Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Luggites, According to Jim Lager's "Leica- An Illustrated History- Vol. III Accessories, the very first rapid wind device for a Leica was a the RAPIDO, which fit over the the wind knob of a Model A Leica. It was not a Leica product. The first baseplate wind system was the SCNOO and this was introduced in 1935. It is the precursor of the Leicavit. In early 1950, the first Leicavit was introduced for screw mount cameras. After the introduction of the M3 in 1954 in response to requests from professional photographers, the Leica MP camera with a Leicavit- MP was introduced in 1956. The first Leicavit-MP equipped cameras appeared in 1955 (M3E-1; M3D- 1 thru 4 and a bunch of pre-production MP cameras marked M3- 10xx * appeared. all with Leicavit-MP winders. After the MP was discontinued and the M2 introduced the Leicavit MP was offered as a separate accessory until about 1969. In 1987, a full eleven years after the introduction of the M4-2 camera, Tom Abrahamsson introduced his Rapidwinder, which operated off the internal motor connection of the M4-2 and later Leica rangefinder cameras.By the way, this internal motor connection first appeared on the Leica MP2 prototypes cameras in the mid to late fifties. End of History Lesson. Happy Snaps, Sal Sal DiMarco, Jr. Philadelphia, PA Web Site: http://members.fcc.net/sal.dimarcojr - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html