Who in the heck uses a motor winder/drive on a film camera these days?

Do You Use an Accessory Motor Drive or Winder on a Film Camera

  • No way, man, too much weight and bulk

    Votes: 49 35.8%

  • Are you kidding me, look at the cost of film and processing

    Votes: 21 15.3%

  • Ya, baby, these things are so cool!

    Votes: 22 16.1%

  • Yes, I really do find them useful

    Votes: 65 47.4%

  • Yes, it's important for collectibility

    Votes: 8 5.8%
  • Total voters
    137

BradS

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Huss said:
The MD4 adds a lot of bulk but in actual use is fantastic. It makes the camera so much steadier to hold.
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I really love it. It improves the already pretty good ergonomics of the F3. It powers the camera in all weather and isn't that heavy when loaded with the new techno-fantastic recharchable batteries. I also have the MB-6B back that will leave the film leader out.
 
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xkaes

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I've never tried this with a motor drive -- but I've MANUALLY made a lot of multiple exposures (10-40 exposures on the same piece of film). Very nice results. Since I have a few cameras with a "multiple exposure lever", I could save a lot of time and effort -- by simply holding the MP lever in place and using the motor drive to take 100+ pictures!
 

Sirius Glass

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xkaes said:
Uhhh, is it on the ceiling?
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That is the master bedroom which is not used as a darkroom but it does have a circular waterbed.
 

BradS

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warden said:
I see someone is a Forkish fan in your house. A great way to learn sourdough! (Also the camera is lovely.)
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Thanks. I decided to learn how to make bread back in 2020 when we were all staying at home and the shelves at the groceries stores were empty. I bought the Forkish book in an attempt to improve and possibly expand my repertoire.
 
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Melvin J Bramley

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BradS said:
Sure…why not? The MD-4 is awesome!

View attachment 321783
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I once had a Nikon F2sb with motor drive ( the cheap one) which with a Vivitar 90-180 was attached plus a Vivitar 283 flash caused my luggage to be overweight whilst flying~!
Also age has reduced the size and weight of the cameras I use.
If you cannot take it with you you cannot make photographs.
 

eli griggs

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Melvin J Bramley said:
To match your Saunders easels?
Colour/ color co ordination is so important in the darkroom.

LOL
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No, but good idea.

Its because of the Thomas 30 -35 watt sodium safe life that lights the room... kidding of course!

No, it was a small bedroom that was painted yellow we moved in.

I already had the Delta ABS sink in a 2"x4" frame with shelf and several large and small enlargers, some for parts, plus two bookcases one for tanks, reels and dry chemistry, I roll my own, the other for cameras, lenses and filters, some to be repaired, etc, and I had to hurry up and build an eight foot bench for two Omega enlargers, one 4"x5" and my five by seven inch, plus a Leitz Valloy II 35 mm enlarger betwixt the two big 'uns.

So I had no time to patch picture hanger and shelf holes nor paint grey.

Now, if I can find that big Sander's easel I hung on the wall, it'd be perfect!
 

eli griggs

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Amen!
 
  • Huss
  • Deleted

Huss

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Sirius Glass said:
Why are you limited to a bike or walk?
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summicron1

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i acquired a nikon N90 a cupla years ago that has a built-in winder and it is a wondrful camera for grandchildren use, between auto focus and rapid film advance there is little I don't catch.

I have a winder for my Leica R4 but never use it -- the ergonomics are wrong with that.

I also have a rapidwinder for my Leica IIIF which really improves the usability of that. It's a bottom-mounted trigger winder.
 
OP
OP

Sharktooth

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My thanks to all of you who have voted and/or posted in this thread.

I've been concerned about my own somewhat irrational obsession with film, and older film cameras, and was wondering if it was becoming a problem. Most people I know seem to think it's a problem, so maybe I'm just in denial.

My own social group doesn't really have any strong interest in photography, so I thought I'd get better feedback from this forum. I posted this thread thinking that only people with a truly problematic film obsession would happily add a heavy and bulky drive/winder to an otherwise untainted old film camera. I fully expected only a handful of people would respond as such.

.... yet to my amazement, the vast majority of you would do so in a heartbeat.

This was very reassuring indeed. I no longer have to worry that I've been losing my marbles, since it's now clear that I've got a very loooong way to go before all hope is lost.
 

faberryman

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Sharktooth said:
This was very reassuring indeed. I no longer have to worry that I've been losing my marbles, since it's now clear that I've got a very loooong way to go before all hope is lost.
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Don't overlook the possibility that everyone here has already lost their marbles and are just welcoming you to the asylum.
 

xkaes

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This discussion could be asked another way -- and has been many times.

Why in the world would anyone waste a ton of time & energy & money drawing or painting pictures of ANYTHING?????? All they need to do is take a photograph of the damn thing!!!!!!!
 

BrianShaw

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CLOSE THE THREAD.

TRUTH HAS BEEN WRITTEN.
 

Les Sarile

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Irrational? How else is one supposed to take a good sequence . . .

Fuji Press 800 GEM2_1-8A by Les DMess, on Flickr

Or maybe I was looking for an excuse to fire the Canon 1VHS . . .
 

rulnacco

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AnselMortensen said:
Ever wonder why Hasselblad 500 EL/ ELM/ELX, etc go for pennies on the dollar compared to a 500C/M?
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Sorry I'm late catching back up to this thread--but I am very happy that is the case!

I ran a portrait studio in Orlando for 3.5 years, just closed it down in September. And I used a 553ELX, with a digital back attached. It was just a *lot* more convenient, given how many exposures I was making every day, to have the motor drive. I bought mine on eBay, for 400 bucks for a complete camera. That kind of deal used to be quite common, they are getting rarer--nowadays, you can occasionally find one that cheap, but it will have been stripped of screen and WLF, sadly. But earlier this year I snagged a 500ELX from KEH.com as a backup complete with screen (not accute matte, unfortunately) caps, late-style WLF and 9V adapter for just a shade over $300, advertised in KEH's "Excellent" condition (i.e., it looked brand new). I love the motorized 'Blads (I do have a 500CM, too), and am very glad that they aren't more popular with others. They're about half the price of a decent 500CM, and way cheaper than later non-motorised bodies.

I had to use the 500CM in the studio on occasion when I had a problem with my 553ELX (hence the desire for a backup; they are rugged cameras, but like all Hasselblads they do need occasional TLC unfortunately). While I love working with it outdoors/carrying it as a walk-around camera, it was really just a pain to use, comparatively, both for the reason that I cited above, and when you're working with someone and wanting to stay engaged with them constantly, letting the camera wind on and not having to fool with that in between every shot really helped with that process.

That's one reason I voted "actually useful" in the poll. You're definitely not gonna machine gun with a motorized Hasselblad. But even there, having a motor drive can be very helpful and convenient indeed, and not just some kind of frippery.

(And, hey, who knows when they might let you shoot an NBA game again like they did back in the old days of Sports Illustrated: mount your motorized Blad with a 220 back full of Kodachrome 200 and a wide angle lens on the basket support behind the glass, aim it at the rim and focus just a bit beyond, put your four radio-triggered Speedotron packs up in the catwalks, plug in your 20-foot electronic release, and bang away as Dr. J soars in for a dunk or Kareem sweeps gracefully into a sky hook. Climb the ladder at halftime, and you got 24 more exposures for the second half. Those were the days, lol!)
 
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Sharktooth

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Hey, I can FULLY understand the joy of snapping off dozens of shots with some great old high speed film camera. I just wouldn't do that with good film loaded.

I admit to being overly concerned about the dollars per second rating of these cameras, rather than the fps rating, but that's just me being silly.

..... on the other hand, you go right ahead!
 

pbromaghin

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Your friends are waaaaayyy behind the times. My friends quit talking to me like that about 5 years ago. Film is cool now.
 
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