Old style rewind on M7?

[zerobuttons]

I have seen several here advocate for the old style rewind on M bodies, because of mechanical weaknesses with the new style.

Now that I´m ever so slightly beginning to look into an à la carte M7, I have looked for the old style rewind when configuring a body at Leica´s website. I don´t see that option.

Has anyone here had an à la carte M7 configured with the old style rewind? What was the price for that option?

 

[Austerby]

No, but I am interested in the response you have. I occasionally toy with the a la carte and always end up with an M7 that looks like a chrome MP but that awful rewind handle rather than the old-school post can't be changed and that's as far as I get. I think sometimes about simply selling my current fleet of Ms (well, all four of them) and pooling the funds into an a la carte M7...

 

[Tim Gray]

I'd like to actually hear from someone who shattered or otherwise broke the so-called mechanically weak new style lever. Seriously

If anything did actually break, the little plastic tip would. And if you look at the construction of the new style lever, I'm sure it would still work fine with out the tip, with plenty of space for your thumb. Also, it looks like its just held on with a flat head screw, so I'm sure you could get a new tip for about $2 and fix it.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but I'd be worried about breaking about 100 other parts on my camera before I broke that.

 

[Krosya]

I dont have actual experience with this, but I do remember reading that some people had DAG change their rewind changed to one from Leica R system. I guess if camera was dropped it can bend and jam, while one from R system supposed to be better in that respect.

 

[waileong]

It is definitely possible to bend the film rewind crank by dropping the camera... Something that makes its impossible to wind the film.

 

[Chuck Albertson]

I'd like to actually hear from someone who shattered or otherwise broke the so-called mechanically weak new style lever. Seriously

If anything did actually break, the little plastic tip would. And if you look at the construction of the new style lever, I'm sure it would still work fine with out the tip, with plenty of space for your thumb. Also, it looks like its just held on with a flat head screw, so I'm sure you could get a new tip for about $2 and fix it.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but I'd be worried about breaking about 100 other parts on my camera before I broke that.

I've had the whole assembly come off one of my M6s, twice in fact. It screwed back on, but I much prefer the old-school knob on my MP.

 

[sanmich]

I'd like to actually hear from someone who shattered or otherwise broke the so-called mechanically weak new style lever. Seriously

If anything did actually break, the little plastic tip would. And if you look at the construction of the new style lever, I'm sure it would still work fine with out the tip, with plenty of space for your thumb. Also, it looks like its just held on with a flat head screw, so I'm sure you could get a new tip for about $2 and fix it.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but I'd be worried about breaking about 100 other parts on my camera before I broke that.

Count me in,
three times, mind you.
Twice broken on an M4, then bent enough on an M6TTl to scar the chrome when rewinding.
It is not the only drawback of the system.
With the little crank, inevitably, at the middle of the rewinding, the crank would slip from my fingers, and return quite a few rounds back.
It makes the whole "quick" rewind not very quick...
I, for one, much prefer the older style...

 

[Bill Blackwell]

It is not possible to get the old-style "Post" RW system on an M7 through Leica. A few years ago I acquired an M6 Millennium topcover and used it to customize an M7. I purchased all of the other black paint parts through Leica and vulcanite covering through Aki-Asahi.

By the time I was finished I would have done just as well, cost-wise, to get an a-la-carte through Leica and happily done without the old-style RW system.

It was a nice looking camera though - and pretty much a one-of-a-kind BP M7.

I sold it a few years ago in order to finance the purchase of a new M8.

 

[kbg32]

I have had my M4s for over 30 years, and I have never had problems with the rewind levers.

 

[Krosya]

It is not the only drawback of the system.
With the little crank, inevitably, at the middle of the rewinding, the crank would slip from my fingers, and return quite a few rounds back.
It makes the whole "quick" rewind not very quick...
I, for one, much prefer the older style...

Thats why I really like the way M5 has it - rewind is racheted and hidden into the bottom plate, so no such problems there.

 

[35mmdelux]

I've seen a few MP with the new, or angled, rewind knobs. Looks pretty cool.

 

[Livesteamer]

All it took was a gentle bump on the rewind of my black M6 and it was bent enough to be inoperable. Fortunately I was able to unscrew it from below on the inside and not turn the warped crank which would have scarred the black finish. If you ever take one off, examine it and you will see there are parts of it that are very thin and easy to bend. I've never heard of an old style knob getting bent. Joe

 

[drewbarb]

Sadly, they don't offer the old style rewind post on the M7, even a la carte. But who cares? The MP has the post, and if you want a camera with AE, the Zeiss Ikon beats the M7 hands down. 😱 The Ikon has a (gasp) better finder than the Leica, faster flash sync (if you care about that)- and a better rewind mechanism. 😀

So who's broken the angled rewind crank on the newer M's? I used to have an M4p and an M6. I had problems with the rewind cranks on both of these cameras- and more than once each. Both cameras got knocked hard enough over the years to smash the cranks. The M4p's crank once got a very light tap which never-the-less bent the head enough that it wouldn't turn. The M6 once swung into the frame of a doorway I was walking through, and the crank got sheared clean off. OK, these examples are all under stress; how about the time the M6's crank just came apart in my hands under normal use? The set screw worked it's way loose, and the internal mechanism came un-screwed.

Many folks go years without problems with these things; I wasn't one of them. I happen to think the old rewind posts on my M3's look better anyway. 🙄

 

[sanmich]

For me it was a no-brainer, the 0.58 MP chrome....😉
Only thing keeping it from being perfect is that it has the "new" smaller, less accurate frames.
I always wander why the a-la-carte don't offer the two options:
current for slide shooters, and older frames for negs, full frame printers...
It could be so easy...

 

[maddoc]

If I remember correctly, the rewind crank of the Leica SL (or SL2 ?) fits on the M6, M6TTL, and M7. It is made form thicker material and more rugged. Don from DAG or Youxin Ye can help with this, my guess.

The rewind knob of my M2 (and former M3s) just work great, the one of my former MP always slipped back and had to be repaired by Leica ...

 

[sanmich]

The rewind knob of my M2 (and former M3s) just work great, the one of my former MP always slipped back and had to be repaired by Leica ...

I wander what you mean by that.
The regular old type rewind post on your MP is running back when in half roll??
I'm asking because I think mine does this too, although it's much less a nuisance than with the crank..

Also, mine has a very tight fit and is hard to lift in place.
I really don't know if it will get better with time.
Nothing really bothering me though...

 

[maddoc]

I wander what you mean by that.
The regular old type rewind post on your MP is running back when in half roll??

Exactly that's what it did. It was so loose that it slipped back when in half roll and rewinding a film took ages. It was repaired on warranty together with the sticky shutter button, faulty shutter and electronic problem on warranty by Leica, though.

 

[Ken Ford]

If I remember correctly, the rewind crank of the Leica SL (or SL2 ?) fits on the M6, M6TTL, and M7. It is made form thicker material and more rugged. Don from DAG or Youxin Ye can help with this, my guess.

That's what I used to replace my bent original at Don's suggestion.

 

[Tim Gray]

Ooops, I sound like an ass. For some reason I thought you guys were talking about the film advance lever. Which is why I said the word 'lever' and talked about plastic tips, etc.

The rewind knob - the newer style is definitely more 'complex' and I would assume more prone to damage, though I've never had any problem. You could get two new-used M7's for the price of one a la carte M7. That way if your broke your rewind knob, you'd still be ok. You'd also be covered for any other kind of mishap.

 

[Chuck Albertson]

Ooops, I sound like an ass. For some reason I thought you guys were talking about the film advance lever. Which is why I said the word 'lever' and talked about plastic tips, etc.

I've done that with an M6, too. As I recall, the replacement tip cost a bit more than $2.00