[Leica] Compact M Motor - smearing image LHS ---- USE IT RIGHT !!!

[henry <henry@henryambrose.com>]

Hi Folks!
I've been off list for a while this summer and reading the archives from 
time to time. I just saw this post by Andrew Nemeth and thought I should 
reply.

I've not had any trouble like this at all over the course of about 30 
rolls of film. No smearing at all. Of course, I take pressure off the 
release button between shots and I think thats the difference. I use it 
on slow speed as a tool to wind the camera, not to "machine gun" 
exposures. 

The M Motor works great, its light and quiet.
BUT:
Take your finger off the button!!!!!
And you won't have this problem.

Best,
Henry Ambrose


>-----Original Message-----
>From:   Andrew Nemeth [mailto:azn@nemeng.com]
>Subject:        [Leica] Compact M Motor - smearing image LHS
>
>A while back I reported that motorised sequences taken with
>the new Compact M Motor would smear the left hand side of
>shots following #1 in the sequence.
>
>Finally had some time to test this and can confirm that yes,
>it's a real problem at all shutter speeds when you have the
>motor set to the quiet(er) "I" setting.
>
>What appears to happen is that the shutter opens prior to the
>low-tourque-wind film has fully coming to rest, resulting in
>the LHS side of the frame being motion blurred.  The proprortion
>of the frame ruined of course varies with the s/speed.  At 1/250th
>only @ 1/8th of the frame is ruined.  At 1/125th almost a third
>of the image gets smeared.
>
>However, set the motor to the louder & faster "II" setting and
>the smearing is gone, at all s/speeds.  Here because there is
>no low-tourque monkeying about, the film is in place and
>stationary when the shutter curtain opens.
>
>So the moral of the story is: use "I" for one-off frames and
>stick to "II" for sequences.
>
>(I'll add this morsel to the FAQ later today.)
>
>Regds,
>
>
>Andrew Nemeth