M6 Rewind Knob?

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I have a new M6TTL, which I love. Only trouble is, when I rewind the film (usually 36 exposures), the rewind knob inevitably tightens and slips out of my fingers. I then have to take up all the slack in the film and pray it doesn't slip again. Is this common to the M6? Any tricks for rewinding? Many thanks.

-- Larry Camden (camdem3@upenn.edu), December 01, 2001

Answers

Do you have the Millenium model? Otherwise, you are folding out the crank, right? I can't remember ever having it slip out of my fingers on an M4 or later body. The M2's I used to have, oh yes, all the time.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), December 01, 2001.

Are you used to using a camera with auto rewind? It sounds as though what you're experiencing is simply that when the film is rewound into the canister and reaches the film leader you are feeling resistance from the leader that is stuck tightly into the take-up spool. A little extra force has to be applied to disengage the film leader from the spool. The same thing you describe sometimes happens to me. Just hold on tighter and crank that baby! Good shooting, Dennis

-- Dennis Couvillion (couvilaw@aol.com), December 01, 2001.

The same thing has happened to me sometimes. The film becomes like a gently coiled spring as it is rewound - as said above you soon learn to hold the lever more tightly or in a different position.

-- Giles Poilu (giles@monpoilu.icom43.net), December 01, 2001.

Larry, I hope you don't hate this answer, but that has never happened to me with my new TTL. I was also told at a Solms Seminar to think about this when rewinding: hang onto the crank, rewind it not too fast but at least carefully (for a 36-roll that's about 32 revolutions). Yes, the closer you get to the end, the tighter it gets. Just don't let the thing whip itself out of your fingers (I use my thumb and forefinger) until all of that pressure has disappeared. Works for me, should work for you too!

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), December 01, 2001.

Larry:

Yup. I have the same problem. With my big clumsy fingers I find it helps if I use the index finger of my left hand as a "brake" on the lower part of the rewind knob while rewinding. This way when the knob slips out of your grip as you hit the end of the spool, the film does not unwind itself.

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), December 01, 2001.



Jack: It took me an hour to figure out how you can still rewind if your left index finger is braking the rewind knob. In 33 years I've been using 35mm cameras I never stopped to think that right-handed people probably use their right hand to work the rewind.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), December 01, 2001.

the braking trick is really good. the slanted rewind knob is so much easier to handle then the straight ones found on other cameras. try to rewind a pentax in a hurry...

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), December 01, 2001.

The M4 and up cameras are more difficult to rewind than any other camera I have used. My M2, FE, F2, F3, SL2, Spotmatic, Ashiaflex IIb, etc cameras all rewind easily. It may be that the film tip kink sticks in the tulip take up spool so you need an extra little effort at the end. This catches me out at times too.

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), December 01, 2001.

Jay: You'll probably be surprised that I am left-handed too!

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), December 01, 2001.

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