Has anyone had practical experience with the R8 motor drive? It seems to be, relatively speaking, better value than the winder, although it adds considerable weight.

Thanks for any information.

-- wayne murphy (wmurphy@powerup.com.au), October 13, 2001

Answers

Wayne, the R8 Motor Drive is a mixed bag. It has a maximum speed of about 4.5fps which is equal to the built-in winder in a Nikon n90s or F100, and almost half that of an F5 which is closer to the R8+drive's dimensions. Unlike the aforementioned Nikons, the R8 drive takes only a dedicated rechargeable battery pack (the original literature, before the long delay preceding the actual release of the drive, specified AA's)which may or may not be an incovenience depending upon your intended use. If you use the drive regularly and don't do lots of shooting away from somewhere to plug in the charger, then it probably won't be an issue. In its defense, the drive does have a vertical shutter release and bracketing feature. In short, if you need a motor drive for the R8, you've got one choice. If all you want is to avoid having to take your eye from the finder to manually wind, then the winder is a lot smaller and lighter. But be aware that there is no single/continuous switch on the winder, so you need to be careful not to accidentally trigger multiple shots. Also, the electric rewind is s-l-o-w.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aoo.com), October 14, 2001.

Wayne,

Two other advantages of the Motor-Drive:

- A leather/nylon handle strap which make the handling safer, specially whit heavy lenses. - A second shutter release on the front of the camera, which don't interfere with the camera strap and give a better grip.

Pascal Heyman posted a review of the R8 motor-Drive

-- Lucien (Lucien_vd@yahoo.fr), October 14, 2001.