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Roll film refers to a strip of photographic film wound on a spool with a light-tight backing paper. This design protects the film from light during loading into a camera in daylight. The backing paper's leader is threaded to a second spool, and the film is advanced for each exposure by winding it from one picture to the next.12

Common widths for this type of film are 62 mm and 45 mm. The backing paper often has numbered indicators visible through a camera window, guiding the user to advance the film to the correct position for the next shot. This technology was first used in 1895 and is also found in instant-loading cartridges.21

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