Re: [Leica] m grip (long)

[TTAbrahams@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/18/00 12:27:24 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
Paul_Chefurka@pmc-sierra.com writes:

 I feel the same way, and this has made the Rapidwinder a bit of a dilemma
 for me.  I have one, but I'm not using it because I miss the ergonomics of
 the grip so much.  Tom, are you working this issue?
 Paul Chefurka
  >>
Paul, 
Yes I am working on a RapidGrip that will bolt on to the Rapidwinder. As with 
everything it takes longer than you anticipate. Most of the design is 
finished and I will be starting getting the pieces together in June for 
testing. Having learned from the process of making Rapidwinders, this time 
EVERYTHING will be done by Computer Numerically Controlled machining. The 
Rapidwinders are done with 50% of the parts CNC'd and the balance is machined 
by me. I have used the TMP-Grip and the Leica-grip and they both suffer from 
design-flaws in my estimation. Neither of them has a "lip" on the top to 
prevent your hand from sliding off the grip. I almost lost a 75/1,4 with one 
of the grips, some years ago. I grabbed it out of the bag, lifting it by the 
grip and as the weather was hot, my hand was sweaty and the whole package 
slid out of my hand. Luck had it and the strap caught something in the bag 
and it all ended up suspended about 4" above a concrete loading dock! Same 
thing happened with a 21/2,8 on a M2, grip slipped and I managed to drop-kick 
the package into a rosebush, rather than landing on the pavement. Part of the 
problem is that the actual grip or handle does not have enough "meat" on it 
to hold on to, your fingers hit the body, before you can tighten your hand on 
the grip. The RapidGrip will have a much more beefy handle, extending from 
the housing in a smooth curve from the edge of the camera-body and it will 
have a slight negative (inward) curve on the side facing the lens. This, 
coupled with a 2-3 mm "lip" around the top will allow you to grip it in your 
hand, as well as having the lip preventing it from sliding out from under 
you.  It will bolt into the base of the Rapidwinder in the 2nd tripod bushing 
on the later version of the Rapidwinder. The earlier ones can be modified to 
accept it. M2 Rapidwinders will require a more complex attachment method as 
it lacks the 2nd bushing (it would interfere with the drive)  and I am still 
working on that part. The "back" of the RapidGrip will have a small open 
space that can be used for storing spare batteries (good for TTL's) and on 
the top of the grip there will be a blind hole for screwing down the 
Softrelease when it is not in use. Material will be the same as the 
Rapidwinder housing. This is causing a bit of a delay as the CNC machine for 
doing that type of compound curve is a rather special one. The machinist who 
does that work for me is just having a new machine installed and it will be 
fine-tuned in the next little while. It is a room sized machine, costing in 
excess of $400,000, but it is obviously the best you can get. He usually does 
stuff for NASA, Boeing, Bell and Canadian Aerospace and when he has downtime 
on these machines, we build Rapidwinders and do prototypes. As you can see, 
it is not a "spur-of-the-moment" process and one of the key factors is that I 
want to keep the price of the finished RapidGrip at a reasonable level, 
without having to compromise on the quality. If you really want to find out 
how to design things expensively, try CNC-machining. It costs big bucks just 
to have tooling made for these machines and the set-up time is 3-5 hours 
($100's/hour). If you make a mistake, you then have a lot of useless scrap 
around, expensive scrap too.
 The RapidGrip is designed to be used in conjunction with the Rapidwinder, 
but there is nothing that will prevent you from using it on a body, without 
the Rapidwinder. Only difference is that the top of the grip will be pretty 
close to the top of the camera-body, while, when on the winder it will stop 
level with the top of the vulcanite covering.
 In short Paul, yes I am working on it and will of course keep you all posted!
All the best for now,
 Tom A

Tom Abrahamsson
Vancouver, BC
Canada
www.rapidwinder.com