Leaving a bit of film extending from canister

Aside from the rewinding I found keeping track of which film is (half)exposed and which is not with all the leads sticking out confusing. Despite marking the canisters I ended up with developing unused films and double exposing other rolls :-(

Off course this tells you more about me than about leaving the end out :)

I got a tip from a press photographer which I've adopted. Make a cut in the leader of your films before your put them in your bag for a day's shooting. Cut an inch or so inwards from the end, and then veer off to one edge, but not all the way to the edge. When loading the film in the camera, rip one half off. Exposed films will have one half sticking out, unexposed two. Easy.
 
I use a leader retriever. Works almost every time. That way, when a roll is fully exposed, I can rewind all the way so as to not get confused. Then it's only down to distinguishing half-exposed and non-exposed, which I find rather easy even without crimping.
 
This works for me without fail: rewind the film, it's really noticeable when the film has left the take up spool. At that point open the camera and drop down the rear flap. There's no danger of losing an exposure by doing this because you had more film than that out when you were loading it in the first place. Now rewind further until the tip of the leader just disappears behind the upright bar. Drop the cassette out of the camera and you will notice that you have about 3 mm of leader sticking out. Pull the leader out about an inch or so and fold over the end sharply as a reminder that the film has been exposed.
 
My n8008s auto winds the film, and there's no good way to interrupt the process. I used to try timing things by popping open the back at the last moment, but it seldom worked. Now I let it rewind all the way and use a tool like the one Keith linked to. It's never failed to fish the film out, though it can be fiddley to use.
 
On my MP, when the baseplate is removed, the film literally makes a snapping sound when it detaches from the springs.

Can't quite hear it when the baseplate is attached. Feels a bit smoother too when it's there.
 
On the odd occasion when I've over wound the end into the cannister, I use a 4x4mm-ish piece of double sided tape stuck on the end of a length of scrap film which I feed it into the can (tape facing centre of spool). Rotate the film spool (film rewind direction) and when the film with tape starts to be pulled in, just gently pull it out of the can and the leader is attached
 
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