Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/02/24

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Silver Bullets
From: Alex Hurst <corkflor@iol.ie>
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 23:38:36 +0000

David Almy wrote:

>> There is such a silver bullet. It's called a motor drive. Aside from
>> autofocus, what's really holding the R8 back is the lack of a serious
>> motor.

David - I agree and I disagree.

The main thing which 'holds back' good kit is who's behind the viewfinder.
99% of the time you don't need a motor drive, tho' a reliable winder saves
you from a lot of distractions.

The motor drive on my N**** F2 rips thru a 36 exp film in 9 seconds. I've
used it in that mode twice - each time to expose about four frames at a
time in an exciting sports situation. For sports it's an essential. Most of
the time a winder will do.

Having acquired an R3 MOT without the MOT (i.e 2 fps winder), I was lucky
enough (courtesy of a very kind LUGnut) to be _given_ the latter.

Last weekend I was taking shots of an Irish foxhunt. The winder made a
difference because I was able to concentrate _entirely_ on the subject
without having to take the camera from my eye.

Motor drives are great, because they're also very good winders. But most of
us amateurs would see  very little return on our investment unless we took
a helluva lot of action shots.

Slan

Alex

Alex Hurst
Waterfall
Nr. Cork
Ireland

Tel: +353 21 543 328 (H)
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