How do I unwind a roll of film?

Question

When putting in a new roll of (35mm) film, I accidentally told my camera to rewind, rather than load the film. Now there's no tab sticking out of the roll, so I can't load it.

Is there a way to unwind the film slightly, so that I could still use that film?

Answer

There are film leader extractors (that at least used to be) available. I'd guess even now most decent camera stores should have one around to handle situations like yours. If you want to buy one, it looks like B&H still lists them. I would guess most others do too, though I haven't looked. In this case, it's probably cheaper to buy it locally if you can -- the price is so low that the shipping will probably double the cost unless you buy it along with something else.

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