What should one expect to pay for a Leica Rapid Loader for a M3? Thanks

-- Jack Belen (jbelen@aol.com), April 11, 2002

Answers

are you talking about the rapidwinder?

if you are, it costs $425 with abrahamsson. but there is a waiting period right now. i bought mine last week on ebay for $305. one sold a week before that for $400.

and if your not talking about rapidwinder, then forget all you read!

-- john molloy (ballyscanlon@hotmail.com), April 11, 2002.

Jack the quick load spool to convert M1 to M3 to the more modern style is Leica part#14260. However there is a problem using it on the M3 as you must remove the take up spool in order to reset the frame counter. A old newspaper photographer told me that to speed up the process they just carried extra M3 spools. The film preloaded and carried them in those plastic containers people used to protect there cigarets and keep them dry.Also if you install the quick load spool you must modify the base plate by installing the little plastic tulip.

-- Al Henry (J Henry@provide.net), April 11, 2002.

I had a quick-load kit on my M3 and hated it. I ended up giving the darn thing away. If I'd stayed with the M3 I would definitely have opted for using extra pre-loaded spools - they're more practical, less hassle, more reliable and faster than the QL kit.

-- Paul Chefurka (paul@chefurka.com), April 11, 2002.

When I was a working news photographer I had one M3 with, and another without. It really was a toss-up for me. I didn't buy another for the second camera, but I didn't take out the first one's either. I think on my current M2, with the manually reset counter I'd probably prefer the speedy-spool. . . . but not enough to go out and look for one. Let's face reality--how many of us really NEED to load our film 15 seconds faster on a regular basis?

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), April 11, 2002.

This ? always drives me nuts!! M3 loads slower than M4/M6...hello..my Nikon F loads slower than my F3 or my F5. M3 once loaded will shoot as fast as my M4/M6. Leica M is thinking camera, compose..nuf said... F. William Baker

-- F. William Baker (atelfwb @aol.com), April 12, 2002.

I have the Rapid Load kit on my M3. I don't remember exactly what I paid, but I remember it was relatively cheap used. You should probably scout prices on eBay and at the major used Leica online retailers.

The main benefit of the Rapid Load is not having to remove the take up spool from the camera for loading. To reset the film counter, there is a sleeve that you pull to extract the take up spool part way out of the camera; this sleeve extends via gravity to that you can grasp it easily with your fingers.

However, the system is still fairly fiddly compared to a current model. The take up spool has only one slot for the film leader which you must position properly by partially winding the camera. You also generally need to make sure the film edge engages properly with the transport sprocket before reattaching the base plate.

Overall, I'd say it's an improvement over a base M3, but you still need to practice loading to become any good at it.

-- Gary Voth (garyvot@vothphoto.com), April 12, 2002.