Film fogged going through airport security.

r.reeder · Aug 17, 2014

This is just an FYI for everyone. I had ASA 100 in an Argus C3, went through the TSA security (on the 1.Aug), & asked that my camera & film be hand checked. They said that their X-ray didn't affect film slower than ASA 800, so I let it go through. I just today finished up that roll of film, & (wait for it) the whole roll was fogged. I seriously doubt that it was mishandled at the Walgreen's where I take it for processing. I'd be willing to bet a steak dinner that it happened at the airport.

Maybe mine was a fluke, but maybe not. Be forewarned.

trythis · Aug 17, 2014

I let 20+ rolls of 400 asa go through Toronto's US customs & security xray because of a serious time crunch. No problems. I wouldn't rule out wallgreens or some other possibility.

Two23 · Aug 17, 2014

I wonder if they might have seen the mysterious metal object in their viewer and then dialed up the power? I went through airport security in Vancouver yesterday and forgot to take the HP5 out of my Leica. They did hand check my other exposed rolls.

Kent in SD

hdeyong · Aug 17, 2014

From what I understand, back in the old days, before they made X-rays safe for film, (which in my experience, they absolutely are), an affected film had bands or stripes of exposed area. As a matter of fact, I'd seen a few many years ago, and I never saw or heard of one that that was evenly fogged. I really think you have another problem.

Ken Nadvornick · Aug 17, 2014

Last January I went through security at Seattle/Tacoma airport. I planned to purchase my film at my destination, expose it, then mail it back home, thus skipping the whole x-ray thing entirely. (This worked fine.)

So I allowed my camera bag to run through the carry-on system. Well, the inspector saw something he didn't like so they took me aside and hand-checked the entire bag. Nothing was found, so they ran it through a second time.

It again came up positive. So I unpacked everything, was of course able to open the camera, and showed them everything. Nothing was found. So they ran it through a third time.

Finally it came up clean and I was allowed to continue. I don't know if they increased the power. But I do know I had just added at least the equivalent of another round trip to the cumulative exposure given to the bag. Maybe more.

So from now on it will always be either shipping new film ahead or buying it there, then shipping it directly to a processor before returning (for color), or back home (for b&w).

Ken

hoffy · Aug 17, 2014

I was going to say what hdeyoung said - From what I understand, Xray effect is not uniform across the whole film. I have been led to understand that you may get stripes or even effects that look very much like a sine wave.

StoneNYC · Aug 17, 2014

Two23 said:
I wonder if they might have seen the mysterious metal object in their viewer and then dialed up the power? I went through airport security in Vancouver yesterday and forgot to take the HP5 out of my Leica. They did hand check my other exposed rolls.

Kent in SD

hdeyong said:
From what I understand, back in the old days, before they made X-rays safe for film, (which in my experience, they absolutely are), an affected film had bands or stripes of exposed area. As a matter of fact, I'd seen a few many years ago, and I never saw or heard of one that that was evenly fogged. I really think you have another problem.

From personal experience I think it's a little bit of both, I don't know if maybe it's the way the x-rays go through the camera body itself that accentuate the fog, or if the metal in the camera make them want to examine it further, but in 2010 on my Kodachrome adventure, I went through an airport where they just insisted that they send my camera through the x-ray machine, everyone else that I had been through understood that the film was in the camera and you couldn't take the lens off or open the back and look at it all without exposing the film, but these people didn't and apparently I looked suspicious so they wouldn't hand inspect the camera and send it through, well there was this really heavy banding with all of the images in that roll, it's the only roll out of the, I think 75 rolls, that had any issues, and the only one to go through X-Ray.

This was ASA64 film... This was a "modern" x-ray machine in 2010 at the Key West airport in Florida, small but not exactly backwoods that they would have an older machine.

So I always tell them that the film is 3200 speed film no matter what it actually is and make them hand inspect it, and I always make sure I've used up the roll of film before flying out.

What a waste... They were great shots too...

Ken Nadvornick · Aug 17, 2014

hoffy said:
I was going to say what hdeyoung said - From what I understand, Xray effect is not uniform across the whole film. I have been led to understand that you may get stripes or even effects that look very much like a sine wave.

My understanding is that this is the signature of checked baggage x-ray screening. I don't know about carry-on screening, except that all radiation is cumulative.

One should never pack film into checked baggage. Even the TSA and the airlines say this.

Ken

mts · Aug 17, 2014

My practice is to pack film in a lead foil "FilmSafe" bag. I remove the bag from my carryon and place this in one of the small change or phone trays for scanning. TSA will often question the contents of the bag because it appears opaque to their scanner, and it is easy to open it for visual inspection--it contains only rolls of film. There has never been a problem or need to run it through a second time. I return my film bag to the carryon bag following passage through the TSA inspection.

RattyMouse · Aug 17, 2014

I let my film go through the X-Rays with no problems. One time my bag was under the x-ray for minutes as the belt stopped.

Even after 8 trips through the X-rays on one trip, no effect at all was seen on the film. ISO values all up to Delta 3200 without a problem.

Shanghai subways all have x ray scanners for bags (a real pain). Still, doesn't affect the film at all.

RattyMouse · Aug 17, 2014

mts said:
My practice is to pack film in a lead foil "FilmSafe" bag. I remove the bag from my carryon and place this in one of the small change or phone trays for scanning. TSA will often question the contents of the bag because it appears opaque to their scanner, and it is easy to open it for visual inspection--it contains only rolls of film. There has never been a problem or need to run it through a second time. I return my film bag to the carryon bag following passage through the TSA inspection.

How's that work if you carry 50 rolls of film. That's how much I brought to Rome this summer.

RattyMouse · Aug 17, 2014

Ken Nadvornick said:
Last January I went through security at Seattle/Tacoma airport. I planned to purchase my film at my destination, expose it, then mail it back home, thus skipping the whole x-ray thing entirely. (This worked fine.)

So I allowed my camera bag to run through the carry-on system. Well, the inspector saw something he didn't like so they took me aside and hand-checked the entire bag. Nothing was found, so they ran it through a second time.

It again came up positive. So I unpacked everything, was of course able to open the camera, and showed them everything. Nothing was found. So they ran it through a third time.

Finally it came up clean and I was allowed to continue. I don't know if they increased the power. But I do know I had just added at least the equivalent of another round trip to the cumulative exposure given to the bag. Maybe more.

So from now on it will always be either shipping new film ahead or buying it there, then shipping it directly to a processor before returning (for color), or back home (for b&w).

Ken

How do you know that shipped packages aren't X-rayed? Aren't air cargo planes protected from bombs?

mnemosyne · Aug 17, 2014

r.reeder said:
This is just an FYI for everyone. I had ASA 100 in an Argus C3, went through the TSA security (on the 1.Aug), & asked that my camera & film be hand checked. They said that their X-ray didn't affect film slower than ASA 800, so I let it go through. I just today finished up that roll of film, & (wait for it) the whole roll was fogged. I seriously doubt that it was mishandled at the Walgreen's where I take it for processing. I'd be willing to bet a steak dinner that it happened at the airport.

Maybe mine was a fluke, but maybe not. Be forewarned.

A risky bet. Please post examples of the possible x-ray damage here. This topic comes up again and again and in 99% of the cases I have followed it turned out to be processing errors or camera malfunction. And I dare to say the rest were all people who had film in their checked baggage. In almost 30 years of traveling with film up to ISO 1600 I have never had a single case of x-ray damage. If you ask me if I would rather entrust a precious roll of film to the TSA or to a random Walgreen's, my answer would be: to the TSA.

removed account4 · Aug 17, 2014

r.reeder said:
This is just an FYI for everyone. I had ASA 100 in an Argus C3, went through the TSA security (on the 1.Aug), & asked that my camera & film be hand checked. They said that their X-ray didn't affect film slower than ASA 800, so I let it go through. I just today finished up that roll of film, & (wait for it) the whole roll was fogged. I seriously doubt that it was mishandled at the Walgreen's where I take it for processing. I'd be willing to bet a steak dinner that it happened at the airport.

Maybe mine was a fluke, but maybe not. Be forewarned.

sorry to hear of your troubles
not sure if this is any help or not but
http://www.google.com/search?q=x+ra...yJogTW7oCQBw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1395&bih=809
have some examples of banding due to xrays ...

Ph0t0_man · Aug 17, 2014

You have the right to have your film hand checked regardless of the ISO. TSA doesn't like it but it is your right.

removed account4 · Aug 17, 2014

Ph0t0_man said:
You have the right to have your film hand checked regardless of the ISO. TSA doesn't like it but it is your right.

not outside the usa.

Ken Nadvornick · Aug 17, 2014

RattyMouse said:
How do you know that shipped packages aren't X-rayed? Aren't air cargo planes protected from bombs?

All online film and photo paper retailers offer a full range of shipment options from standard ground (rail/truck) to next-day (air). It's how most of us receive our sensitized products. They wouldn't ship by air (or rail or truck) if there was even the slightest chance that their customer's purchases would arrive destroyed.

Ken

David A. Goldfarb · Aug 17, 2014

They can't turn up the X-ray output at the checkpoint. They can only adjust the gain on the sensor.

For rollfilm, exposure looks like a sine wave.

I usually put my film in a separate bag before going through the checkpoint, so that if they decide to run the camera bag through the X-ray machine a second time, the film doesn't have to go through twice.

I don't trust airport inspectors to hand check sheet film. They are more likely to destroy the film by opening the box than by running it through the X-ray machine.

RattyMouse · Aug 17, 2014

Ken Nadvornick said:
All online film and photo paper retailers offer a full range of shipment options from standard ground (rail/truck) to next-day (air). It's how most of us receive our sensitized products. They wouldn't ship by air (or rail or truck) if there was even the slightest chance that their customer's purchases would arrive destroyed.

Ken

Good point!

Prof_Pixel · Aug 17, 2014

David A. Goldfarb said:
They can't turn up the X-ray output at the checkpoint. They can only adjust the gain on the sensor.

...but they CAN scan it several times.

r.reeder · Aug 17, 2014

Original poster here. I'll supply several photos. Perhaps it was the processor. The areas that are outside of the frame of the photo are cloudy, indicating that all of the film was exposed to some sort of light. I do not see anything that would show a sinusoidal application of light. I do see what looks like a scratch in the middle of some of the photos, as well as bending of the film, like it was forced into a small space & it folded up. What say you? Thanks for the ideas & suggestions.

winger · Aug 17, 2014

How old was the film? I don't remember seeing that in your post. Speed? If the dust is still on the frames that's showing in the scans, then I wouldn't use that lab again. But mishandling it and bending it won't cause fog. Age, high temps, especially if high speed all will.

Nuff · Aug 17, 2014

Hmmm... I would also get the camera checked as well, it could be a light leak. Since the scratch is only one one frame and not all of them, I suspect it was mishandling by the lab that you took it to.

StoneNYC · Aug 17, 2014

Looks like under exposure or contaminated chemistry or both to me... Were all the frames like that? Compare the negatives to a properly exposed negative, is the image STRONG or is it very thin and faint?

trythis · Aug 17, 2014

Was all the film processed the same day as the other rolls not in the camera when you went through security?

That looks like old cheap film, bad scans and/or bad developing.
[emoji22]

I watched Walgreens film technician stropping my film between her fingers like they were having fun with a ribbon. I asked her to stop and she looked at me like I was crazy .
The second time I went to a Walgreens I watched the technician drag my film across the floor from the developer to the scanner.

Film fogged going through airport security.

r.reeder

trythis

Two23

hdeyong

Ken Nadvornick

hoffy

StoneNYC

Ken Nadvornick

mts

RattyMouse

RattyMouse

RattyMouse

mnemosyne

removed account4

Ph0t0_man

removed account4

Ken Nadvornick

David A. Goldfarb

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Prof_Pixel

r.reeder

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Nuff

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trythis

Film fogged going through airport security.

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