am I nuts for bringing bulk loaders and film with me on a plane?

going to mexico for about 10 weeks and was hoping to bring a few bulk rolls of film with me. i can leave them in their boxes or put them into the loaders (oh yeh, gonna bring powdered chems with me as well). not sure about a hand check do I figured its only two x-rays so I would just leave them in my carry on bag and send em through, call it the path of least resistance. I could get more cassettes and roll em myself, but I wold prefer not buying 60 or more, let alone going through customs with 100+ rolls of film.

i have researched and cant find anyplace in puerta vallarta that sells film or film chems. so i gotta bring it with me. I really dont want to shoot digital (my D700 is getting very lonely). i have shot film there in the past but never went for more than 9 days at a time so it was never an issue. withdrawal sucks! guess I'm a film addict.

anway, am I crazy?

Definitely take film with you....in your carry on bags. Let it go through the scanner with the CARRY-ON bags (NOT in you checked luggage). Do not ask for a hand inspection of anything in Mexico...you will not like the result. If you insist on bulk rolls, I'd think it would be much better to leave the film in the original can with the original label intact and plainly readable. Really, if you fly out of SFO, you should not have a problem...Oakland is hit and miss. There are som idiots working there. Just be safe and let the film go through the carry on scanner without a fusss.

Secondly, if you bring powdered chems into mexico from the US, DO NOT try to bring them back home with you. Just dispose of any surplus down there. Transporting powdered chemistry into the US from Mexico can land you in a not so pleasant place.

You could collect used cartridges from walgreens an preload used. They are free. Security may want to open the bulk loaders or bulk packages.

If its 800 speed or slower just put in hand carry luggage.

Just DON'T PUT FILM THRU CHECKED BAGGAGE...checked baggage goes thru CT scanners, the equivalent of many many many passes thru the X-ray scanner for carry-on bags!

i have flown many a time and know not to check film. was gonna put in my carry on bag. I have been going to PV for 20 years or so. they will do hand check of film, but as hinted by some, i am afraid of them opening the loaders and having much film to use as seasoning for my XTOL i plan to replenish.

would they open the cans if they are taped and put through the carry on scanners?

empty cassettes can still be purchased cheaply and are very very reusable. Buy some, load up before the trip, follow other advice re checked bags.

i can't recommend trying to process on the trip. Why take valuable vacation time in a darkroom?

I would load the cassettes before travelling.

Is it possible to have someone mail your film to you, either in bulk or intermittently throughout your stay there?

summicron1 said:

empty cassettes can still be purchased cheaply and are very very reusable. Buy some, load up before the trip, follow other advice re checked bags.

i can't recommend trying to process on the trip. Why take valuable vacation time in a darkroom?

Click to expand...

With a 10 week vacation, there might be downtime. A little darkroom work actually sounds like fun to me. Plus you can relax knowing you got the film developed, no worries about inspection or x-rays on the return trip.

Bill Burk said:

With a 10 week vacation, there might be downtime. A little darkroom work actually sounds like fun to me. Plus you can relax knowing you got the film developed, no worries about inspection or x-rays on the return trip.

Click to expand...

exactly. going to the family beach house for 15+ years every year, the point is down time! i will need something to do. now if i could get an enlarger down there, that would be awesome

I'm going from France to Canada/US for about 4 months and have decided to take rolls. (Believe it or not, some films are cheaper here). If somebody wants to look in your film cans or loaders, which is very possible if they've never seen bulk film before, you're done. If you try to persuade them not to, they'll get very suspicious and insist on it.
Go with rolls.

I've flown back and forth to Mexico for years and have never had an issue with getting film hand inspected. Just keep asking nicely and someone will eventually do it. It helps to speak Spanish but it's not that big of deal.
You could arrange your trip to stop in Mexico City and purchase film there then fly or bus down. Inter Mexico flights can be quite inexpensive these days. Also, if you need I have friends in Mexico City that could purchase film for you and fed ex it to you in Puerto Vallarta. Be aware that you will be limited in your selection and that the cost can be nearly double. For that reason I always just bring my own.
I would just throw the xtol in my checked bag and not worry about it. If you get the red light they will search all your bags with you present but they won't have a problem with it.
One last thing. Don't ship your bulk film from the states. I have tried many times and some friendly person at customs always decides to open it and expose it. Despite writing in both languages that it is light sensitive.
Have fun in Puerto Vallarta!

One more thought. Guadalajara is only about four hours from Puerto Vallarta. It is a much bigger city and very possibly has a shop where you could get some film.

BradS said:

Transporting powdered chemistry into the US from Mexico can land you in a not so pleasant place.

Click to expand...

LOL . Even more if you are not US citizen!

trythis said:

You could collect used cartridges from walgreens an preload used. They are free. Security may want to open the bulk loaders or bulk packages.

If its 800 speed or slower just put in hand carry luggage.

Click to expand...

Ilford Delta 3200 goes through X Ray scanners just fine. I've done it many times.

FWIW, Cartier-Bresson used to travel with two cans: one with the unexposed roll, and the other to receive the exposed film that he removed from his reloadable cassettes. He had a changing bag, would take the film out of the exposed cartridge, roll it around the core of film in can #2, then reload from Can #1. Seems to me a compact solution, and you'd have the changing bag as well which is always handy when traveling.

I've had to carry 50-100 and more rolls of film on international flights and never had a problem with security or customs (western Europe, China, Hong Kong, Philippines, Japan, Canada), and no trouble coming back into the USA. It might be more expensive and space consuming, but I bring fresh bought factory packed rolls and leave them in the original packages in an easy to search hand carry bag and just send it on through the scanner. Popular Photography did a test and found you'd have to run it through at least a few dozen times before anything noticeable shows up. And of course never check it in because the checked bag scanners will fry anything photosensitive the first time around. The exposed films never cause me trouble when the inspectors see original factory cartridges on the outside and nothing funny on the scanner on the inside. Bulk film and cartridges just seem like asking for trouble. Chemistry is anyone's guess. I'd be afraid to try it.

RattyMouse said:

Ilford Delta 3200 goes through X Ray scanners just fine. I've done it many times.

Click to expand...

Me too. Including several multi-flight trips around Europe and South America. I've even left an un-exposed roll of Delta3200 home for comparison - never had any noticible effect that I could atribute to the carry on baggage scaners at the airports.

BradS said:

Me too. Including several multi-flight trips around Europe and South America. I've even left an un-exposed roll of Delta3200 home for comparison - never had any noticible effect that I could atribute to the carry on baggage scaners at the airports.

Click to expand...

me similar, but not ilord delta3200 ... fuji 800 color press film, and tmz ... a few years back i even made the mistake of
putting ALL my exposed film ( 100+ sheets film, and maybe 60 rolls of 120 and 35mm ) in my checked baggage
in a transatlantic flight ( basel>heathrow>boston ) no problem ...
but within the last year i mention this i was told i am disinforming people, and a disservice to apug and analog photography ... so YMMV
most recently july+august 2014 i also had all my film ( iso 800 this time around ) go through scanners ( many of them for carry on ) when they refused
to hand check ( switzerland and germany ) still like you, i didn't have any problems that i know of ..

my results ( like yours ) might not be typical ... ?

i've also flown with cyanotype chemistry, and white powders (washing soda and vit c) in pharmacy containers ( plainly marked ) and coffee no troubles ..
the only trouble i have ever had was with a graflex slr and the metal bits on the shutter mechanism. in the scanner it appeared to
be something extremely strange, and i had to demonstrate it ... having never seen a contraption like that, they were happy i did ..

good to see others posting they didn't have trouble ..