Film extractor help

So I accidentally rolled the leader back into the film casette.

Does anyone have instructions on how to use one of those film extractors?

I don't know what model you have; mine is a silver one with two identical J-ish shaped flaps, but less curled. You insert it into the felt so it curves correctly with the canister, and seperate the two halves. You roll the film leader as if you were pulling it further into the cartridge and you will begin hearing clicks. You want the film leader to end up between the two flaps, so stop after you hear a first click after a long pause (make sure there is good contact between the film and extractor.) Then you turn the opposite direction until it stops (2 turns or something.) Then you push the sliding halves back together and carefully pull it out of the cartridge while keeping the pressure on the spindle. The film should come out in between the two parts.

The idea is similar with all of them.

Mine works like this.

First you turn the film spool a few times in the normal direction, i.e. as if you are winding the film into the cassette (optional really, but I like to do this).

Then you "close" the extractor so the two pieces are close together.

Then you slip the end of the extractor into the film cassette.

Then you open the jaws of the extractor by pulling back on a little tab on one of the pieces.

Then you turn the film spool a few times as if to wind the film into the cassette, listening for a click.

When you hear the click, stop turning immediately and then turn the spool backwards until you start to feel a little resistance, indicating that the film is jamming into the gap between the jaws of the extractor.

Then you carefully close the jaws of the extractor by pushing in the piece you pulled outward earlier.

Then keeping the jaws together, you pull the extractor out of the film cassette. It helps if you bend is slightly in the same direction as the curve of the cassette while you are extracting.

With a little luck you will pull the end of the film out of the cassette. If not then try again.

Thanks a lot guys! I thought I would have to throw this roll of film away, but I got it out!

I also saw somewhere online a trick where you trim a piece of film and use THAT to extract your film....I think the cut sprocket holes were supposed to grab the film or something


I tried it from memory and never got it to work...it's discussed on this thread:

http://photo.net/film-and-processing-forum/00JJJL

some people also mentioned using double-sided tape

Markok765 said:

Thanks a lot guys! I thought I would have to throw this roll of film away, but I got it out!

Click to expand...

Failure is not an option!

I assume this roll was half-shot and you want to finish the roll.

You can lick a leader until it is sticky, then slide it in and it will pull out the tongue, or you can pry off the cap, remove the film and wind it back onto a reloadable cartridge, or you can start over with a new roll and send what you've shot to a lab.


Say, while I'm here I thought I'd mention something that I haven't seen mentioned here before...good trick to keep up your sleeve...

If anyone's in the habit of rewinding and swapping films in mid-roll, you might consider 'registering' your film when you load it the first time. This means marking a spot in your film transport guide (permanently), then using a marker to mark the film where it lines up against your registration mark. This way, you can later reload and line up the frames. Besides cutting wasted "safety margin" frames, you can also do in-camera multiple exposures and know where everything is going to be. For instance, if there is a nice full moon, mount your longest lens, and put the moon in a known location in the frame. Shoot the whole roll, same moon in same quadrant in all frames, then at your leisure, do some nighttime shots around town, re-registering the film so you know where the moon is going to show up. I'm sure there are other applications.

Sorry for highjacking the thread...hope it's up the same alley.

interesting...

I have always wanted to do a similar trick with 120 cameras---since I can just register the film using the window at the back & peek at frame numbers

I'll remember that! Actually I just wanted to check out if my XA light seals were still good, and so I rewinded the film, but I did it a bit too much.

BTW modern cameras count sprocket holes with an infrared sensor so the frames always line up. No rulers required!

tiberiustibz said:

BTW modern cameras count sprocket holes with an infrared sensor so the frames always line up. No rulers required!

Click to expand...

My Nikon F5 doesn't use a IR sensor, how does it count then?

DarkroomExperimente said:

interesting...

I have always wanted to do a similar trick with 120 cameras---since I can just register the film using the window at the back & peek at frame numbers

Click to expand...

Yeah! (You have to rewind 120 manually to start over, but no biggie there).
And if you shoot with TLR's or mf with full frame ground glass, you can use a laundry marker on the ground glass to draw where everything was in the first go.

most use a small gear with 8 teeth...you can see it when you open the camera...a couple teeth slightly protrude & engage the film

re: IR sensors....but they don't know WHICH sprocket hole it is...so wouldn't you still need the alignment mark?

David William White said:

Yeah! (You have to rewind 120 manually to start over, but no biggie there).
And if you shoot with TLR's or mf with full frame ground glass, you can use a laundry marker on the ground glass to draw where everything was in the first go.

Click to expand...

oh yeah, forgot about the rewinding part....got kinda messy last time I tried it...kinks in film/paper

"My Nikon F5 doesn't use a IR sensor, how does it count then?"

Either the Nikon F5 is not modern, or it does the counting mechanically without the aid of IR.

since IR sensors are likely to fog IR film....what pro cameras use IR sensors?

Markok765 said:

My Nikon F5 doesn't use a IR sensor, how does it count then?

Click to expand...

It does it mechanically, just like the Pentax LX did 28 years a go...

If you really can't get the leader out manually, you could always visit a photo lab that still processes film. They'll usually have an electric one to get leaders out nice and quick.

If you really can't get the leader out manually, you could always open the cassette with a bottle opener. What's good for a beer bottle is good for the film cassette too. Take the spool out, find the leader, then get it back in, while putting the leader between the lips of the cassette. This way, you don't have 1,5+ meters of film hanging...

Even if you don't have an opener, you can always open the cassette from the lips. Just use your nails to bend them. This should give you enough room to bend the metal foil around the cassette and get the leader out. To be honest, I don't really recommend this (barbaric) method as you might scratch your film, although the only time I did it the negs were fine.

I've had fridge stored film with the leader bent inside the cassette.Impossible for me to retrieve it and my local camera shop couldn't do it either.
Here's the solution.In a light tight closet or changing bag pop the film open.Employ a reusable plastic film cassette to respool the film & tape it in place.Might not be able to use it in your DX coding camera but will work in a full manual one.

DarkroomExperimente said:

since IR sensors are likely to fog IR film....what pro cameras use IR sensors?

Click to expand...

I know the Canon 1V does, but it is shielded so you can use IR film.

tiberiustibz said:

BTW modern cameras count sprocket holes with an infrared sensor so the frames always line up. No rulers required!

Click to expand...

Some Canon models do this- what others cameras use the same trick?

(makes high speed infrared a bit of a pain mind you)

Pentax has some models with IR frame sensors. As you do not thread a takeup spool, only align the end of film next to it. This makes the frames always register the same. I like this because every from number is always at the middle of the frame. I have a negative carrier with a cutout fro frame number. When printing full frame on 8x10 the number appears above the image.

DarkroomExperimente said:

since IR sensors are likely to fog IR film....what pro cameras use IR sensors?

Click to expand...

A soldering iron right in the 'eye' will 'fix' an IR sensor.

I have use XIE and Efke ir820 in my Pentax with no ill effects on the image frame, and almost no fog in the margin. Disabling the sensor/emitter would likely cause the film to be wound to the end as could not find the sprocket holes.