Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/02/09

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Subject: Re: [Leica] R8 woes.
From: John Hudson <jahudson@direct.ca>
Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 07:30:28 -0800

At 07:49 AM 09-02-99 -0600, Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net> wrote:

>>How else do you explain the winder fiasco or the mystery drive?
>
>The explanations have been here for quite some time. Leica is a small
>company. They can't just whip up a motor drive like merlin the magician.
>They should have put more effort into it, but they haven't for reasons only
>they know. They had the motor coming, and then the company building it for
>them went belly up. It's not like they can just up and find a new company
>to do it without major compromises.

I thought that Leica *was* Merlin the Magician and could whip up ultimate
quality product 
faster than others.

What I read between the lines is that Leica is beginning to suffer from the
onset, albeit
very slight at the moment, of production and quality problems which may
become increasingly
evident as times passes.

If Leica can not get things right who is one to depend upon!

jh  



>
>As for the winder, that's certainly not a great thing that there were
>problems with the contacts. Leica had some design problems that only proved
>out after sending the winder out. They have a fix and will do it for free
>under warranty. Other than mine having problems rewinding, it's been
>flawless. Once the contacts are replaced, it will be great. I've played
>with the battery that fits on the bottom that Ted Grant has. Seems like a
>pretty nice battery/charger system, and a heck of a lot cheaper than
>Nikon's for the F5. Of course, it doesn't go 8 fps. ;-)
>
>Bottom line, the R8 line, when it's finished will be a superb system. Too
>bad it's taking so long, but for those of us who use the R system, it will
>be worth the wait. And don't talk to me about being slow. At least they are
>doing something as opposed to Olympus who has abandoned SLR development
>altogether. Nikon and Canon have a vast pro/amateur market to support
>quicker R&D. I'm not happy with Leica's slowness, but not enough to live
>without Leica glass. And Leica knows most of us feel that way, unfortunately.
>
>Eric Welch
>St. Joseph, MO
>http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch
>
>All generalizations are false.
>
>
>