Re: [Leica] Re: Noisy M Whiners, Oops Winders

["Henning J. Wulff" <henningw@archiphoto.com>]

At 8:20 PM -0700 12/1/99, John Collier wrote:
>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.

I had one of Leica's first for the M4-2. I don't know why I kept it as long
as I did (about 6 months). The noise was bad, but the wrench it gave to the
whole camera at the end of each cycle still makes me shudder. I'm sure part
of the reason I didn't like the M4-2 (besides the strap eyelet falling out,
and other things) was by association with that abomination. Nice
description, John!

   *            Henning J. Wulff
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