Problem retrieving film end.

Mike Kennedy · Jan 10, 2007

I have developed a habbit of shooting 1/2 a roll of film,rewinding it,labeling how many frames were shot then tossing it into a freezer bag and finishing the film at a later date. I do this for my "walk about" films. It's exciting when the roll is finally developed and you see that the first bit was shot last summer and the second half was shot this week.
This morning I am trying to get the film leader out of a cassette of Kodak High Definition colour and it refuses to budge. I'm using a Kodak film extractor and the film is at room temperature.Any suggestions for a solution?

Thanks

Vaughn · Jan 10, 2007

I cut a 1/2" strip of 4x5 film, stick a piece of double-sided tape on it and push it between the felt. I turn the end of the cassette until it sucks in the piece of 4x5 film an inch or so, then pull the 4x5 film out. Half the time or more the 35mm film comes with it.

Good luck.

bdial · Jan 10, 2007

I take mine to my local camera shop/mini lab

...then pull the 4x5 film out. Half the time or more the 35mm film comes with it.

Didn't know that 4x5 and 35 had such an affinity

sorry, i couldn't resist

Tony Egan · Jan 10, 2007

You could remove it competely from the original canister (in the dark of course) and re-load into a re-usable plastic canister with the leader out. I have done this once or twice in the same situation when all else failed.

rtuttle · Jan 10, 2007

We purchased one of those film leader retrievers and it just doesn't work. I tried for about a half and hour and nothing. As of today my roll of film is still rolled in the canister. Having used (or tried) the film leader remover my adivise is that of Tony Egan, get a reloadable canister and use that.

hywel · Jan 10, 2007

Every time the film extractor hasn't worked for me, and I've had to resort to the bottle opener, I've subsequently found the leader to be bent, and that's just the way it is and other than the bottle opener there's no way I'd have got the film out.

I also do what you do, reusing a film, when on holiday, and I've only shot a few frames, and I need somthing faster for the night, but when doing such I never fully rewind. I know. But lots of Sharpie telling me to beware, and storing it in a different place to my virgin film, and I've yet to make that fatal mistake.

Hywel

fotch · Jan 10, 2007

I had trouble with a retriever that I purchase until my wife, reading the instructions, told me to keep it aligned at the edge. By god, it worked when I did that. I was allowing the retirever to mygrate away from the edge and it would not work. Doing it by the instructions, works 100% of the time.

Gerald Koch · Jan 10, 2007

Shooting a few exposures and then rewinding the film for later use greatly increases the chance of film scratches. It is not a good idea. Buy either 12 or 20 exposures rolls for this purpose and shoot the entire roll. Of course, if you bulk load you can choose the number of exposures you wish.

Jim Noel · Jan 10, 2007

Vaughn said:
I cut a 1/2" strip of 4x5 film, stick a piece of double-sided tape on it and push it between the felt. I turn the end of the cassette until it sucks in the piece of 4x5 film an inch or so, then pull the 4x5 film out. Half the time or more the 35mm film comes with it.

Good luck.

I use a piece of tape from the Dymo Label Maker. It works the same way and I am successful more often than not.

I have a great distaste for the manufactured film retrievers which never work for me.

Vaughn · Jan 10, 2007

bdial said:
Didn't know that 4x5 and 35 had such an affinity

sorry, i couldn't resist

Opposites attract

Won't work trying to get a memory card out of a digital camera -- different species -- and it could get you arrested in Arkansas, unless you married it first.

vaughn

dmr · Jan 10, 2007

I use the Promaster film leader puller-outer thing in my camera bag for such things. I have over 90% success rate with this.

Before I got this, the one time I needed it I just took the roll into Walgreens and they pulled it out for me.

Roger Hicks · Jan 10, 2007

Gerald Koch said:
Shooting a few exposures and then rewinding the film for later use greatly increases the chance of film scratches. It is not a good idea. Buy either 12 or 20 exposures rolls for this purpose and shoot the entire roll. Of course, if you bulk load you can choose the number of exposures you wish.

Absolutely. This is among the falsest of false economies -- and rewinding all the way into the cassette (instead of 'leader out') compounds the problem. It's not just scratches: it's also double exposures and fogging.

Rewinding 'leader out' leads to even greater risk of double exposures, but less risk of fog.

We all do it from time to time, out of poverty, meanness, etc., but doing it as a matter of course is an extremely rash course.

Admittedly I've only been shooting 35mm seriously for 40 years, so I may modify my opinion when I am more experienced.

Cheers,

R.

bdial · Jan 10, 2007

But you do end up with interesting double exposures occasionally. For that reason, I avoid using one of my "second chance" rolls on things that are important.

bd

mawz · Jan 10, 2007

I've yet to have a double exposure doing this. Of course, I carry a sharpie everywhere and label the canister with the number of exposures, then advance one past that when reloading. (I also use the sharpie to indicate EI, by adding a + before the number on the canister, so a canister labelled 4 has been advanced to shot 4 in one camera, and one labelled +4 is a 4 stop push).

hywel · Jan 11, 2007

Roger,

Whilst I'm one of those who has admitted to doing this occasionally I'm not under any illusion that it can only be worse than not doing it. What I don't understand is how or why fogging is a risk.

Hywel

Mike Kennedy · Jan 11, 2007

I must agree with Roger on the point of double exposures.It's happened to me on three occasions,but I've only lost 2 frames or so. Now I label the film with the number of frames I've taken and the camera it was used in.When the film is reloaded I go 2 or 3 frames beyond the number of exposures to make certain of no overlaping.
Usually the film leader is left an inch out of the cassette since most of my cameras are manual Nikon & Pentax.Just listen to the film release from the advancing sprocket and crank it another 1/2 turn.
This particular roll had been used in my N60 which rewound the leader completly.I popped the film open and respooled it onto an empty bulk cassette. Problem solved and another bit of useful information gained.

Thanks All,
Mike

Roger Hicks · Jan 11, 2007

hywel said:
Roger,

Whilst I'm one of those who has admitted to doing this occasionally I'm not under any illusion that it can only be worse than not doing it. What I don't understand is how or why fogging is a risk.

Hywel

Dear Hywel,

Winding it all the way back in, then pulling the leader out again, must involve parting the cassette lips slightly -- hence the risk of fogging. It's only happened to me once in 40 years but that's because I almost always rewind leader-out if I'm going to pull this trick; leader-in when the film is to be processed only.

Cheers,

R.

Roger Hicks · Jan 11, 2007

bdial said:
But you do end up with interesting double exposures occasionally. For that reason, I avoid using one of my "second chance" rolls on things that are important.

bd

True -- I have some interesting one from the early 70s (which is why I have done it as seldom as possible since...)

Cheers,

R.

hywel · Jan 11, 2007

Thanks Roger, I can understand that. And as I always rewind leader in when I've finished and leader out on the few occasions I do reuse I hope it's something I shan't have to think about again.

Hywel

fotch · Jan 11, 2007

I have only used the one purchased a couple of times with no fogging. Wouldnt the felt on the cartridge block light? The steel on mine is very thin. Maybe on repeated use on the same cartridge is where problems occur?

Just a thought.

Problem retrieving film end.

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