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

Chan Tran

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Sirius Glass said:
It looks even kewler if the motor drive and battery packs are removed and never attached to any camera again ever!
Click to expand...

I had a new F2AS in 1977 and a DE-1 viewfinder and although they got stolen from me in 1984 I think I had enough of the F2 except that I never could afford the MD-2/MB-1 combo so I still wish I have a motor driven F2.
 

chriscrawfordphoto

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Virtually all autofocus 35mm SLRs have built in winders; so if you use such a camera you have to use a winder. Some of the pro level cameras, like my Nikon F4, are capable of 5 or more frames per second continuous shooting. Fortunately, you can shoot in single shot mode.
 

benderscameracorner

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Back in the day (late 1990s) I had an MD-12 for my Nikon FM, along with the (very expensive!) accessory shutter button that screwed into the remote shutter port that allowed for surprisingly comfortable vertical shooting. Was definitely cool back then! Weighed a tonne, obviously, but when swinging around my ancient (even then) Nikkor-H 300/4.5 it counter balanced the lens nicely.

I'm tempted to find another for my current FM, but these days - beyond 'just having one' - it makes no sense. Not just from a weight and burning-through-expensive-film-unnecessarily perspective, but it seems like a great way to over-stress and potentially break ageing mechanisms for no real gain.

That said, perhaps the motordrives themselves are the weak link. There seems to be more not-working MD-11s and MD-12s in circulation these days than functional ones :-(
 

benjiboy

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I don't use my Power Winder F N often, but it's nice to have the option, and it's easy to put on and off.
 

BrianShaw

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That accessory button sure was/is costly and what a useful convenience it is!

I'm sure that you know this but using a motor drive does not inherently require or encourage " burning-through-expensive-film-unnecessarily". That is completely controlled by the mind-set of the photographer. For me that's a bit of a sticking point; I've been annoyed by that characterization since the inception of motor drives.
 

reddesert

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The MD-11 or MD-12 can make a reasonably nice grip if you want a grip and leave the batteries out. It's not very heavy without the batteries (it uses 8xAA where some other winders used 4 or 6). The camera wind lever can be used with the grip attached.

I've fixed an inoperable MD-11. It was just a loose ground wire from the battery section to the PC board. Probably a lot of problems with it are like that.
 

Arthurwg

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I must admit I was tempted as the drive for my F6 was available new at B&H long after the camera isn't. But I resisted, largely because I couldn't think of a realistic use for it in my photography.
 

benderscameracorner

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BrianShaw said:
That accessory button sure was/is costly and what a useful convenience it is!
Click to expand...

I believe the new price for an MR-2 was AU$150 back in late 1999. I got mine secondhand for AU$50 from the bloke behind the counter, who had one spare. To put that in perspective, my first FM cost me about AU$400 the year prior.

Yep, one seriously pricey button!


In theory you're absolutely right, and with any 'drive set to single-shot you're not going blast through however-many frames per second either purposely or inadvertently.

However, I do honestly think there is a subtle, subconscious shift in mentality and temptation between using a camera with auto-advance versus one you've got to manually wind on. I've got a few more modern SLRs (F4, EOS620, MZ-50) with integral motor drives, naturally they're all set to single shot (at least when film's loaded) I find you're definitely more tempted to take a second shot when it's there ready to go in a fraction of a second. Versus the cathartic moment of reflection (!) of dropping the camera away from your eyeline for a few seconds while you wind on the next frame manually.

Maybe it's just me? Either way, a modicum of self control obviously negates it.

reddesert said:
I've fixed an inoperable MD-11. It was just a loose ground wire from the battery section to the PC board. Probably a lot of problems with it are like that.
Click to expand...
Good to know. Might be time to seek out a dead one for cheap and see if it can be resurrected. Though I suspect many have battery corrosion issues that likely aren't such an easy fix.
 

reddesert

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benderscameracorner said:
Good to know. Might be time to seek out a dead one for cheap and see if it can be resurrected. Though I suspect many have battery corrosion issues that likely aren't such an easy fix.
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In the US (which doesn't help you), a Nikon motor drive like MD-11, MD-12, or even MD-4 can be had from KEH in working condition for under US$30, and in as-is condition for just a few dollars. That's what happened with my MD-11, I bought it for about $3 to use as a grip and then decided to see if I could fix it.

Sometimes, you can get battery corrosion off by moistening battery terminals with vinegar and reaching in to scrape with a long handled screwdriver, but greater access is obtained by taking apart the MD. It's not really that hard.

For the MD-11 or MD-12, you peel back the leatherette on the lower sides and remove a bunch of screws to separate the top from the bottom. On the sides parallel to the battery holder, you only need to peel back a few mm from the top to access the screws; around the round grip part, you have to peel the leatherette up from the bottom. With all the screws removed, the top and bottom should come apart easily - if it doesn't come apart, you haven't found all the screws, I think 9 screws. But there will still be a couple of thin wires running down to the terminal for the MR-3 release, so don't break them. IME, although I've only taken apart a couple of them, at this point you may find that one of the wires from the guts of the drive to the back side of the battery terminal plate has come off - maybe that's the most common fault.

Here's a picture of what it looks like separated. You can see on the right where I peeled up the leatherette around the rounded side bottom in one piece. There are still two wires running down to the release terminal. However, the battery terminal plate, the squarish piece on the left, has a red wire running to it, but the other blue or black wire has come off and needs to be resoldered.

 
Last edited:

Subversive Mk II

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I had a winder on my OM-1 for decades, wouldn't be without it. Only wish I'd had one available for my old Nikkormat FT2, but they were never fitted with them.
In recent years, with my re-awakening interest in film, I've bought a few SLRs with winders (or obtained one later). An FE with MD-11, Ricoh XR-S1 with winder, and the best of all, the Nikon F4 with the base level battery pack, which will wind on at 3.5fps or so. I find the presence of a winder (even on the smaller OM body) gives the camera more stability and comfort of use to me, anyway.
The F4 is enough of a brute on its own, not sure I really want to add the extra heft of the bigger pack to it.

Relatedly... every DSLR I have, I've bought a battery pack for, just for the ability to hold them better (and the extra shutter button is useful).
 

benjiboy

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When I bought my Canon Power FN from a local camera shop last year it was like new, compete in the mint original box, packings and instructions, and although I have only used it a few times since I bought it , it has always worked perfectly.
 

Nokton48

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002 by Nokton48, on Flickr

I've been using my SRM's down in the studio to test, using many rolls of ERA100 and many old MC lenses.
Here's the 100mm f2.5 MC ands the 24mm F2.8 MD which came much later. Good pair for going out.
 

Nokton48

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2016-01-23 13.04.41 by Nokton48, on Flickr

250 Exposure Back on Minolta SR-M. The grand prize in an Ilford print competition in the UK. Purchased new in the box never used. Needs a CLA but I do intend to use it
 

Chan Tran

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Arthurwg said:
I must admit I was tempted as the drive for my F6 was available new at B&H long after the camera isn't. But I resisted, largely because I couldn't think of a realistic use for it in my photography.
Click to expand...

That isn't the drive but only the battery pack. The F6 has built in drive.
 

MultiFormat Shooter

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Arthurwg said:
I believe the "battery pack" increases the FPS that's possible.
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It does. The MB-40 boosts the from rate of the F6 from 5.5 fps to 8 fps. Additionally, it provides a full compliment of controls, when using the camera in the vertical orientation. I've never used my F6 without one (literally).
 

logan2z

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I'd never really considered using a motor drive given the types of photography that I typically do, but I was at the Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion this past weekend and it would have been handy to have one on my Nikon FM for shooting some of the on-track action.
 

Chan Tran

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Arthurwg said:
If you look at it that way, everyone that uses a camera with automatic advance is using a motor drive.
Click to expand...

Yes most 35mm cameras made after the 90's are motor driven cameras. And the battery pack is the battery pack and it's not a drive regardless it makes the drive goes faster or not. Some old cameras requires both a motor drive and a battery pack to use the motor drive like the Nikon F2. You have your choice of the MD-1, MD-2 or MD-3 but then you must add the MB-1 or MB-2 battery pack to make it works. That is why Nikon call it the MB-40 for the F6 not MD-40.
 
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