[Leica] Re: Compact M Motor - smearing image LHS

[Jim Brick <jim_brick@agilent.com>]

This is what happens when someone tries to design an electrical/electronic 
add-on to a dumb mechanical system. The mechanics aren't privy to what the 
electronics are doing and vice versa.

This is why a special "MOT" versions of mechanical Leitz SLR's were made. 
So that the camera understood the motor winder and vice versa.

An M camera "don't need no stinkin' motor winder!"

Jim


At 04:30 PM 8/8/01 -0600, John Collier wrote:
>The problem is not with the drive but with the camera. It needs to have
>mechanism that allows the motor to move after the shutter has completed its
>cycle, and, prevents the shutter from firing until it has finished winding,
>adjusted. This is a very common problem which results in all sorts of
>shenanigans: cameras locking up, uneven exposures, etc. The M camera needs
>to be redesigned with a simple electric interlock rather than a mechanical
>one.
>
>John Collier
>
> > From: Andrew Nemeth <azn@nemeng.com>
> >
> > 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.
> >