Sending Film Internationally By Mail

[Arthurwg]

I'm wondering if sending film internationally by mail, DHL or other carriers might be a good solution to the X-ray problem. Is international mail routinely X-rayed? I could buy film in Paris, for example, and mail it back to the states. That might be an alternative to having it processed locally. Would this solution hold for Asia as well?

 

[Disconnekt]

I dont know if USPS xrays film when sending it overseas.

I know UPS does with ground shipping (so most likely will with overseas shipments), I tried mailing out some film to a film lab around this time last year and the lady there said they wouldn't accept it because they put packages through a CT scanner (even with ground shipping), and since its undeveloped film there was a high chance of it getting damaged.

(More info on that here: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/seems-ups-wont-mail-undevelop-film.204643/#post-2766253)

No idea about Fedex or DHL

 

[koraks]

Is international mail routinely X-rayed?

I've never been able to find a definitive answer on this.

I wonder if perhaps @ADOX Fotoimpex could comment on this based on their experiences exporting their products to other continents.

 

[Ian Grant]

Many companies have contracts with private carriers like DHL, UPS, etc. When I last bought film from Fotoimpex it was shipped by DHL, but that was quite a few years ago. Film & paper normally gets packaged with stickers saying DO NOT X-RAY. With the now high costs of postage it might be cheaper to buy the film in the destination country.

There is another issue with postage or a courier company, you may well have to pay import duty & VAT, that is on the film and the shipping, and compounds, then a service charge. This can typically add 33% but is only levied over a certain value. Of course this varies country to country, but that's the case here in the UK & Europe.

Ian

 

[Agulliver]

I don't think it has ever been reported that international postage has resulted in film fogged by X-ray scanning.

I bought from Fotoimpex twice in the last 10 months. Once directly to the UK and once via an intermediate postage step as my order was too small to avoid the post-Brexit tax difficulty. In both cases, the films seem to perform perfectly. Prior to Brexit I used to buy a bit more frequently from Fotoimpex and have imported film from B&H in NYC without ever having any problems.

 

[koraks]

Many companies have contracts with private carriers like DHL, UPS, etc.

That's sometimes said. I don't know to what extent these contracts or agreements involve any clauses on inspections, xraying-etc. That's why it would be nice if an actual manufacturer/wholesaler like @ADOX Fotoimpex could comment on this.

When I last bought film from Fotoimpex it was shipped by DHL

An obvious choice since it's the parcel carrier branch of Deutsche Post.
I've personally not seen any 'do not x-ray' labels yet on packages containing film purchased from the US, UK, Germany or China. I've also not encountered any issues that could be tracked down to x-ray damage in transit.

 

[Don_ih]

I had some 120 film replaced by Foma years ago. They sent the film in one of those FilmShield bags, in another envelope. So they seemed to assume it would get xrayed at some point between there and here.

 

[loccdor]

I don't think it has ever been reported that international postage has resulted in film fogged by X-ray scanning.

I have heard it reported but it hasn't happened to me personally in the handful of times I've tried this.

 

[Chuck1]

I'd be reluctant to go for film that needs to go through customs

 

[Agulliver]

It is worth remembering that package and container X-ray procedures are very different to those for passenger air travel. I am unaware of any credible reports of film being damaged in transit through postal systems, certainly not from/to places such as the USA, Canada, UK, EU.

Additionally "the X-ray problem" is usually not much of a problem....if you're referring to air travel. Though right now the situation regarding which airports will readily permit hand inspection of films is a bit of a guess the thread on new CT scanners and real life experience suggests that where CT scanners are installed, thus far staff have been happy to hand inspect film. This was my experience earlier this month.

 

[koraks]

It is worth remembering that package and container X-ray procedures are very different to those for passenger air travel. I am unaware of any credible reports of film being damaged in transit through postal systems, certainly not from/to places such as the USA, Canada, UK, EU.

Yes, procedures are different, and indeed, reports on x-ray damage in shipping are virtually nonexistent. At the same time, I see an increase in x-ray/CT imaging on freight containers mostly in relation to drug trafficking. I think it's likely that in the near future, we'll see high percentages of container freight being x-rayed in certain ports. Services like these are currently being outsourced to a.o. Chinese firms that have been engineering dedicated equipment for this, and it seems like they're aiming at high throughput.

 

[Paul Howell]

I've had the same concerns, talking with friends who shoot film, it seems that as long your film is in a clear plastic bag that you hand at the security point even in China and South America the film was looked at and given back without being scanned. One person had a roll of film that he had left in his camera fogged by a scanner in New Zealand, he thought that the metal body of his Canon F1 would offer some protection.

 

[koraks]

@Paul Howell experiences vary; mine don't align perfectly with what you've heard. However, it's kind of moot because this thread is about shipping film, not carrying it on airplanes. There's more than one (big!) thread about the air traffic situation. Let's not make this into another one. Thanks.

 

[dokko]

I researched this about 15 years ago when we were filming a project on film in a country which had no lab.
One option is to find a carrier which does ground shipping, but that's usually not an option if it needs to go overseas in a reasonable time frame.

The big production companies have their own department for this, I assume they use air plaines that only carry freight and no passagers. But it's not something that we could do with our budget.

From talking to people that work in photo labs developing films that get mailed in from other countries, it seems that x-ray damage can happen but it's very rare.

 

[MattKing]

FWIW, with motion picture film, a few years ago Eastman Kodak had one full shipment of film sent to a full length motion picture production that suffered X-ray damage in shipping, and as a result had to incorporate a more complex and expensive procedure into all its subsequent shipping cost calculations.
If I understand correctly, those shipments are separately pre-screened now, and in that way avoid the problem.
With film that we might send in the post, the other issue, besides normal postage screening, is that film might be further examined by Customs and border security people, and they sometimes use X-ray.

 

[Paul Howell]

@Paul Howell experiences vary; mine don't align perfectly with what you've heard. However, it's kind of moot because this thread is about shipping film, not carrying it on airplanes. There's more than one (big!) thread about the air traffic situation. Let's not make this into another one. Thanks.

OP is thinking about buying film in Paris and shipping it back to the U.S rather than going though the Airport security. I think there have many different experiences depending on who, when and where folks traveled. I did try to contact both UPS and FedEx for an answer, but the chat bots don't know or wont say, I was unable to find a phone number of email address for a definitive answer.

 

[koraks]

Ah, too bad; thanks for trying. I'm not surprised the chat bots aren't too helpful in this case. Hey...maybe in 2026.

 

[Don_ih]

With film that we might send in the post, the other issue, besides normal postage screening, is that film might be further examined by Customs and border security people, and they sometimes use X-ray.

And in the instance of a sealed can of 70mm film I once bought, they use their fingers to peel off the tape and open the can in daylight....

 

[GregY]

OP is thinking about buying film in Paris and shipping it back to the U.S rather than going though the Airport security. I think there have many different experiences depending on who, when and where folks traveled. I did try to contact both UPS and FedEx for an answer, but the chat bots don't know or wont say, I was unable to find a phone number of email address for a definitive answer.

I had no problem getting film hand-checked in Calgary (direct flight to Paris).... As it happened i had my film developed at Atellier Publimod, the pro place in Paris. That was just post Covid in Aug/Sept 2022. Since then agencies in Europe have become accustomed to people asking for hand checking film. It had crossed my mind on subsequent trips to send film home, but this past summer (Aug/Sept 2024) Frankfurt & Munich agents were very calm & generous with their time responding to the request for hand-checking.
On the question of x-raying mail...I've ordered from a number of places and had no surprises with fogged film that was mailed to me.

 

[Taylor Nankervis]

My preference wherever I am overseas is to hold on to the film until I get home where I know it can be trusted to get from bag to lab without any risk.

Asia...with the exception of Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia (all three very film-aware), off the top of my head, I would be very wary of trusting precious film to freight or postal services. Don't even think about it from Kathmandu!!

 

[Chuck1]

I just saw a bulk roll of agfa apx 100, in Australia....
Not gonna chance it

 

[relistan]

I’ve had lots of film shipped to and from Europe and the US and never once seen an issue. That includes Germany, the UK, Ireland, Spain, and Italy.

 

[ChrisGalway]

I’ve had lots of film shipped to and from Europe and the US and never once seen an issue. That includes Germany, the UK, Ireland, Spain, and Italy.

I regularly buy film by mail order and it is shipped by air from continental Europe to Ireland ... and never detected any problems at all. I think this is a non-issue.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I too have never had a problem with shipped film, but it does not cause any problems to have "Film, Do Not X-Ray" labels on the package.

 

[GregY]

Taylor in post # 20 makes a very valid point "My preference wherever I am overseas is to hold on to the film until I get home"
We've centred the discussion on the possibility of film being subjected to X-rays when shipped but have not considered the bigger spectre of loss. In Dec 2024 and last month I had two shipments go astray from couriers (UPS). A Nikon lens was lost in shipping from the USA to Canada. Another shipment from USA to Canada was lost for over a month. In both cases other items could be replaced. That is not true with exposed film. My friend, pro photographer Jim Herrington (author of theclimbersbook.com), told me he has for a long time had his film processed wherever he is in the world.
On my 2022 trip to the Alps & Dolomites I had absolutely no concerns flying home after having my film processed in Paris. As a sidenote, no matter what the regulations allow, on that trip. there is no way i could have had my film hand checked. As it happened my flight was scheduled on the day of the air traffic controllers strike & thousands of flights were cancelled. Charles de Gaulle Airport was pure chaos and there was not a human agent in sight as we pressed through security.....just machines to x-ray your luggage. Only after passing through did we arrive at exit customs clearance where we encountered human agents....