[Leica] Re: Leica M and remote usage

[Godfrey DiGiorgi <ramarren@bayarea.net>]

The Leica M winder or motor is a mechanically actuated system. It uses the
press of the shutter release button and completion of the shutter cycle to
trip a microswitch internal to the winder mechanism to effect transport,
it's not electrically switched like the Nikon and other add-on
motordrives.

To set up a Leica M for remote operation would mean making a small
mechanical interface to the shutter release that you can trip remotely,
either with a wire, infrared signal or wireless RF transmission. This can
be created very easily ... just a solenoid attached to a cable release, a
small receiver module and a switching circuit would do the trick.

I made many stop-action animations of computer generated image sequences
with just such a setup many years ago while I was at NASA/JPL. I and my
colleagues put together an interface like this and added the additional
logic so that we could drive it from the computer's serial port. The batch
processing file would create the image, display it on the graphics
monitor, trip the camera and advance to the next frame, and then proceed
to cycle to the next frame in the sequence. We used a Bolex H16Rex as our
taking camera, which like the Leica had a purely mechanically tripped
shutter mechanism.

Godfrey

On Mon, 5 Mar 2001, Gary Klein wrote:

> My question to you fellow Leica Experts out there is this.  If I get either
> a late model Leica M winder or the new motor drive M, is there a provision
> (such as with the Nikon MD series motor drives) where I can plug in for
> remote advancing of the camera?
> 
> I am getting a 15mm Heliar, and want to possibly use the camera for a remote
> shoot, where I would know the exposure in advance and thus be able to preset
> the camera for the correct exposure.  What I am thinking of is, if it is
> possible, to hook up a quantum remote radio slave to trigger the camera from
> a remote position.  Also is the M motor capable of being hard-wired for a
> remote?