I can not figure out how to use a film picker
Wanting to SAVE SAVE SAVE by loading my own film I bought 100 feet of fuji presto 400 and a film picker. A film picker is a frusterating little plastic tool that is supposed to allow you to pull the leader of the film out from a 35mm canister. Usually I just use my fingernails to pry open the roll but to bulk load you need a canister in perfect form, and the film picker is supposed to help you (me) with that.
It has not yet.
Stick in all 3 slips while they’re retracted.
Give the spindle a twist or two to tighten the film towards the center.
Push in the first tab, sending one slip inside.
Twist the spindle until you hear the film end “tick!” against the first slip.
Push up the second tab all the way inside the canister.
Pull the canister off the picker, hopefully pulling out the leader.
This will work on full rolls, but can’t pull the little 1cm end out of an empty roll from a DPE shop - that canister is junk.
Hope this helps.
Jim
Comment by Jim O'Connell — 2/22/2006 @ 7:27 pm
Thanks a lot for this explanation. It helps a lot!
Comment by Eva — 1/28/2007 @ 6:46 pm