M4 Body Mods; GMP Grip On RWndr?

[PCB_RF]

In true bass ackwards fashion, I bought a RapidWinder I here on RFF a while back, without having an M body to use it with. I then did not perform due dilligence, and bought an M4 body, not realizing the RW won't work without modifying the body. I googled around to find out what needs to be modified, but couldn't find any details. I'm hoping Tom himself or one of his many acolytes/minions/fans can enlighten me. I'm a left-eyed trigger winder fan, with a Canon VI-T and triggered Bessa R3A in my arsenal. Would love to mate the RWI with the M4---what has to be done?

I'm also a grip fan, and would really like to have a grip in addition to the RW. I find Tom's Grip a bit large for my hands, and was wondering whether anyone's used an original GMP Leica-M grip on an RW. All it needs is two small holes drilled and tapped in the front of the winder, but I don't know how thick the walls are or what kind of machinery might be chugging just behind them. I don't think you'd need more than 2mm or so of metal thickness to tap. Don't want to go drilling holes willy-nilly into such a marvelous piece of machinery, though.

BTW, I'm hoping/trusting Tom doesn't take offense at the thought of someone modding his creations. I see the utilility and genius of Tom's designs all springing from creative camera hot-rodding.

Best,

Paul B.

 

[Tom A]

Paul,
the best guys for that kind of work are either Don Goldberg
at
www.dagcamera.com

or
Gerry Smith at Kindermann here in Canada. Both can do the conversion of the M4 to take the Rapidwinder.

As for attaching a grip, as you are drilling into the lower right hand of the Rapidwinder, there is a fair bit of material there.

The problem is that unless you cut of the flat bottom of the grip, it will cover up the lever and the slot.
Pls go to
www.rapidwinder.com

from where you can e-mail me privately and I will see what I can figure out for you.

 

[PCB_RF]

Thanks for the attention and quick reply, Tom. I'll shoot you an email from rw.com.

Just so it's clear here, the original GMP Leica-M grip is a 2-piece item, the grip section simply bolting on to the base. So it's fairly easy to remove the grip from the base and stick it somewhere else. I relocated a grip to the other side of the base so that it would fit a Canon 7S described here:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43366

Cheers,

Paul

 

[Rob-F]

I bought a GMP grip and found it to be very uncomfortable and hard to hang on to. I didn't keep it long. The problem is that it doesn't have enough depth or thickness to provide a reasonable surface for the finger tips to grip. You might end up discovering that the Rapidgrip is the better option for holding the weight of the camera, lens, and Rapidwinder.

 

[PCB_RF]

Well, in a flurry of buy/sell I sold off the M4 and scored an M6-TTL for my Rapidwinder.

I then threw caution to the wind and drilled/tapped the Rapidwinder for the GMP grip. I went in about 4-5mm, never hit air, and everything seems to work just as before the surgery. I've attached a couple of pix to show how it looks. Not altogether elegant, but not altogether out of place either, I think.

I want to replace the silver washers underneath the grip with something black and rectangular, just so it looks a little cleaner.

I do apologize for the corruption of the Rapidwinder's clean lines. Now all I need is a Thumbs-Up for total stability. I'm waiting for the Cold Show M6TTL-compatible version to be available.

 

[JayC]

That's actually pretty cool looking. I have the gmp grip, and will be trying to get on with it when a new to me m3 comes back from cla. I like it because the base of the camera is uniform, unlike where on my camera where the grip stops mid way.

Is there a grip for a standard-based Leica that covers the entire length of the bottom of the camera?

 

[Artorius]

I use the following on my M3, 4-P, and M8. works great and covers the entire bottom plate(as to the Leica version having to replace the plate)
See here;
http://www.photoequip.net/

That's actually pretty cool looking. I have the gmp grip, and will be trying to get on with it when a new to me m3 comes back from cla. I like it because the base of the camera is uniform, unlike where on my camera where the grip stops mid way.

Is there a grip for a standard-based Leica that covers the entire length of the bottom of the camera?

 

[Tom A]

Paul, the surgery looks good and you can always replace the chrome shims with either thin rubber or black spring washers. The latter will also work as "locks" for the screws.
My only beef with the TMP/TM grips is the lack of a "flage" at the top of the grip. The weight of some of the longer or faster M-lenses makes it easy to have the grip "slip" out of your hand. My design was mainly aimed at being able to handhold and "lift" the camera/lens by the grip only.
Obviously I made the Rapidgrip to work with Rapidwinders and putting a "full" bottom on it would cover up the winder lever.