Re: [Leica] Winder M problems

[Ted Grant <tedgrant@home.com>]

Paul Bolam wrote:
> 
> I've just bought a secondhand winder M and found that it locks up the M6
> 0.85 mid-roll. At this stage, the film is wound on, the meter is switched on
> but the shutter release won't budge. The rapid wind lever is immovable (due
> to the film being wound on and the shutter cocked).
> 
> This lock up occurs after varying number of shots have been taken. The first
> time it happened on the 25th frame and the next time after the sixth.
> 
> Switching the winder off and then back on has no effect and even when the
> winder is removed the camera is still jammed! Eventually, the M6 resets
> itself but I can't see how or what caused it to un-jam. However, the M6 will
> not reset if the winder is in place.
> 
> Anyone got any ideas what's wrong? I put a fresh set of batteries in the
> winder. Is it something I'm doing or is the winder dodgy?

 Paul.

Quitr frankly, get rid of it right away and get your money back.  Put
the money into a Tom Abrahamsson Rapid winder and your concerns of
breaking your M6 are over.

The Rapid winder is mechanical, smooth and no batteries or thumping the
hell out of the M6 innards. Trust me, I've gone through 3 Leica battery
powered winders and not one of them worked worth a damn. I wasn't smart
enough to learn after the first one and went through the agonies of
three before I smartened up and dumped the third and final .

Now I've said that, there will be those who have been successful with
the winder, it works for a few, but been a failure to more.  Think about
this.  If it were such a whiz bang gizmo for the M cameras, why has
Leica taken it off the market, put it back and then finally after making
an announcement about a year ago that the "new winder" was available,
immediately took it off the market again?

Get a Rapid winder and you can't go wrong, once you've acquired the feel
of the Rapid winder you can easily shoot 3 frames per sec if necessary
...... without a sound, thumping or banging and not freezing-up you M6. 
  Think about that! Then tell us you're still going to use the winder. 

ted