Any R-E users out there?

Will the shutter of an R-E work without batteries? Is it battery dependant? If so, how long or how many rolls of film does the battery last?

Any users with experiences in cold weather?

Will the camera work at -5 degrees celcius?

What about reliability? Any users with problems?

-- Fendy Tjhin (fendytjhin@hotmail.com), May 01, 2002

Answers

Frendy,

owner of a R7, I can answer a few of your questions.

Most of th R seris have been built to support cold temperatures. Your RE is electronic and it will probably work with no batteries at only one speed (usually 1/100).

On my R7, the batteries lasts a couple or 3 years with 40 films/year. Since 96, I change the batts only one time, one and half year back, me thinks.

Just a point, in cold weather, avoid a thermal shock which can cause fog to appear on the lenses. This humidity/condensation can even creep inside the camera by "reaction" of the air trapped inside the body. This problem affects also mechanical cameras.

As for the reliability, if you are careful (no bang, no vibes), it should be all right. We are far above the poor reliability of the R3.

Remember, scrapers and other bulldozers are made by Caterpillar not Leica... cheers.

-- Xavier d'Alfort (hot_billexf@hotmail.com), May 02, 2002.

Fendy: I own an RE since 95, I have shot tens of thousands of photos with it with no problems at all. Two years ago I went to the Himalayas and spent three weeks on the mountains, sleeping in tents. Temepratures were as low as -20 celsius for many days and the camera was always shooting right. I was expecting changing batteries every two or three days but a single battery lasted for 70 rolls of film at that temperature! I even kept shooting with the same battery while in India after the Himalayas! I must say I kept the camera when not in use inside a tamrac 517 camera case. and slept with the spare batteries in my pockets, to prevent them from freezing. I bought the camera new, so I have kept it in good shape. I wouldn't dare to go on a trip like that with a camera that has not proven to be reliable. If you have any further questions you can e-mail me anytime.

-- Marco (marco_hidalgo@hotmail.com), May 02, 2002.

By the way I forgot to say I shot several long exposures at night like about 10 to 15 minutes long, using batteries! And the camera works without batteries only at 1/100th as Xavier just wrote.

-- Marco (marco_hidalgo@hotmail.com), May 02, 2002.

Fendy FWIW I have owned a Leica RE since 1996 and have never had a single malfunction, a very relaible camera and I think a best buy in the R series. Shutter is 1/100 only without batteries. I use mine with the Leica R winder and grip, camera gets its juice from winder in that mode, makes for a nice handling package with a medium (135 or 180) telephoto.

-- Ron Dixon (RDixon@stny.rr.com), May 07, 2002.