Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/06

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Subject: Re: [Leica] R8 winder woes.
From: "Robert G. Stevens" <robsteve@hfx.andara.com>
Date: Mon, 06 Sep 1999 18:32:32 -0300

David:

Yo should maybe buy your gear in Canada.  I sent my second R8, early
production, in to Leica Canada (Kinderman) for the factory updates and
picked it up while I was in Toronto last week.  I had mailed it the week
before and they got to work on it the morning I arrived in Toronto and it
was ready by 11am.  They did it for free too.  I used it today with the
winder to shoot soccer and it worked perfectly.

Sometimes it may be cheaper to pay to get an item fixed than loose use of
it for six weeks.  Call Kinderman about the 180 Summicron, and they can
probably turn it around in a week or less including shipping time.

Regards,

Robert

At 04:56 PM 9/6/99 -0400, you wrote:
>David: I've had similar problems with the winder for the R-7. Who knows,
I'm waiting
>for the motor of the R-8 before I get into the water with this body. You
really need
>to establish a relationship with the Folks in NJ, they can move faster
than 6-wks.
>cheers Wilber
>
>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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>
>