[Leica] Strange R8 winder

[tedgrant@islandnet.com (Ted Grant)]

OK folks here comes the confession! As many of you know I'm a champion of
the R8 and have been since I received mine almost 2 years ago.

However, as of this moment I have some concern regarding the winder!!!  I
know, I know, Al right don't get on my case! :)

I received one a couple of months ago and it worked like a charm up until
the other day on a shoot. Would rewind, but wouldn't advance or it locked
everything up and the only way to get power again was to remove the winder
and reinstall.

All that did was give me power for the shutter and viewfinder functions as
well as using the camera manually.

I arrived home last evening to a "brand new winder!" only to find it worked
a few times perfectly and then did exactly what the other did.

My first reaction was, "I've got a battery problem here!" even though the
battery indicator showed perfect battery. Bought new batteries,  still
nothing happened with either winder. Now it could be the camera, however
without the winder attached it's fine.

The sad part is, the first winder crashed while on top of a mountain and I
couldn't get anything to work and sat there with a dead camera not being
able to complete the project. I admit with my 2 R7s sitting back in the car
I thought of myself as an all time idiot for not bringing them, but with an
R8 __"that works so perfectly"___ why would I carry more gear than I
needed? :) Yeah right!:)

_______________ So suggestion for all you R8 owners with
winders!!!!!!!!!!______

Carry the original R8 body piece _____containing batteries____ for normal
camera operation without winder. In this manner you can always operate the
camera when a winder isn't attached. I have new batteries in the body and
gone back to normal thumb power and the camera is working as it should.
Beautifully!!

I have seen the posts regarding others with winder problems and generally
poo-pooed them, unfortunately I have become a believer that the Leica
legend has a crack in it's armor!

More to follow when we have some answers to the winders (2) situation.

Mean while here is an interesting story about this old Leica photographer! :)

I was shooting in the deep mountain forests of Jasper National Park when
from behind a tree I heard, "Hey you with the Leica. Come over here." I
looked around and found a big green frog talking to me.

"If you kiss me I'll turn into the most lustful wench of your dreams and
give you everything you ever desired!"

Well that sounded like a hell of a good deal, so I picked it up and put it
in my camera bag for safe keeping and went about my picture taking with an
M6 and a new 35 1.4 aspherical.

A short time later I heard the voice again, only this time from my camera
bag, "hey you with the Leicas, when are you going to kiss me and turn me
into the most beautiful ravishing woman of your life?"

I thought about it for a moment and replied, "Hell honey at my age I'd
rather have a talking frog!" :)

And that's when the lights went out!:)

Sure beats all that brainy stuff on the LUG you've had to contend with. And
everything about Leica! :)

see ya folks, my frog's calling! :)
ted