[LRFlex] R8 Knobitis

  • From: "Gary Todoroff" <datamaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 22:15:41 -0700

My R8 strikes again! On a great hike to the top of Sanger Mtn, just below
the Oregon border, I realized that my R8 seemed to have shot a lot of film
without ending the roll. I looked carefully and there was the double
exposure slider, just covering the rewind button and stopping the film
advance.

AAARGH!

I have taken to taping down EVERYTHING on the R8 when doing aerial
photography. Before the tape, you would hardly believe how many times in the
sensory overload of a helicopter, I would suddenly see the program knob on
"F" (flash meter) or the exposure override on a full stop under or some
other setting that surprised me.

Now what gets me is that not one of these changes was intentional. Something
simply got bumped. This last event on the strenuous mountain hike was while
taking important photos for an Avalon Publishing book cover, "California
Hiking". In the middle of a roll there is one very transparent transparency
representing over 20 photos and two miles of trail. By the climb down, the
light was gone so important exposures were lost.

So unfortunately the R8 is becoming a love-hate relationship I never thought
Leica would be. Simply stated, it has not been a faithful companion in the
kind of pressure situations where good photos are to be found.

I just applied some "Goof Off" to clear up all the tape residue before
taping everything down again; this time I'll be sure to include the slider
over the rewind button. But the real goof-off has been my R8.

For those who say I should have been minding the film counter, I say that
Leica's philosophy has always been to let the photographer pay attention to
the subject, not the camera. M's have always served me well in this regard.
Are other "pro" SLR cameras this easy to inadvertently change without
intending to? Is anyone else as frustrated as I have been with how simple it
is for R8 knobs to be changed unintentionally?

Frustrated and discouraged Leica R8 user,
Gary Todoroff

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