8X10 Airline Carry-on (ground glass)

hblad120 · Sep 26, 2006

Has anyone recently traveled by air and carried on their 8X10 outfit? In a month or so I will be flying to Easter Island (Denver, LA, Santiago...) and was wondering if the ground glass raised any eyebrows by security officials.

I only have soft luggage and I don't want to take a chance of putting the gg in my check-in no matter how well it's wrapped.

Suggestions?

roteague · Sep 26, 2006

I carry my 4x5 all the time on airplanes, and I've never had anyone even take a second look at the ground glass. I don't know any reason why anyone would want to.

Dave Wooten · Sep 26, 2006

Yes I carry an 8 x 10 Wista, a couple of lenses and holders in Offshore Angler, case made of light brown cordura. It measures 14 x 18 x 17. I purchased it at Offshore Anglers store in the Florida Keys. I also have a smaller one for a complete 6 45 outfit and 3 lenses.

They can be found in the Bass Pro catalog under fishing accessories, tackel boxes , reel cases etc...ttp://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.SubClass?hvarDept=151&hvarEvent=&hvarClassCode=6&hv

Have velcro dividers etc...seem to be designed for camera s ! Quality is excellent!

jimcollum · Sep 26, 2006

roteague said:
I carry my 4x5 all the time on airplanes, and I've never had anyone even take a second look at the ground glass. I don't know any reason why anyone would want to.

i don't know.. take some duct tape with you.. break the ground glass, wrap it in duct tape and you have a pretty nasty knife..

you get 5 or 6 large format shooters on a plane, and you have a serious situation

rwyoung · Sep 26, 2006

jimcollum said:
i don't know.. take some duct tape with you.. break the ground glass, wrap it in duct tape and you have a pretty nasty knife..

you get 5 or 6 large format shooters on a plane, and you have a serious situation

Only if the digital-weenies start something first.

TheFlyingCamera · Sep 26, 2006

I took my Canham 5x7 to Argentina, and although every last customs and/or security inspector just HAD to take a look at it, nobody blinked at the GG. I just left it installed on the camera and was fine. I protect it with the folded up horseblanket I use for focusing. The 5x7, five lenses, Minolta Spotmeter, and focusing loupe all fit inside a Pelican backpack type bag designed to fit inside their hard shell 1550 series case, and to stay within carryon luggage dimensions. I carried the film in a second carry on bag, and my film holders and tripod went in checked baggage. Also worthy of note, neither the skinny screwdrivers nor my Rodenstock lenswrench got examined or confiscated, all of which could theoretically make weapons as well.

Monophoto · Sep 26, 2006

If the TSA isn't smart enough to figure this out on their own, is it in our interest to help them?

JG Motamedi · Sep 26, 2006

A few days after September 11th, 2001 my wife, a potter, flew from NYC to LA with a carry-on bag full of high-fired ceramics. A broken piece of porcelain or other high-temperature clay has edges sharper than a box-cutter. Did the TSA even notice? No, but they did take away her tweezers.

I think the same can be said for glass.

I am not sure if we should be relieved or worried that they are so incompetent.

Dave Wooten · Sep 26, 2006

JG Motamedi said:
A few days after September 11th, 2001 my wife, a potter, flew from NYC to LA with a carry-on bag full of high-fired ceramics. A broken piece of porcelain or other high-temperature clay has edges sharper than a box-cutter. Did the TSA even notice? No, but they did take away her tweezers.

I think the same can be said for glass.

I am not sure if we should be relieved or worried that they are so

incompetent.

I think today on a U.S. airline one would be short lived trying to intimidate with box cutters or glass shards...

Robert Hall · Sep 26, 2006

I carry on my canham 8x10 in an f-64 bag. I take off the pockets and pack half the lenses. I carry 2 film holders and my film. I've had it (yes, the 8x10) run through the carry on scanners as many as 6 times (125asa ilford fp-4) and had no issues. (this was to china and back).

The biggest threat was not in coming to LA but from LA to Utah. A TSA dude wanted to open the film if he "saw anything" on the monitor. eh, whatever.

anyway, I've had no issues.

One idea I did have, was for me to come along and hold both our ground glass' while we head out to the stone heads. (yes, I'm very jealous.)

If you get some nice prints, do let us see them, please.

raucousimages · Sep 26, 2006

Think of what you could do with a Bogen tripod. 3 six ft spears with spiked tips.

cperez · Sep 26, 2006

No one has ever questioned my 4x5 Anba. It's been through Germany, France, Singapore, Japan, India, and Malaysia XRay devices and nearly an equal number of hand checks.

The only time I've been questioned was in Germany when the screener noted that I had several "interesting" items. Turns out the thing he was interested in visually inspecting was the 110SS-XL. He thought it was a very nice lens.

I lie. The only other time I've had problems is coming back into the country through Seattle. I don't know what those guys are taught, but they are mean, nasty, and testy as all get out. I've been stopped in customs every single time I've tried to return from Japan through SeaTac. But this had nothing to do with my camera gear.

eddie gunks · Sep 26, 2006

i just flew out west. i carried my mamiya set up on with and i shipped my 4x5 and 8x10 wit hthe USPS general delivery. worked great! but this was for domestic. shipping overseas.....hhhhhmmmmm? when i do fly next time with my LF it will be overseas so will carry the 8x10 and the film.

Robert Hall said:
I carry on my canham 8x10 in an f-64 bag. I take off the pockets and pack half the lenses. I carry 2 film holders and my film. I've had it (yes, the 8x10) run through the carry on scanners as many as 6 times (125asa ilford fp-4) and had no issues. (this was to china and back).

The biggest threat was not in coming to LA but from LA to Utah. A TSA dude wanted to open the film if he "saw anything" on the monitor. eh, whatever.

anyway, I've had no issues.

One idea I did have, was for me to come along and hold both our ground glass' while we head out to the stone heads. (yes, I'm very jealous.)

If you get some nice prints, do let us see them, please.

Eric Leppanen · Sep 27, 2006

My current concern about carrying-on an LF camera stems not from the ground glass but from the spirit levels. The recent prohibition against any and all fluids brought on-board (recently relaxed somewhat, thankfully) could be interpreted as including spirit levels, and I have seen some mention in the LF user groups that the TSA may clamp down on this. If your camera has spirit levels then you may want to check on this too...

TheFlyingCamera · Sep 27, 2006

Eric Leppanen said:
My current concern about carrying-on an LF camera stems not from the ground glass but from the spirit levels. The recent prohibition against any and all fluids brought on-board (recently relaxed somewhat, thankfully) could be interpreted as including spirit levels, and I have seen some mention in the LF user groups that the TSA may clamp down on this. If your camera has spirit levels then you may want to check on this too...

Now THAT's a bunch of silly speculation. The recently relaxed rules now allow people to carry on liquids in bottles up to enough to fill a quart-size ziploc bag. I've never seen a quart-sized spirit level, and flying to Argentina and back during the liquids ban nobody ever even noticed the spirit levels, let alone asked me to drink the contents to prove they weren't explosive.

User Removed · Sep 27, 2006

I purchased one of the ground glass bags from SAITTA BAGS here on APUG, and it worked out amazing. It is light padding on the outside, and two pieces of masonite covered with a soft fleece material inside. I had to shipped in the mail, checked in my duffle bag on the plane, and also carried on as carry-on in the plane with ZERO damage to the glass.

I highly suggest this product.

Ryan McIntosh
www.RyanMcIntosh.net

namatjira · Sep 30, 2006

4X5 Through scanner 3 times and held IN SCANNER 5 mins

Delhi Airport during a tense cricket match - india V Pakistan- all attention on the monitor ( the game ie) while runout was taken- my bag with 10 rolls of 100 asa film was actively held for a full 5 minutes- i was counting- my entreaties did nought- play resumed and i was handed my overscanned bag- no prob!- all developded ok- amazing

Bruce Schultz · Oct 5, 2006

My Wehman came with a plexiglass alternative to ground glass. While it's not as bright, I don't worry about breaking it. After experiencing breakage in the field on a distant trip, I'm paranoid about breaking another one, so I'll just stick with the plastic.

8X10 Airline Carry-on (ground glass)

hblad120

roteague

Dave Wooten

jimcollum

rwyoung

TheFlyingCamera

Membership Council

Monophoto

JG Motamedi

Dave Wooten

Robert Hall

raucousimages

cperez

eddie gunks

Eric Leppanen

TheFlyingCamera

Membership Council

User Removed

namatjira

Bruce Schultz

8X10 Airline Carry-on (ground glass)

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