Vancouver, BC
Canada
www.rapidwinder.com