M Rewind issues
Hands off the shutter button during rewind
Here is something which catches all M users sooner or later — be careful with the shutter button during rewind!
If you cock the shutter at the end of a roll and then accidentally trip the release during rewind, then the shutter will open and if you are unlucky, ruin one or two frames of your exposed film. All M cameras do this and yes, it is very annoying.
M rewind crank sticking?
You have just loaded a roll of film and after about ten shots you find you cannot wind on easily (or at all) because the rewind crank appears to have jammed?
Although it's a rare problem, what can happen is that the washers under the rewind crank get stuck. Thankfully the fix is a simple matter of unscrewing your crank and re-arranging the washers.
In May 2004 Kyle Cassidy posted a short www page with details of what to unscrew and how:
<http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/leicaslacker/rewind.html>
(Unfortunately this link is broken. I have left it in the FAQ in case it goes live again, or to help with locating a copy in a web archive.)
M2 Button rewind - warning
John Collier noted noted the following in Sep 2001:
On most button rewind M2 cameras you have to hold the button in. This is a major pain!! Do not buy a button rewind camera unless it is very inexpensive. On the last of the button rewind M2 cameras, the button would lock down so these are just as good as the lever rewind cameras and usually sell for a little bit less.
M2/3/MP rewind cranks
Looking for information on after-market rewind cranks? See this separate topic elsewhere in the FAQ.
A note about possible broken links
This FAQ has over 900 external links. Over time it is inevitable some of them will break. If you are bothered by this, see this detailed topic elsewhere in the FAQ.