Can anyone please answer the following:

1. Was this 'new' slimline motor (if, indeed, this is the newest one; I bought mine two weeks ago) always made in Portugal? Do 'German' versions exist?

2. Any user comments/tips on it?

Thanks in advance.

-- PD (pd100@hotmail.com), January 02, 2002

Answers

1. To date, all of them are made in Portugal (along with the R8)

2. See the FAQ entry I have at nemeng.com/leica/#033b

-- Andrew Nemeth (azn@nemeng.com), January 02, 2002.

comments

I don't own one, but I had the occasion to handle one fitted to an M6TTL when last I visited my local dealer. I was impressed with how light and small it was, but didn't like the vertical cylinder much. (I generally don't like any of the accessory grips for Leica Ms either.) I took a lot of test exposures with it and found the funny shutter button bounce a little annoying at first but then adapted to it... Rather than my usual "squeeze and hold" shutter operation, it required that I press deliberately and smoothly, then release the shutter immediately so that the bounce and film wind would not jar the camera. Not much of a problem to me. < br>
I still tend to prefer the Abrahamsson RapidWinder, but the motor would not be out of the question.

-- Godfrey (ramarren@bayarea.net), January 02, 2002.

I'm a major fan of the new motor. I use grips on all my M's, so the ergonomics of the motor suit me just fine. I had a TA RapidWinder, and sold it because I preferred the motor so much. I have one motor at the moment and am contemplating getting another for a second body.

The shutter button bounce is no big deal - you should get used to it pretty quickly. The only other issue I've noticed is that changing film is a bit more awkward than with the plain baseplate, but that's a trivial penalty for everything the motor brings to the table (for me, anyway).

-- Paul Chefurka (paul@chefurka.com), January 03, 2002.