Smoothness of rewind lever

[Bobby]

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I started using my (very first) film Leica a few weeks ago. It's an M3, and literally got it back from CLA a few days ago.  

 

I have not experience with other film Leicas (and, for that matter, any film camera at all), and I keep hearing about how buttery smooth the rewind lever is.  

 

With film on it, I have no problems turning the lever, and doesn't feel stiff at all. However, that is not what I would call buttery smooth.  To me buttery smooth would imply using almost no force to turn the lever.

 

I'm not sure what people mean when they say that. Could there be something wrong with my camera?

[earleygallery]

Are you talking about the film advance lever or the rewind knob?

 

The terms 'buttery smooth' and 'silent shutter' are nonsense really. It's a mechanical camera, you should be able to feel the gears as you wind the film and hear the shutter mechanism as you take a photo.

 

That said, nothing should grind/grate or require any force to use. And don't apply any butter to your camera!

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[Bobby]

Yeah, I was talking about the film advance lever. I definitely feel more pressure when the film is on versus when it's not. Having said that, it's not like lifting weights, so I have no problem with that.  

 

The shutter is very quite, but again, modern mirrorless cameras are more silent. Of course, I'm not comparing digital versus film, I love both for different reasons. 

Edited August 24, 2018 by Bobby

[Hello]

Yeah, I was talking about the film advance lever. I definitely feel more pressure when the film is on versus when it's not. Having said that, it's not like lifting weights, so I have no problem with that.  

 

The shutter is very quite, but again, modern mirrorless cameras are more silent. Of course, I'm not comparing digital versus film, I love both for different reasons. 

 

yeah, no shutter versus shutter is definitely different.

[pico]

Read up here, Bobby, to get your nomenclature in order.

[105012]

I'm not sure of what are your expectations, however both my M3's exhibit what I would term very smooth and low resistance film advance lever ergonomics --- to the point where it is easy to convince oneself that there could be no film in the camera (however the rotating dots on the film rewind knob belie that). It should be noted that both my M3's have been CLA'ed by Japanese masters (Lumière, Kanto) who tend to focus on the ergonomics to a high degree.

[250swb]

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I definitely feel more pressure when the film is on versus when it's not. 

 

Yes that is how it should be, the film causes drag. You would also notice the difference between having a roll of 12 exposures and a roll of 36, the 12 exposure roll would cause less drag on the mechanism so would be lighter.

 

Think of it like this, your advance lever is the handle of the windlass at the top of a wishing well, you will find it easy to wind the bucket up and down if it doesn't have any water in it, but add water (the film) and despite having a mechanical advantage over simply hauling the bucket up on a rope, you still feel more resistance than if the bucket was empty.  

[Ko.Fe.]

I started using my (very first) film Leica a few weeks ago. It's an M3, and literally got it back from CLA a few days ago.  

 

I have not experience with other film Leicas (and, for that matter, any film camera at all), and I keep hearing about how buttery smooth the rewind lever is.  

 

With film on it, I have no problems turning the lever, and doesn't feel stiff at all. However, that is not what I would call buttery smooth.  To me buttery smooth would imply using almost no force to turn the lever.

 

I'm not sure what people mean when they say that. Could there be something wrong with my camera?

You should try Zokrki 6 or Bessa R, cheap Nikon version or Oly. Then you will know why Leica film advance is smooth.

[Gregm61]

Early M’s like the M3, 2 and 4 (I have an M4) also “feel” different in advancing film from the later M6. The early classic bodies have brass gears where the later M6 uses steel. Both are very smooth actions, but have a distinctively, obviously difference when used alongside each other. The brass gearing is really buttery smooth where the M6 has a more “industrially” smooth feel to it. At least, that’s my take on the M4 and M6 I use together when I’m shooting color and black & white together.

 

Sherry Krauter told me Leica made the change when they started offering the M motor, which would not have been great on the brass gearing. I guess the M-4 MOT probably has internal gearing that’s different for that reason too.

[M9reno]

Try winding an M3, M2, or M4 with a reusable cassette (IXMOO) and it will feel smoother than normal, since the film will be travelling free of any contact with the cassette’s lip. For the same reason the reusable cassette is not just a great way to get smoother winding, but also to avoid film scratching (cassette lips made of felt can easily pick up tiny abrasive particles like sand in your camera bag, air-borne dust while loading outdoors, etc.).

[105012]

The dual stroke and transitional single stroke M3’s also have a spring return mechanism on their rewind lever and are considered the smoothest of all film M’s.