How to Retrieve Film Leader Out of The Canister Without a Film Puller

46 165

What do you do when the film tongue gets inside the canister, just when we’re about to do some doubles? Of course, we can buy a film puller or we can go to a lab (the people from the labs are our friends) but what if the lab is closed? Well, you only need double-sided tape, scissors, and a little film.

Cut a strip of film from an old roll of film. Place a piece of double-sided sticky tape on one side of the film strip.
Carefully insert the end (where the double-sided tape is) into the canister. Note the side where the tape is. It has to be facing down in order for it to retrieve the film leader.
Wind the roll of film so that the film strip goes into the canister. Leave out about 20 mm of the strip.
Now gently pull out the strip of film. You should be able to pull the film leader out. If it doesn’t, try again, it works most of the time!

Need to stock up on film? Head over to our online shop or one of our worldwide gallery stores to refill your supply!

written by bongofury on 2011-06-21 #gear #tutorials #film #tipster #canister #how-to #bongofury #top-tipster-techniques

165 Likes

harveyh, jolom, lomo_floresiensis, weekendering, jmaristany, rdetoyato, simone_trini, smolda, carblkm5, sierravictor, frenchyfyl, davislam, oykuoge, msantanaphoto, b2377, poglad, ohkitten, thanigosky, mmiikkeeee, nar, vytaute, naeun, gerwinn, dida, psit, stephoebe, shinseula, du3ky, incaseofhate, nia_ffm, clicknique, arisuuu, danbarry, flashstalker, litumai, adhi_karno, amandaglass, megzeazez, carlota_nonnumquam, djramsay, lasaventurasde, juliennekae, fickles, adash, redrain, erikagrendel, tank, xmaryx, magtokidoki, onglsd, original_j2, lostlittlekid, larrywzh, thethingamajig, lighthouseblues, ladysamar, ngjinglingfiona, nanyeah, kwakken, iamdnierod, cutebun, ehmahh, sarahboat, mogyoro, gemmalouise, jennakay, tetrahexadecabyte, zipper, not-a-cookie, cfib, tonantzin, feelux, fozbaca, claudiaguirre, orenji_, aprilia, weidong, bravopires, abbylew, ycmaiden, mishika, luizaazuma, adbigmilk, zulupt, jesushp, eyezat, chuo104, lilaluke, katherine-lynn, nock, spata, grazie, dminilover, lomographyembassyspain, krusty1980, sprofishgel, burgerdeel, rhemaangel, lapsusgirl, emilyrose344, photochrom, carolin, ariannapaloma, electricsick, max-grymonprez, smbilgin, polka-dot, vici, dianalerias, julyan, sixty, crazyunclejoe, ilfrusta, deprofundis, filby, lihooi, robotmonkey1996, santafire, shinsenget, kamalfaiz91, babybath, gborin, itsdebraanne, lu_bettyb00p, jennson, coolsigg, webo29, amirulshahrom, discodrew, cdcpinto, agraphy, eva_eva, bulletofmine, mystikmonk, watttan, mafiosa, stouf, analogmonolog, bluemie5, simonh82, vicuna, natalieerachel, pigfish, macstef, jonalon, artvandelay, strangelilgirl, mandecster, johnccc, lislisdotnet, shlimazl, rtmoratin, dooby, ydpsh, chethong, jojo8785, leeemur, b0rn2b1ush, miss_maha, lomoloque, ballbreaker, qlamerand, icomewhenieatcaponata, yapfl & renenob and 129 more lovely people. Show less, please.

46 Comments

maxwellmaxen · 2011-06-21 09:40
or just wet the strip of film you are pulling in!
damaris · 2011-06-21 10:16
oh!! This happened to me last week and I have a "halfexposed" film, inside the canister... THANKS!!
damaris · 2011-06-21 10:16
oh!! This happened to me last week and I have a "halfexposed" film, inside the canister... THANKS!!
ydpsh · 2011-06-21 11:41
I found this works better than wetting the film strip :D
angelwulf · 2011-06-21 13:21
I licked the end of the film strip and it worked first time yay :-)
johnccc · 2011-06-21 14:39
Nice tipster !
mandecster · 2011-06-21 15:59
thanks!!this is really help..=)
strangelilgirl · 2011-06-21 16:06
Will definitely remember this!
analogmonolog · 2011-06-22 01:10
it helps. thanks :)
mafiosa · 2011-06-22 04:33
Thank you. Great advice.
mystikmonk · 2011-06-22 08:24
nice tip!! :)
andrea_gail · 2011-06-22 12:30
excellent. No need to buy a tool!
mr-korn · 2011-06-22 14:25
Just lick the end of the film strip, Umm....Yummy :^P
strummy · 2011-06-22 18:42
I tried the wet film trick and it worked really well. No tape necessary.
babybath · 2011-06-22 21:22
Oh thank you. I tried this once a few years back and have forgotten how to do it.
falsedigital · 2011-06-23 03:33
OMG, so simple, yet so effective. Worked perfectly!
sixty · 2011-06-23 13:07
nice!!
dogma · 2011-06-23 13:56
Great idea! Thanks!
dogma · 2011-06-23 14:04
Ha ha :) just did it for one of my roll :) This trick works very well!
vici · 2011-06-23 16:41
Thank you!
polka-dot · 2011-06-23 16:51
danke! great tip
rhemaangel · 2011-06-24 03:44
Very timely here. I have several rolls that I needed to rescue. Great tip, as well as the "wet the film" trick. I'll have to try both to see which one works best for me. :o)
verenaxm · 2011-06-24 13:01
haha. i just tried it and it worked. but i wet the film because i don't have double sided tape
lomographyembassyspain · 2011-06-24 15:18
Muy buen idea!!! Felicidades al creador!!!
isoterica · 2011-06-24 16:07
This is clever, thanks for the tip! Sometimes I get two shots in and decide I want to change films but I fear rewinding the film will get it lost in the container. Now I can do it.. and when I reload the film into another camera or the same one later just shoot the first two shots with the lens cap on preserving them :)
bongofury · 2011-06-24 22:01
Thanks to all . I´m glad to be usefull.
I must say i also lick the film and it taste real fine :)
grazie · 2011-06-24 23:49
thanks for this! I have two films in need of this ;)
aprilrich427 · 2011-06-26 05:27
yay thank you! I just did this but didnt have tape so i licked the negative strip and it worked :)
qlamerand · 2011-06-26 10:36
I had to try this tipster yesterday and it worked. Thanks !
zulupt · 2011-06-26 15:21
Awesome tipster, really helpful!!!
chrystani · 2011-06-27 23:34
Sweet! I was just wondering if I would have to throw away my roll of film. I know lazy right. Thanks for the tip. :D
weidong · 2011-06-28 06:25
Great Article
!
stouf · 2011-07-03 06:25
Nice ! (www.lomography.fr/magazine/tipster/2010/07/13/the-film-film…)
feelux · 2011-07-09 05:25
Niiiice! Very useful! I can now rescue my Elitechrome.
hilarion · 2011-07-17 13:02
water works, too. but thanks a lot!! really helped me.
kwakken · 2012-01-18 07:31
very helpful! :)
nanyeah · 2012-01-18 11:02
great help!
ngjinglingfiona · 2012-01-23 06:33
couldnt get it for the first few tries, but its worked in the end! Great tip (:
flashstalker · 2012-06-01 13:38
Great!
tectum · 2012-06-03 13:17
:) even easier : youtu.be/0OZ3IWN1bLU
bongofury · 2012-06-03 15:35
@tectum , realy easier ,thanks
danbarry · 2012-06-06 19:36
This just saved an unused / recycled film
c5gebj2 · 2012-08-10 14:43
Great tipster. Saved me some time with the changing bag.
diogolima · 2017-05-09 21:13
Hello. I need somebody to help me. I had two cannisters who had the film all pulled inside. I tried this tecnic on the first cannister and it worked but in the second the film barely got in, it entered probably 2 cm and it didn't pull outros anything. I really need help because this last film was for my photography class and all my project is inside it :( . And it wasn't even used all the way. I will be really happy for any feedback. Thanks in advance
frenchyfyl · 2018-12-05 11:51
Thanks!!!!
lomo_floresiensis · 2022-06-19 19:55
works like a charm.. wetting the film strip with saliva as recommended on another site didn't quite work for me