Another data point: JTR (Santorini, Greece) currently only has the old X-ray scanners, but they still kindly hand-checked my 13 rolls of film. (BTW, Santorini itself is my idea of hell, but it’s the gateway by ferry to many beautiful, quiet islands!)
New (as of 2019) airport CT scanners
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Any chance of you conducting an experiment the next time you fly, since an airport near you is known to have CT scanner at gate Security?...
- two rolls of exposed film, one inside your checked bags and deliberately allowed to pass thru the CT scanner,
- and a control roll that you ask for hand inspection,
- and then both rolls processed and compared to one another.
Same test to be conducted by anyone who is near any airport that is known to have CT scanner at gate Security. Then we count how many times the CT roll shows damage vs. not damaged. Multiple observations.
Lina Bessanova did a very in-depth test with many rolls of film... if you haven't seen it yet
Videos — Lina Bessonova
www.linabessonova.photography
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Lina Bessanova did a very in-depth test with many rolls of film... if you haven't seen it yet
Videos — Lina Bessonova
Thanks for publishing that link. I had read some references to Lina's project, but had not seen the actual video. It is interesting that the effects can be somewhat subtle, making it important to compare CT scanned vs. a control roll for recognition of effects (base fog), which are not always as pronounced as the artifacts shown at about 0:25:53 in the video. She clearly shows that even 'lead bags' meant for X-ray permits damage from CT. But having both CT-exposed vs. control no-exposure makes it apparent even to the untrained eye when damage is present...the lack of a 'control' might explain why some folks have reported 'no damage from CT' in the past.
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I recently passed through Montreal and saw them installing a new CT scanner on the domestic security side. Not sure when they will put it into service.
I’ve just come back from a slightly unusual itinerary—PDX-LAX-ICN-HFE and back via SEA—and I wanted to update this thread with what I encountered in scanners.
- PDX has just had a major renovation and seems now to be CT-only. No problem getting a hand check, as expected.
- LAX: stayed airside and didn’t have to clear security, so I don’t know anything.
- ICN: transfer security was X-ray only; I didn’t have to go through the main checkpoint in either direction. On the way back, I got a random extra security check (SSSS on boarding pass), which was a hand check and didn’t raise any problems for my film.
- HFE: X-ray only at the checkpoint for the international wing of the terminal. I was there at a fairly quiet time, but they seemed civil enough and weren’t treating passengers like an annoyance.
- SEA: There’s a transfer security checkpoint after passport control, which was X-ray only. I walked past the main checkpoint on the air side, but I couldn’t tell for sure what kind of machines they were running there.
As an aside, I can’t really recommend Hefei as a photographic destination, unless you have time to go to Huangshan outside the city (some of my coworkers did, and their snapshots made it look pretty spectacular). It seemed like a rather drab commercial city, and I never really found a promising subject in the week I was there. I think my best shot was of an empty meeting room. The food was pretty good, though.
-NT
- PDX has just had a major renovation and seems now to be CT-only. No problem getting a hand check, as expected.
- LAX: stayed airside and didn’t have to clear security, so I don’t know anything.
- ICN: transfer security was X-ray only; I didn’t have to go through the main checkpoint in either direction. On the way back, I got a random extra security check (SSSS on boarding pass), which was a hand check and didn’t raise any problems for my film.
- HFE: X-ray only at the checkpoint for the international wing of the terminal. I was there at a fairly quiet time, but they seemed civil enough and weren’t treating passengers like an annoyance.
- SEA: There’s a transfer security checkpoint after passport control, which was X-ray only. I walked past the main checkpoint on the air side, but I couldn’t tell for sure what kind of machines they were running there.
As an aside, I can’t really recommend Hefei as a photographic destination, unless you have time to go to Huangshan outside the city (some of my coworkers did, and their snapshots made it look pretty spectacular). It seemed like a rather drab commercial city, and I never really found a promising subject in the week I was there. I think my best shot was of an empty meeting room. The food was pretty good, though.
-NT
Last week in Denver, on hand inspection, 5 of my bulk rolled 35mm caused an event and so they sent them back through the CT scanner. I'm not sure if any of them are any good and don't know what to do with them. Mixed HP5+ and FP4+.
Process them...if you got lucky there is slight fogging, which will reduce overall contrast; if you are unlucky, the images will have a noticeable artifact running thru each frame.
At Geneva (GVA) I asked for a hand check. The person checked and saw my film was ISO 400 and pointed to the "OK up to 800" (I think it was 800) sticker on the machine and said it had to go through. By that point I knew it was not a CT scanner and didn't object, and didn't worry.
Did their system report explosive residue on your cassettes?
Or something resembling it. This is weird because they let another 15 go. All of these, both passed and rejected, both Hp5 and Fp4, were bulk loaded around the same time.
The island airports let my film completely bypass any kind of check, but in Athens they only hand-check if your film has high enough speed. But it's also only a normal x-ray so I just let them fry it. No ill effects, but I didn't bring higher than 400.
I've just come back from my trip to Asia carrying quite a large amount (70 rolls) of 120 film. I have only encountered a single CT scanner which was the new "smart" lanes in Hong Kong HKIA. In the instruction signage there was a footprint mentioning that "if you carry photographic film approach the staff" and they proceed to do a hand check. Funnily on this time back, I had just had 40 rolls, half of them BW and exposed to develop at home. The agent mentioned "so many rolls" 
Actually, even in my outward leg of the trip with the older scanners HKIA accepted Hand Check request.
I taped Kodak's "Do not Xray" labes to the ziplock bags and carried the press releases from Fuji and the other imaging consortium Ilford pointed me to; The latter was never shown.
As of the whole: For practical reasons I have let the film through a couple old Xrays. Stockholm Arlanda (terminal with old scanners) politely refused and provided a comforting diagram of the exposure level of the Xray machine, something which actually surprised me. However, the agent did handcheck Delta 3200.
Then arriving in the Philippines there was a large old scanner for customs. It was a bit hectic so I just let the film through. That many 120 rolls do appear interesting in the Xray and was guided to a secondary screening, one of the agents was concerned about having damaged the film as he saw the Kodak labels.
During island hopping there were about 3-6 additional Xrays for some of the film. I just carried a Domke lead bag and put it through. It was interesting, and often flagged a second look. Sometimes the agents didn't even get bothered.
It is also interesting to experience differences in security. I often just let the film cameras (Fuji 6x9 and a folder) go through in the bag, and one European airport in transit flagged my bag and the agent was not happy that I did not take them out; otherwise no problem in the rest of controls!
C41 I developed locally in HK and the lab scans show good results. There are color and shadow inconsistencies that I attribute surely to just minilab scan quality. Most of the film was expiring 2023 and frozen. I do need to sit and look into the Negatives and Slides.
I will develop the B&W soon, and mostly just interested to see if there are any ill effects in the Delta 3200. It has gone through 2 (non CT) scans.
Actually, even in my outward leg of the trip with the older scanners HKIA accepted Hand Check request.I taped Kodak's "Do not Xray" labes to the ziplock bags and carried the press releases from Fuji and the other imaging consortium Ilford pointed me to; The latter was never shown.
As of the whole: For practical reasons I have let the film through a couple old Xrays. Stockholm Arlanda (terminal with old scanners) politely refused and provided a comforting diagram of the exposure level of the Xray machine, something which actually surprised me. However, the agent did handcheck Delta 3200.
Then arriving in the Philippines there was a large old scanner for customs. It was a bit hectic so I just let the film through. That many 120 rolls do appear interesting in the Xray and was guided to a secondary screening, one of the agents was concerned about having damaged the film as he saw the Kodak labels.
During island hopping there were about 3-6 additional Xrays for some of the film. I just carried a Domke lead bag and put it through. It was interesting, and often flagged a second look. Sometimes the agents didn't even get bothered.
It is also interesting to experience differences in security. I often just let the film cameras (Fuji 6x9 and a folder) go through in the bag, and one European airport in transit flagged my bag and the agent was not happy that I did not take them out; otherwise no problem in the rest of controls!
C41 I developed locally in HK and the lab scans show good results. There are color and shadow inconsistencies that I attribute surely to just minilab scan quality. Most of the film was expiring 2023 and frozen. I do need to sit and look into the Negatives and Slides.
I will develop the B&W soon, and mostly just interested to see if there are any ill effects in the Delta 3200. It has gone through 2 (non CT) scans.
Late 2024 results in Greece and Turkey.
I just returned from a 3 week trip to Greece and Turkey. I had 35mm Portra 160 and Tri-X 400 with me. My experience:
1. Departure from SeaTac airport (SEA),Seattle, WA, USA. The TSA agent cheerfully hand checked my plastic bag of films. Hint: sign up got TSA Pre-check. It will save you a lot of time.
2. Museums in Athens: many require X-ray check. The agent always shows a sticker on the machine that claims film is safe below ASA 1000. I am dubious.
3. Departure from Athens (ATH): X-Ray required.
4. Istanbul museums like Topkapi require X-Ray. Again, the agent points to the sticker that claims film safe.
5. The Ara Güler Museum did hand inspect. Hint: it is a long walk from a Metro station, take a taxi, instead.
6. Departure from Istanbul (IST): Two X-Ray passes of all baggage and hand-carried items. I could not convince an agent to hand inspect Film.
7. Departure from Amsterdam Schiphol ariport (AMS). They use CT scanners but an agent cheerfully checked my film canisters by hand and swabbed a few of then. Surprisingly, by camera bag flagged and extra inspection, and the same film lady removed a lens cap to check if it was a real camera.
So, some me of my films had had 5 to 6 passes through various X-Ray machines. I hope there is no fogging or damage.
I traveled too heavy. Next trip (if there ever is one - the whole air travel experience now is a royal pain in the you know where), maybe I will just take a Leica IIIC with one lens and make it suffice.
I just returned from a 3 week trip to Greece and Turkey. I had 35mm Portra 160 and Tri-X 400 with me. My experience:
1. Departure from SeaTac airport (SEA),Seattle, WA, USA. The TSA agent cheerfully hand checked my plastic bag of films. Hint: sign up got TSA Pre-check. It will save you a lot of time.
2. Museums in Athens: many require X-ray check. The agent always shows a sticker on the machine that claims film is safe below ASA 1000. I am dubious.
3. Departure from Athens (ATH): X-Ray required.
4. Istanbul museums like Topkapi require X-Ray. Again, the agent points to the sticker that claims film safe.
5. The Ara Güler Museum did hand inspect. Hint: it is a long walk from a Metro station, take a taxi, instead.
6. Departure from Istanbul (IST): Two X-Ray passes of all baggage and hand-carried items. I could not convince an agent to hand inspect Film.
7. Departure from Amsterdam Schiphol ariport (AMS). They use CT scanners but an agent cheerfully checked my film canisters by hand and swabbed a few of then. Surprisingly, by camera bag flagged and extra inspection, and the same film lady removed a lens cap to check if it was a real camera.
So, some me of my films had had 5 to 6 passes through various X-Ray machines. I hope there is no fogging or damage.
I traveled too heavy. Next trip (if there ever is one - the whole air travel experience now is a royal pain in the you know where), maybe I will just take a Leica IIIC with one lens and make it suffice.
Has anyone been through Vienna of late? Probably Terminal 3 since the United flight is operated by Austrian Air. I do expect I'll have at least a few rolls of Delta 3200 since I'm hoping to take a tour of the sewers (the "Third Man" tour.) and expect it to be a bit dark.
In case no one of this Forum can advise you, I've found that emailing the Airport nearly always gets a response, and the advantage is you can print out the email and take it with you (especially if it says they will hand-scan!)
My experience in Europe is that the conventional X-ray scanners often have stickers on them saying OK up to ISO 800, and most airport will NOT hand-scan if your film is ISO 800 or slower. In contrast, they always will hand-scan when they are operating CT scanner, for all film speeds.
What! A form of explosive energy more powerful than that of your daughter, Alyssa at play - surely not
pentaxuser
i flew out of Vienna a few weeks ago on KLM. I asked for hand inspection. they did, but made me dump all the rolls out of separated ziplock bags and pro pack boxes, even unopened boxes, into a big bin. they swabbed about 15 then said ok. I had about 100 rolls of 35mm and 120. took about 10 extra min
john
What! A form of explosive energy more powerful than that of your daughter, Alyssa at play - surely not
pentaxuser
In another 11 months she will be a teenager. I am not looking forward to it.
Last week:
Spirit airlines from LGA to Miami. Sent 2 rolls of triX through x-ray scanner.
Delta from Miami to LGA. One roll went through x-ray and the other roll was in camera and went through what looked like a CT, but was very large and square not rounded. Developed both rolls the same and see no difference looking at negs under 5x loop.
Spirit airlines from LGA to Miami. Sent 2 rolls of triX through x-ray scanner.
Delta from Miami to LGA. One roll went through x-ray and the other roll was in camera and went through what looked like a CT, but was very large and square not rounded. Developed both rolls the same and see no difference looking at negs under 5x loop.
A reminder for folks...most are NOT 'rounded', only one vendor's Gate Security CT scanner in this series of shots taken from the web...
I forgot to add that I had one roll of 35mm Portra800 going through a CT scanner on my trip because it was still in the camera (Konica Hexar AF).
I also had a roll of Portra 160 (120, exposed, out of camera) go through the CT scanner at another airport because I forgot it was in a side pocket.
Didn't find any damage in either of the films, even in the pictures with low exposure, so that's somewhat comforting to know that not all film will necessarily be ruined.
I also had a roll of Portra 160 (120, exposed, out of camera) go through the CT scanner at another airport because I forgot it was in a side pocket.
Didn't find any damage in either of the films, even in the pictures with low exposure, so that's somewhat comforting to know that not all film will necessarily be ruined.
All of the examples you show are rounded corners, but not round. Compare with the old xray boxes, which virtually always have sharp corners. The total volume of the CT boxes is also bigger.
Not being argumentative, but merely pointing out that the roundness (or the rounded corners of a boxy device) are NOT necessarily indicative of a CT imaging security scanner...
Rapiscan makes the very round CT security scanner (shown earlier), but they also make the rounded-corner X-RAY technology scanner, this being their single-view x-ray
{seo_title_en}Orion® 920CX
The ORION™ 920CX X-Ray provides best in class image quality for efficient checkpoint screening. Ideal for venue security & festival security. Learn more!
Your point about relative bulk of CT security scanner vs. relative compactness of X-ray scanner is indeed appropriate.
Just went through Madrid Adolfo-Suarez... Terminal 1 still on old machines. Thankfully so, since they absolutely refuse to hand check anything.
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