Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/12/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Marc James Small wrote: > At 06:23 PM 12/12/2000 +0100, Stephen Holloway wrote: > >They haven't been made for years but are available on the used market. (Mine > >was new old stock still in its box - probably drives collectors mad that I > >use it). > > Absolutely not. These things are almost always found as "NOS". This was > one of the great Disasters of Leitz production, as the kit a) answered a > question no one had asked and b) didn't work worth a damn. Hence, no one > bought them. So, immense quantities of these appear from time to time as > camera stores clean out their basements (generally, when they are being > bought out by a chain ... ) > > I am an M3 freak but the rapid-load kit is just a simple loser. The nice > part about the conventional methodology of the M3 is that it is POSITIVE > loading. As with LTM cameras, if you keep to the basic M3 technology, you > KNOW the film is properly loaded. > > Back in the early 1960's, this kit was laughed at as the "Never-Load" Kit, > due to the high frequency of problems with it. > > Buy a Never-Load Kit on E-Bay. Put it on your shelf of Leica Incanabula. > Continue to load your M3 as the Gnomes of Wetzlar intended. It works. > > Marc I fully agree with Mark here. Years ago I bought 3 of the damn things. After loosing 2 lots of important photo sessions, because the leader slipped out, I took a sledge hammer and smashed the crap out of them. With the old loading system it is just about impossible to have this happen. By the way, the real Voigtlander cameras Vito's and Vitomatics overcame this problem. When the film was not properly loaded in to the take up spool. no shutter cocking was possible. The sprockets of the film cocked the shutter by winding up a sprocket wheel. This was completely fool proof. Regards, Horst Schmidt