Leica M6 Rewind Knob Advance Issue

[leonachi]

Curious if any other Leica M6 owners have had this issue. Normally when I advance my film to the next frame, the rewind knob should turn about a 1/2 turn as the film advances. The problem I am having is that the film seems to advance smoothly but the rewind knob doesn't turn at all, or only turns about 20% of the time over 36 frames. This has happened since Day 1 of acquiring the camera (unfortunately not able to return). Each and every time however, the film seems to have advanced properly. I've had no issues with frames overlapping or with irregular spacing of the negatives once developed. All seems okay, yet the rewind knob fails to turn when I advance (or at best it turns intermittently). I use store bought 35mm rolls and make extra sure to load the film properly - sprockets catching the film, even rewind the film slightly when loading to take off any slack). Any ideas or advice? Is this a problem just waiting to happen at the worst possible time, or should I simply leave this alone and accept it as a quirk of my camera)?

 

[E. von Hoegh]

Rewind the film after loading and advancing to frame 1. That is, turn the rewind crank gently until all slack is removed. If the film in the casette is loose, the rewind crank cannot "follow" the film.

 

[Dinesh]

If you are truly concerned contact Gerry Smith, he is a master with the Leica 905-940-9262

 

[Theo Sulphate]

Since the negative spacing looks good, I don't think there's any problem. Perhaps the film in the spool is slack. What I usually do with every camera, by habit, is take up the slack by turning the rewind knob both before and after winding. I do this mostly to fool myself into thinking I'm making the film flatter.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

Since the negative spacing looks good, I don't think there's any problem. Perhaps the film in the spool is slack. What I usually do with every camera, by habit, is take up the slack by turning the rewind knob both before and after winding. I do this mostly to fool myself into thinking I'm making the film flatter.

If the rewind shaft has very little drag, the film can unwind off the casette spool and be perpetually slack - precisely what the op has described.