Re: [Leica] Rapidwinder Report

[Thomas Kachadurian <kach@freeway.net>]

I'm not sure how you could say this: "In terms of performance, other than
the need for battery power, the M-Winder is probably a better idea." For
what? 

M Winder problems:
1. It doubles the size of the M camera.
2. It doubles the weight of the M camera.
3. It's big enough that it gets hard to hold because there's no grip bump
like on SLRs.
4. It's loud and harsh sounding.
5. It isn't all that fast
6. It creates up pressure on the shutter release which prohibits a squeeze
release.
7. It still has an off center tripod hole.

Rapidwinder problem:
Once you have one on your M6, your M4-P feels naked without one.

Tom


At 02:36 PM 1/23/98 -0500, you wrote:
>
>Nice to see someone daring to ask such an obviously good question. I think
>it's mostly due to a certain "retro" style the Rapidwinder offers: sort of
>a "Son of Leicavit" thing. The Rapidwinder also serves the interesting
>purpose of giving you something like the Leicavit at 1/5 the price.
>In terms of performance, other than the need for battery power, the
>M-Winder is probably a better idea. I think the last M-Winders work nicely
>and are quite quiet. Sure, they're taller than Tom's winder, but offer
>smoother fast-wind than the Rapidwinder. I think the attachment lever on
>the M-Winders, modelled on the Leicavit design, is better than the
>Rapidwinder bottom type (faster to put on and take off for reloading,
>easier with gloves, etc.). M-Winders are also easier when shooting
>verticals (hard to crank the Leicavit-type lever sideways!).  I understand,
>however, that no more M-Winder parts are being made and they're now
>assembling the end of the run.
>Tom is to be congratulated for his ingenuity and imagination. But I'd still
>like to see an improved M-Winder that offers a second vertical shutter
>release and, possibly, power rewind. These days, it could probably be made
>smaller. Remember, the M-Winders were first introduced 20 years ago (M4-2
>times). And some people suggest (maybe true) that Leica Ms don't really
>need this stuff at all - except maybe for left-eye users (but that's a bad
>habit if you shoot Ms. Learn to use the right eye. With the viewfinder
>eyepiece all the way on the left, the cameras were clearly designed for the
>right eye.)
>
>
>
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