Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/07/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On 7/14/99 Simon Pulman-Jones wrote: >This is really addressed to Tom Abrahamsson: >Something touched upon last week - Is an M5 rapidwinder really out of the question? >A forlorn hope, I'm sure, but there's no harm in asking... >Simon. Simon, It would not be feasible to build the M5 Rapidwinder, at least from an economical point of view. It would require a different housing and also the installation of the M6 drive in the camera, as well as a rather complex mechanism to rewind the film. This said, it has been done! Hidemasa Taketomi, a friend of mine in Tokyo decided to make one for his M5. I did supply him with the drive components and a housing that could be re-machined to take the drive and also fitted inside a case (made from two M5 baseplates, soldered together with a strip of brass as a "spacer" between them). He then covered the soldered flange with vulcanite, thus matching the cameras surface. It was a rather complex job and it did involve some surgery to the camera, too! It looked very slick and worked fine, but Taketomi's attitude to "specials" is very much the same as mine; the fun is in the manufacturing and problem solving. He later sold the camera/winder combo. At least it is a fairly unique M5 and ranks up there with my Rapidwinder for my 1931 Leica II - a definite One-Off Design! All the best, Tom A Tom Abrahamsson www.rapidwinder.com