Changing 8x10 film on the go

ndwgolf · Sep 6, 2017

I am planning a trip to New Zealand and want to take my Chamonix 8x10 with me. I will be leaving from my home in Thailand.
I have a few questions:
Airport security in Asia is okay, I am not sure about Australia and New Zealand though (I will be going to Australia first). Anyway I will be leaving Thailand with ~150 sheets of 8x10 HP5 in hand luggage along with meter and lenses. My Chamonix 8x10 will be checked in in a pelican case.............hopefully the Airport security in Australia and New Zealand will be film friendly.

I will take with me a Harrison film changing tent for changing and loading film holders, but what do I do with the exposed negative's as I wont be able to develop them until I get back home to Phuket in Thailand?.

Has anyone done this traveling with LF camera gear and is it okay or is it a nightmare ??

Once I get home I guess the only developing time I can use is to use Box seeing as all the film will be jumbled up?

Thanks in advance

Neil

MattKing · Sep 6, 2017

Could you, after exposure and when unloading the holders, use nail clippers to clip the corners of the sheets to indicate, for example, N, N+1, N-1 and N+2 development required?

Steve Goldstein · Sep 6, 2017

MattKing said:
Could you, after exposure and when unloading the holders, use nail clippers to clip the corners of the sheets to indicate, for example, N, N+1, N-1 and N+2 development required?

Brilliant!

DREW WILEY · Sep 6, 2017

I use a large Harrison tent plus an inner liner (thin poly trashcan liner to further reduce dust risk). Some little unsecured alcohol swabs to remove finger oils. Then 3-section clamshell film boxes, one for color, the other for b&w, etc. A blunt pair of kiddie scissors is used to clip one or two corners for atypical development. Normal dev negs are left uncut.

Andrew O'Neill · Sep 6, 2017

150 sheets?? Wow! Good on ya! That's a lot of shooting. The most I ever took with me was 50. No, I've never had any trouble moving in and out of Australia with large format equipment and film....mind you, that was several years ago. Exposed film gets stored in an empty film box, which is labelled, CONTAINS EXPOSED FILM. Each exposed sheet is placed inside the box in the order that I exposed them, at the end of each day...so keep good notes!

Poisson Du Jour · Sep 6, 2017

ndwgolf said:
hopefully the Airport security in Australia and New Zealand will be film friendly.

Hopefully? Well, security and safety of the travelling public is first and foremost. This is an inconvenient truth to photographers and one that can cause grief.
New Zealand, as with Australia has stepped up airport security at check-in to airside. Whether the staff are "film friendly" depends on their knowledge of what they are looking at. My experience in New Zealand has been trouble free on every occasion, but the recent history is that they will do as they are required to do, irrespective of protestations of the photographer. A couple of photographers have recently come back to Australia who had their cameras virtually disassembled on the spot due to higher security screening! Why? Because xray and swabbing returned irregularities.

Realistically, I think you should expect close scrutiny of any equipment unfamiliar to the security staff, such as large format film which is boxed/unopened (will be subject to xray screening/swabbing) — especially if you are carrying a lot of it, cameras and holders. I think the amount of film you are taking may cause a lot of interest, especially since you are taking it into the cabin.
No camera should be put through checked-in luggage.
If you do, make absolutely certain it is insured. Many insurers will not cover camera equipment placed in checked-in luggage.

Tom Taylor · Sep 7, 2017

Here's an idea: Why not process your exposed film in-country before you leave? I just did a quick google and there are several camera stores spread throughout NZ and 22 clubs. I'm sure you can find a photo enthusiasts that would let you have access to facilities where you can process your film before leaving country. If necessary you can purchase the chemistry there or ship it to your in-country contact to have on hand when you arrive.

Thomas

Molli · Sep 7, 2017

Hi Neil,
I've not taken large format through the airports here, but I have taken TLRs and folders - all a little odd looking to the unfamiliar. I don't know which airports you're going through while in Australia, but I've had nothing but good interactions with staff at Tullamarine (Melbourne, Victoria) Airport, Adelaide Airport in South Australia, Perth Airport in Western Australia and Broome in far north Western Australia as recently as six weeks ago. I take my cameras and film in my carry on luggage and usually take the weirder looking cameras out of the bag and say what they are and have my film in ziplock (i.e. transparent) bags so they can see straight away what all of the strange metal bits and pieces are. I've never had anything but positive reactions and enthusiastic enquiries about whether I have a darkroom or not and things like that. I've had everything, myself included, swabbed. Never a drama. Obviously boxes of sheet film are a little more difficult to deal with but I think getting to the airport a little earlier and being friendly and co-operative all go a long way toward making travelling with film and camera gear a pain free experience.

By the way, if you're down my way you're welcome to make use of the available darkness for film developing or general film organising

ndwgolf · Sep 7, 2017

Tom Taylor said:
Here's an idea: Why not process your exposed film in-country before you leave? I just did a quick google and there are several camera stores spread throughout NZ and 22 clubs. I'm sure you can find a photo enthusiasts that would let you have access to facilities where you can process your film before leaving country. If necessary you can purchase the chemistry there or ship it to your in-country contact to have on hand when you arrive.

Thomas

Hi Tom
I enjoy taking my time developing my 8x10 one sheet at a time at home in my darkroom so I will just do whatever is necessary to make the airport staff comfortable with what I am carrying and bring it all home to develop at home. I'm going for a month so 150 sheets of film is still only 5 sheets of film a day

Neil

jim10219 · Sep 7, 2017

You could mail them back to your house. That way they don't have to go through airport security.

Poisson Du Jour · Sep 7, 2017

Molli said:
Broome in far north Western Australia as recently as six weeks ago.

Broome! Those security guys rock.
When I went in through security I was checked out by an indigenous officer who was enthralled by the Pentax 67 (it was dug out for examination, because my bag was "a bit heavy", but they let me through carry-on — all 14kg of it (!!) ). He liked the term "steampunk camera"!

Peter Schrager · Sep 8, 2017

Also can use plastic bags for exposed film
I mark outside with duct tape 1 stripe for normal..
2 stripes for n+1 etc...very easy and they are already separated

David A. Goldfarb · Sep 8, 2017

When traveling with 8x10" or 4x5" I usually bring an empty box with tabbed dividers made with old cardboard inserts from boxes of film and masking tape--one tab on the top edge of the top divider, so I don't confuse the orientation of the stack, and the rest along the right side for -2, -1, 0, +1, and +2. If I shoot enough film to fill up a box, I'll also have emptied a box of fresh film, so I can split the stack or have a dedicated box for whatever development time is most common.

Sirius Glass · Sep 10, 2017

Put different films in different boxes. Also separate boxes for N-1, N+1, ... Just for fun it would be wise to mark the boxes.

ndwgolf · Sep 12, 2017

I've just ordered a paper safe box from B&H 8.5x11............can hold 200 sheets of 8x10 film. I will just keep all my film in this box and develop it all at box times i.e. six minutes...............as I will be shooting all the same film HP5+

Neil

Changing 8x10 film on the go

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