Just a dumb Leica question on a M6TTL - When one first winds a new roll of film, the rewind lever snaps back into the upright position, if it has been turned to R. Does it matter if the lever is left to reset itself like that or should one manually turn the lever back to the normal position before winding? The manual doesn't seem to mention doing anything. So, one might assume that the automatic reset is the way to go.

-- Tom (therbert@miami.edu), December 25, 2001

Answers

Tom, there's no need to worry about manually resetting the rewind lever. I haven't done that in 40 years, and have never lost a frame. It's automatic, that's all. Good shooting to you.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), December 25, 2001.

On the subject of rewind levers... I (ahem) bent the round part on mine the other day when my 0.72 body took a 2.5 ft fall. Now the film doesn't advance smoothly because the flange is rubbing against the body of the camera. Anyone know if replacing the rewind lever assembly can be user accomplished? I see only one Philips head screw underneath the folding lever.

Anyone know where to source the parts "tout suis?"

Thanks,

-- John. (ouroboros_2001@yahoo.com), December 26, 2001.

John,

I'm under the impression that you are in Toronto area. If so, then Kindermann (905-940-9262) at 361 Steelcase Road West in Markham has Leica parts. I had to replace the rewind assembly on my M4-P recently also. There are two screws. One is a lockscrew on the shaft, and the other is in the top. It is easy enough to change, but if you can take the camera to Kindermann, they will replace it in a couple of minutes.

-- Ian MacEachern (iwmac@sympatico.ca), January 13, 2002.