rick_dykstra

Certainly that would be possible and I recall reading a reason like this being stated by the mods. I use Reddit where unlimited editing is possible. There’s regular instances where someone submits a reply with a suggested edit to another user’s comment, say, where a typo causes opposite meaning. This is then fixed by the author, causing the suggestion to look redundant, but it’s not a problem. I’ve not noticed a problem in other respects with posts being edited or deleted. Edit: missing possessive apostrophe. 🙂

Hello Gus. I have rebuilt an R8 motor drive battery, using new NiMH cells. You will need to know how to do soldering. This is fairly easy to learn if you are not already experienced. You don’t need an expensive soldering iron either. A cheap 30 or 40W model will do fine. The first thing to do is to open up the old battery pack and see how many cells you need to order. IIRC, it’s eight. If possible, buy new cells that have soldering tags already attached, as this makes the soldering work much easier. The cells need to be the same size and type, which means that if the original cells do not have bumps at the positive end, be sure to get the same type, so they fit. The bumps can add length to the battery. I will be happy to guide you through the process if you wish. You will enjoy using the battery and motor drive that you have repaired yourself. Regards, Rick.

The admins have advised that they will edit important errors when these are brought to their attention. The process is to report one’s own post and request the change. Obviously this should not be used for insignificant typos. The admins are also able to delete a post upon request. One of them did this for me the other day when I responded to the wrong person in the wrong thread, which would have been very confusing for all involved. So, us users need to take a little care with what we write, where we write it and proof read like we’re someone else. 🙂

Hi Andreas. I support your decisions on this of course. It’s your real experience here, along with your exposure and liabilities, that matters. I guess I’m fairly typical amongst Leica users - I like to get things right and to fix my mistakes where possible. Easy to understand. It’s a wonderful resource, this forum. Thank you. Regards, Rick.

Here’s a suggestion for Andreas and the mods. Allow members who use their real names to edit their posts indefinitely. 🙂 Or why not just everyone? 🤔 I recall when joining many years ago being requested to use a real name and so for the first time on the internet I did. I soon noticed that on this forum I was not behaving like an axe-murdering, racist, misogynistic, psychopathic hippy, like I was everywhere else. It felt like a big step to take, at the time. The internet has changed since then and I fully understand people not wanting to use their real names these days, or indeed back then. I definitely hesitated. Happily, neither I nor my family have been visited by axe-murdering, etc types. The question is, do the admins and mods really believe that it’s the no-editing or deleting policy that is stopping the evil version of each us from coming out to play? I’m admin and mod in a few other places and it just hasn’t been a problem. I’m the kind who regularly writes to online news journalists, to inform them of problematic typos in their work. They are always grateful, though only occasionally embarrassed. What roydonian says in post #11 is true. As authors, when proof-reading our own work, we see what we intended to write and allow mind-boggling errors to slip through, often delivering completely the opposite meaning. It’s a feature of our evolution that would be very interesting to study. I’m in favour of allowing authors to correct their mistakes, a minute, an hour, a day or ten years after clicking Submit Reply. Edited posts should be marked as such, so returning readers have a clue if they sense a change. Folk should not be embarrassed by this marking; it shows they care. Regards, Rick. 🙂

Hi Jip. Yes, I’m very happy with the colours and skin tones coming from the DMR. I hardly notice the crop factor and the respective lines on the focussing screen. These are a match to the view through an M camera, which makes it all seem normal. I’ve had no problems using my DMR with two R8 bodies. It lives on a late production chrome R8, which makes for a good looking combo. It feels funny sometimes, to be enjoying my R and M setups as much as I do, knowing what’s out there now. It looks like you’ve adopted the S system?? Wow. If my R system APO-Telyt modul lenses could fit …. . And so I’m weighing up the SL2 and SL2-S, along with wondering about the next one. Hmmmm. Is there a word for window shopping online?

After discharging the rebuilt battery pack to a deeper state of discharge and then recharging it is now being represented by a full battery symbol on the back of the DMR, with no flashing. The same procedure was required for the third rebuilt battery pack. All three are now working well. 🙂

I rebuilt my second and third R8 R9 DMR battery packs. Initial tests with these resulted in the flashing half empty battery symbol on the DMR display. I put the second battery through some work, but not nearly as much as I did with the first, then charged it to full again. The result is that the battery symbol no longer flashes, but is showing half full. I will run it down to a much deeper discharge, then recharge it and see what happens. The problem with these rebuilt batteries is they last for ages! I plan to follow the best practice with storing lithium batteries between uses, which is to not leave them sitting idle for more than a few days at a full state of charge (SOC). It's best to run them down to around 50% SOC or lower.

Ok. After putting my rebuilt battery pack (with new Sanyo UF103450P cells) through a good workout in my R8/DMR, I charged the battery with the Leica DMR battery charger. This was the second charge for the batteries, after a fairly deep first discharge. The second charge was shorter than the first, done with the new cells, which were at a low state of charge; slightly over two hours versus an hour and a half. I left the battery connected to the charger for an hour after the red charging light extinguished. Voltages of the battery contacts at the end of the second charging were 8.19V and 7.60V. Result: the battery symbol in the display on the back of the DMR is full and not flashing. Success! I will now rebuild my other two battery packs and get some good use out of my R8/DMR and R lenses. Should I tell my wife I don’t need that SL2 with R and M adapters after all?

Exactly! This happened on the Champs Élysées during a family grand tour, soon after release of the M9. Our family was looking through a shop window when an elderly gentleman pulled up next to us, to take a picture of the display with his M8.2. He had his son with him, about 40 years old. From their talking - American. My own, sharp eyed, 12 YO son said, ‘Look dad. A Leica!’ I replied in a voice loud enough for all to hear, ‘Oh don’t be silly. Nobody uses Leicas any more!’ There was the click of a shutter and then they both turned to us. The son said, ‘Well he does!’, sounding defensive and proud of his father. I smiled at them with that look that says, ‘Surprise!’, and lifted up my M9. My wife and kids were also smiling at our new American friends, who were amused by having been tricked.

It’s now 2022 and after rebuilding a DMR battery pack I’m seeing the half full battery symbol, which is flashing, straight after the first full charge. The battery pack with its new batteries was charged for over two hours until the red charging light went out. Given the advice from mhoersch above, I’m going to discharge the battery some more, until voltage measurements suggest it’s about used up, then give it a full charge again. I’ll report back with what happens.

For anyone looking at this thread in 2022, be careful about insulating the nickel strips as they come over the top of the batteries and down to the contact pads on the battery pack circuit board. If insulation tape is not applied under the strips, short circuits and sparks will entertain you. Burn your fingers too. I’ve just done a DIY battery pack rebuild, if anyone is looking for clues. I built it with individual cells rather than the eBay offering linked above, which, from the pictures, is using unfused cells. The original battery pack used fused cells - and I did too.

Hi Azzo. I'm a bit late replying. Sorry about that. The two images you've mentioned, of the crimson rosella and the grey currawong, are indeed full frame. Why are the birds so big in the frame? Well, I was set up on top of one rock, aiming at a natural puddle on another rock, at a focusing distance of about 2.3m. At that distance the small birds that normally visit the puddle are a good size in the full frame of an R8 fitted with an APO-Telyt-R 560mm F5.6. On this particular day a parade of birds took their turn in the puddle, then a pair of rosellas slowly and cautiously moved in, followed quite briskly by the currawong. I couldn't move back and I couldn't change the lens. I was sitting as still as I possibly could, in full camos, for so long it was starting to hurt. The currawong looked positively frightening in the viewfinder. Impressive, but scary. Hope this helps. Regards, Rick. 🙂

Am I the only one who thought we might see news of an SL2 at this photokina? I've been waiting, to breathe life into my collection of R and M lenses. Might even be tempted to get some new SL lenses.

Hi Cabe. Nice photo. Thanks. As a users of Leica’s manual lenses, it looks to me that this pic was made with autofocus in operation. The plane of sharpness is resting on the young lady’s eyebrow and eyelashes rather than on her iris. Can you confirm please? If true (as I suspect - why would a photographer using manual focus choose the eyebrow rather than the eye?), this points to a limitation or usage procedure for autofocus lenses. Perhaps the thing to do is use autofocus to get close quickly, then fine tune with manual focus? With this in mind, are the SL lenses well set up for manual override? I understand manual override works through manually instructing the focussing motor what to do. Hmmm - not as nice to use as brass and aluminium rubbing smoothly on each other.