[Leica] Re: Noisy M Whiners, Oops Winders

[John Collier <jbcollier@home.com>]

I have been following the M winder thread and now, after years of therapy
and encouragement by those who love me, am ready to talk openly of my
experiences. While I wandered in that great photographic darkness before I
found the light and lithesome Leica, I used other crude devices of such
indifferent quality that they seldom functioned when required. And, when
they did take me completely by surprise and function, their lenses were of
such milky opacity that subjects were completely indecipherable. They made a
nice winder though.
After using Leicas and their wondrously lucid lenses with all their
micro-contrast and other such things I know little of but cannot experience
enough of, I thought I could want nothing more. But as the years went by,
impure thoughts of the "ever-ready" camera kept darkening my thoughts. One
day, almost miraculously, there appeared a used M4-2 winder (continuous) at
my local purveyor of all things Leica and I, quite innocently, asked if I
could give her a go. As I lovingly squeezed the shutter release -- I am
shuddering even now -- some idiot started firing an M16 off right next to my
ear. All around the store people dove for cover, several fundamentalists of
indeterminate faith commended their souls to the deity of their own choice
and started singing loud anthems postulating on a better life to come.
Amazingly, the noise stopped when I, startled, released the shutter. Could
it be?..... Why yes... the noise was coming from my Leica! Shaken, dare I
say, shattered, I decided not to purchase at that particular time.
A few years later at a Leica clinic, I related my sad tale and I wondered
if, while certainly Leica should never be criticized by such a lowly worm as
me, perhaps they did not find the winder to be just a tad above whisper
quiet too. With sheepish grins the Leica lads, I feel I can call them lads
now, told me that the winder uses a shock absorbing system to relieve stress
on the camera winding mechanism when it finishes its travels. This ingenious
system, derived after years of painstaking research, is mainly comprised of
a bit of foam. Apparently, and we are just going to have to trust them on
this, after many years of getting the stuffing knocked out of it, the foam
gets a little tired.
So all you owners of noisy M winders, send your offending winder (and a
little spare change) off to the Leica agency of your choice and soon peace
and relative quiet will reign again.

John Collier