RE: [Leica] Re: Motor M experience

["Jorg Willems" <jorg@mindspring.com>]

Since we got sucked into shooting weddings we decided to make it as
enjoyable and lucrative as possible.  Now we've reached that level almost
all of the time.  Some weddings are NOT fun (you find out by trial and error
which people should NOT  appear on the same pictures [never, never, never
... didn't they tell you that?] and the groom and his grandfather are having
a great time getting drunk ...)
I have Tom Abrahamsson RapidWinder attached to both M6s and I can't imagine
shooting without it.  For me it was some kind of necessity because my right
eye is useless for focusing and I didn't want to miss throwing of the
bouquet by removing the camera from my left eye for winding.  I didn't like
the big, expensive and loud motor.  After practicing for some time I can
shoot now two to three picture of the flying bouquet.  I never worry about
running out of batteries, noise or mechanical failure.

I'm sure that the motor is a good thing and perhaps a must-have for some.  I
feel Tom's RapidWinder is a real alternative that I would test before I buy
the motor.

Jörg


- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Andrew
Nemeth
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2001 12:40 AM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: [Leica] Re: Motor M experience


Pierre Charbonneau <charbonneaup@videotron.ca> wrote:

> [Compact M Motor - notes and (+ve) impressions]

I've been using the motor too since March and I generally agree,
it is a must-have for M shooters.

I have found though that it is better used as an auto-winder
than as a motordrive to shoot a sequence of shots.

The problem with shooting sequences is that the motor jerks
quite a lot after each shot (due to the mechanical linkage).
So you can forget about shooting sequences at speeds slower
than 1/250th.

Then to add insult to injury, I have just discovered that if
you set the speed setting to "quiet" and shoot a sequence of
shots at 1/125th (ie you press the shutter down and keep your
finger on it), then all the shots after #1 will be ruined due
to "smearing" of the LHS of the frame.  What appears to happen
is that the M shutter front curtain starts to travel _before_
the film has come fully to rest.

I have tested this on both recently CLA'd M6 (TTL 0.85) and M4-P -
the problem exists with both cameras.

Needless to say, this is very annoying.

But using the motor as a winder is a dream.  Take the shot.  Zip.
Wait a second, take another.  Zip.  Painless and relatively quiet
too (especially for a guy who can remember what the Nikon MD-1
sounded like!...)


Regds,


Andrew Nemeth

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