Traveling with film to Hawaii? Advice needed!

bags27 · May 21, 2022

Within the U.S., I have B&H (or someone else) mail the film to where I'm going, and then I Fedex exposed film home. No airport hassle.

In a couple of weeks, we're flying cross-country to California, but after 4 days, we're going to Hawaii, visiting Maui, Big Island, and Kauai. Around 3 days/island. Is it reasonable to find 120 film (or if necessary just 35mm film) on each island and mail it back before going on? Or is this just way too much of a hassle, and should I surrender to the situation and just take a digital camera?

thanks for any specific information or advice.

Sirius Glass · May 21, 2022

Consider taking the helicopter tour over Kauai with John Harter. Set your camera on preferred shutter speed and set it 1/500 second or faster. Reserve ahead of time.
Make reservations in advance to see the sunrise on Haleakala and bring down jackets and something warm for your feet.
Take time to see Hilo on the Big Island and The City of Refuge south Kona.

Take more color film than think you will need.

4season · May 21, 2022

I recommend that you buy your film in advance and hand-carry it with you. If time allows, you can try to get it hand-inspected at the airport. But I just pass it through the security scanner.

You can buy film in Honolulu at Treehouse, but whether they will have your preferred emulsion in stock when you arrive is a whole 'nother matter. Dunno about availability of film on any other island.

gone · May 21, 2022

Call and ck w/ the inter island carriers. It's been a while since I lived on those islands, but you wouldn't want them x-raying your film over and over again.

They were mostly concerned about people taking sand or rocks-off island at the time, that's totally kapu. I bought film online there, you get used to buying many, many things that way.....or you do w/o.

I'd be careful of the helicopters. None of the locals would take them, we saw far too many go down on the Big Island around the volcanoes and shore lines where wind currents are tricky. Can't remember if it was the blue helicopters or the green ones you needed to avoid, I would avoid them all. There was a spell when it seemed like one went down every month. People don't walk away from helicopter crashes either.

120 film in Hawaii? Maybe a store on Maui or O'ahu, maybe. Seeing that in a Hilo store (where I usually was) would have been like seeing a unicorn.

MattKing · May 21, 2022

You could always ask @David A. Goldfarb about film availability in Hawaii.

BCM · May 21, 2022

I just got back from a week on Kauai traveling with a 4x5 and 4 lenses and 15 holders as well as a changing bag, tripod and extra film. A few notes:

1) If you can keep your film in a different bag and have them hand-inspect, you'll be WAY better off than having it with your camera. The separate bag allows you to just pull it out and put it in a bin for hand inspection. Everything else can go through the x-ray. We flew through San Diego and had to leave the terminal and go back through an additional inspection. The people behind me were *not* pleased when each film holder was checked.

2) Tell TSA if they ask that it is all to be shot at 3200 so there is no argument about ASA.

3) I NEVER saw any film on the island ever.

4) Next time I'll ship film to myself and ship it back via overnight Fed-Ex. In my case, I'd carry empty holders and a changing tent. For roll film, it doesn't matter.

5) Plan for long days. Traveling on Kauai takes quite a bit of time and I understand this is common on other islands.

6) The coast is cool and I'd certainly go to the canyon again BUT go early (we left our house in Hanalei) at 5:30 and by the time it was 12:00, the canyon was way too busy for me. I did get some great shots especially shooting Ektar 100 on the red soils.

6) I have hiked in Kauai (last trip) and carried a backpack with a 6x17 camera. The trails can be dangerous if it rains (and it will) so wear really good shoes and take water and snacks.

Hope that helps..

wiltw · May 21, 2022

My wife and I flew from SF Bay area to Maui only about 2 months ago. We encountered no CT at gate Security in either San Jose or Kahului Maui. But checked baggage does go thru baggage CT machine at curbside, before you enter the terminal building in Maui.
Multiple X-ray passes is safe for film not ISO1600, but CT will ruin film...that has been the Kodak position for decades.

BCM · May 22, 2022

wiltw said:
My wife and I flew from SF Bay area to Maui only about 2 months ago. We encountered no CT at gate Security in either San Jose or Kahului Maui. But checked baggage does go thru baggage CT machine at curbside, before you enter the terminal building in Maui.
Multiple X-ray passes is safe for film not ISO1600, but CT will ruin film...that has been the Kodak position for decades.

ALSO remember that there is often an agricultural inspection and those machines could add to the problem if you check anything without a lead-lined bag.

mrosenlof · May 22, 2022

I've been to hawaii twice in the last 7 months. Don't plan on buying film there, except maybe in Honolulu. There may be places where it's available on other islands but it's not common. I took medium format and 4x5 and had no hassles with hand inspection.

In my recent experience, TSA has been very willing to do swab inspections. If I ask if a scanner is the new CT type, the response is mostly "do you want a hand inspection?".

I don't carry film faster than 400, and don't worry about the older style scanners, but even in lines with those older scanners, I've been offered hand inspection.

The most recent ag inspection, I removed my bag of film before that X-ray, and just told the inspector it was film and got no argument.

bags27 · May 22, 2022

Everyone: thanks so incredibly much for all the help and advice. I come away feeling a bit more determined to shoot film rather than digital. There are just too many beautiful things to see that I want to record on film, and so I will take film with me and be very careful at airports.

thanks again!!

DREW WILEY · May 22, 2022

Trying to find film on the islands is likely to tie up a lot of time and prove frustrating. There are photo stores in Lihue, Honolulu, and Hilo. But you'll be surprised just how slow traffic can get in the handful of major cities, especially if you don't already know your way around. We usually fly out of quickie Oakland instead of uptight SFO. I've had 400 ASA film (TMax 400) in the carry-on and X-rayed up to 6 times (including Ag inspections), with no evidence of fogging, even densitometer tested afterwards. If one of these newer more intense CT scanners is involved, just have individual roll film paks in a ziplok bag where they can see them if necessary. If you're traveling with sheet film, allow for more time in the line, since not many TSA inspectors are familiar with sheet film holders. Just make sure your film is readily accessible, and if necessary, a swab inspection will go fast. Above all, be polite; those guys go through some tough days.

Sirius Glass · May 22, 2022

Traffic moves much more slowly than one would think. There are no highways on Kauai, Maui, or Hawaii.

McDiesel · May 22, 2022

I flew from SFO to Kauai last year with a bunch of film in a separate ziplock bag. Both times, flying to/fro, TSA had no issues with it and my film wasn't put through airport scanners.

BCM · May 22, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
Traffic moves much more slowly than one would think. There are no highways on Kauai, Maui, or Hawaii.

Technically on Kauai, there is one highway - 2 lanes and 40-50 mph but lots to see!

Sirius Glass · May 23, 2022

BCM said:
Technically on Kauai, there is one highway - 2 lanes and 40-50 mph but lots to see!

There is so much to see drive very s---l---o---w---l---y.

BAC1967 · May 23, 2022

If you call the Treehouse in Honolulu they can probably tell you if and where you can get film on the other islands. They were friendly and helpful last time I was there.

DREW WILEY · May 23, 2022

Well, there are highways on all these islands. In fact, there's a distinct multi-lane section on Maui headed toward the airport with a minimum allowed speed limit - you either drive fast enough, or are in violation of the law. And even roads like the one to Hana are downright freeways compared to where I came from! But no, you won't be going 70. If you want a more adventurous road, take the one around the south side of the island where it turns into one lane on the side of a cliff; no guard rail or turnouts of course. Rental car agencies have a simple, No, to that one.

The bigger problem on either Kaui at Waimea Canyon or uphill to the summit of Haleakala on Maui is the damned tour buses if you head out too late. But both places are remarkable. Witnessing sunrise atop Haleakala is amazing,
but often accompanied by cold howling wind.

David A. Goldfarb · May 27, 2022

Treehouse in Kaka'ako on O'ahu is the place, and there are some good restaurants and interesting street art in that neighborhood, so it's a good place to wander around with a camera. I haven't been on a plane since the pandemic, so I have no idea what's happening at the airports.

Fujicaman1957 · May 30, 2022

Okay...I deal with this problem every time I got to Las Vegas.

1) get the address of the hotel you'll be staying at and ship it UPS to the check-in desk to hold for pickup. Mail it well enough in advance to make sure it gets there in time.

2) the afternoon before you leave, UPS it back to your home.

3) TSA people can get very pissy about hand inspections.

Kodachromeguy · May 30, 2022

Fujicaman1957 said:
3) TSA people can get very pissy about hand inspections.

My experience has been the opposite. During 2 plane trips in 2021 and one in 2022, the TSA agents in Seattle, Boston, Charlotte, and Jackson were polite and accommodating with respect to hand-inspecting camera film

DREW WILEY · May 30, 2022

I've mainly had positive experiences with TSA hand checks, with perhaps one orangutan incident. On the other hand, I can hardly count the number of times the chimps and gorillas of UPS seemed to have misunderstood the meaning of Air Freight to be tossing your precious package out of the plane onto concrete 10,000 feet below. Deliveries to the wrong address? - happened again just last week. I'm lucky the neighbors that received it were honest. USPS (the postal service) is five times worse these days. Where is the chimp Caesar when we need one that actually knows how to read?

wiltw · May 31, 2022

DREW WILEY said:
USPS (the postal service) is five times worse these days. Where is the chimp Caesar when we need one that actually knows how to read?

I just spent the weekend at a friend's second home, and the guys were all fraternity brothers in college. One mentioned the very inconsistent delivery times for his US Mail, whereas ours is very consistently delivered each morning about 9am, or (when there is a different carrier doing the route) about 11am. So it seems the USPS delivery issue is very route dependent...his post office blames the issue on needing more carriers!

images39 · Jun 1, 2022

I'd buy your film in advance and take it with you. In countless US trips, I've had zero problems when asking TSA to hand check film. Traveling in Europe... whole different story.

Dale

bags27 · Jun 1, 2022

This has been a really helpful thread for me: thanks to everyone!

It turns out my family decided not to go to Hawaii this year. Instead, we'll be in various parts of California and Nevada, and I'll do what I usually do: have the undeveloped sent directly to our first place, and then I'll Fedex the exposed film back to me.

But I have a lot of confidence now about taking film through TSA if I need to. Thanks all!

Traveling with film to Hawaii? Advice needed!

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Traveling with film to Hawaii? Advice needed!

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