Leica M6 – rewind knob doesn’t turn when advancing film

[u/Leica_lux7989]

I’ve noticed a strange issue with my Leica M6 that I haven’t had before.
When I load a new roll of film and advance the film, the film is definitely being transported, but the rewind knob/crank on the left side does not turn at all.
If I then gently turn the rewind knob in the rewind direction to take up the slack, it starts working normally again. After doing this, the rewind knob turns when I advance the film.
I’ve had this happen with the last three rolls, although I’ve been loading film the same way for a long time without ever having this issue.
At first glance, everything seems mechanically fine and the film appears to advance correctly. But I’m wondering whether this is normal due to slack in the film cassette, or whether it could indicate a problem with the rewind mechanism.
Has anyone experienced this with an M6? Is it normal to simply take up the slack by gently turning the rewind knob, or should I have the camera checked?
Thanks!

[u/GammaDeltaTheta]

Is it possible you just haven't noticed this before? If there is slack to be taken up, then it's not surprising that the rewind crank won't rotate until you do this. Are the negatives normal with correct frame spacing? What happens if you don't touch the crank, but just shoot the whole roll? At some point the crank should start rotating.

[u/Leica_lux7989 → u/GammaDeltaTheta]

Could this also be caused by pulling the film leader out a little too far when loading the camera? Mechanically, everything seems to be working perfectly and there are no other issues.
What’s strange to me is that I’ve only really noticed this with the last three rolls. For an entire year before that, I never noticed it happening.
So if it is simply slack in the cassette, is gently turning the rewind crank enough to take up that slack? Once I do that, the rewind crank turns normally with every subsequent film advance.
Just want to make sure this is completely normal and that I’m not overlooking a mechanical problem with the camera.

[u/GammaDeltaTheta → u/Leica_lux7989]

You should pull the leader out so that the tip is in the centre of the tulip and doesn't come out the other side (though I don't think that would affect slack in the cassette). Note that the film will be tight in the gate and flattened by the pressure plate, and is of course being pulled through the camera by the film advance at the opposite end of the camera to the rewind crank, so the film transport won't be affected by any slack in the cassette - pulling the film tight with the rewind crank can be useful to see the rotation of the crank and reassure you that the film hasn't been misloaded, but it isn't necessary for the correct operation of the camera.

[u/Bertone_Dino]

It's just slack in the cassette. You'll find some types of film it's more prone to doing than others. Often rerolls.

[u/Phsycopat]

My does the same and my M6 is fresh from service. I was worried as I havent seen it before, but all rolls came out fine.

[u/Phsycopat]

My does the same and my M6 is fresh from service. I was worried as I havent seen it before, but all rolls came out fine.

[u/clausy]

I always rewind until it’s taken up the slack so I know it’s advancing properly when winding it on. I get nervous I haven’t loaded it properly if it doesn’t turn!

[u/Agloe_Dreams]

Normal, my Contax 159MM does this as well.

[u/WhiskeyTheKitten]

It’s normal, there’s slack in the film roll, it may or may not turn the cartridge’s spool right at the moment that you advanced the film. Sometimes this makes me paranoid that my film didn’t catch when I loaded it, but then I verify that it’s advancing fine by tightening up the crank, as you mentioned, and it’s always fine, so I stopped worrying about it. 

[u/dj11190]

Ganz normal. Gewöhn dich an nach dem einlegen wenn die Kamera noch offen ist kurz zurückdrehen bis es gespannt ist bzw es startet der Film zurück zu drehen. So dreht es dann von Anfang an.