X-Ray Bags not allowed

[Ian Grant]

How about 10-15 passes through carry-on bags through multiple airports in multiple countries in multiple years without an issue? Too many horror stories and not enough damn evidence out there.

My films have passed through at least that many times in the past with no ill effect, particularly when we flew to Chile & Peru which was more than 10 flights & some airports scan twice at departure and Peru on landing as well.

In the UK there's a committee that oversees Film scanning issues and the safety/non fogging of films. This has representatives from Ilford, Kodak & Fuji as well as Professional & Amateur Photographic organizations. Thew airports no longer issue guidelines for passengers as modern carry on scanners are safe for a very high number of multiple passes before there's a detectable increase in base fog or any other issues.

ian

 

[ozphoto]

Yes, I've seen them "turn it up" when trying to ascertain what exactly an 80-200mm lens really is. If they can't tell from this, they ask you to show them and I have had lenses removed and scanned separately.

If I have film in my possession, I tell them it's Pro Film, rated at 6400ASA. A hand search has never done any harm - they simply swab it just like they have swabbed me for an explosives test on numerous occasions.

Personally, I'd rather be safe and arrive at the airport earlier so it can be hand checked rather than sorry later because I pushed my luck.

If you are going to use lead-lined bags, you are simply prolonging the inspection process - they'll turn it up to try and see through it, get a negative on the visual and ask to check it by hand anyway. Easier to just ask them to hand check in the first instance and tell them it's really high ASA/ISO rated.

 

[marylandphoto]

As for the the oft-quoted "solution" of mailing ahead or buying locally, it is impractical at best to mail to yourself when you are travelling to a new location every day in multiple countries. International mail goes through a similar x-ray machine anyway. And you would have to pack it and post it home again (another x-ray machine). And what chance of buying Ektar 100 or Neopan 400 in, say, Invercargill (lat. 46.25 S, long. 168.21 E, pop. 52,000 )? Both of those films are even hard enough to find in Melbourne (pop. 4 million), not to mention price.

FWIW, I've had hundreds and hundreds of boxes of film sent to me (that's how I get my film) through UPS, FedEx, USPS AND international mail from every continent except Africa and Antarctica, and have never had one problem.

 

[Michael A. Smith]

To Kevin Kehler,

If you are going to quote one of my favorite poets, please get the quote right. It reads:

I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing
than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance

 

[Pupfish]

I'm banking on this guy's advice being accurate

My cameras are Mamiya 7, so no red window!
Having run the Ilford worldwide complaints system for 15 years until 2002 I know that x-ray damage to film of all speeds is quite common - as it still is, having spoken to them about it in the last few weeks. Whatever is printed on the wrapper (arrows and numbers) is superimposed onto the negatives. There is little distortion. It is seen in areas of low density on negatives. Zips are another common effect seen exposed onto film. You may not want to believe it but it happens. Dave

Being that I take my photography seriously and the images can be worth tens of thousands of dollars each, I really don't wish to be one of the unlucky ones. Hand inspections, always. (Long live Quickloads!)

 

[Curt]

These are the three fundamentals of Radiation: Time, Distance, and Shielding. Time, the amount of time an object is exposed to X-Rays. Distance, the physical distance the object is to the X-Ray source. Shielding, anything that attenuates the beam of X-Rays, blocks them from the object, IE Lead.

For instance, I had a camera backpack loaded with my lenses and put it in the gray tray and sent it through the X-Ray machine for inspection. Because it was so full of lenses they literally went forward then back then forward then back then forward, then made comments to me, then forward then back. I would imagine that the backpack got plenty of X-Ray exposure. Maybe the equivalent of a dozen trips through the one pass method. Forward is one backward is two and on and on. So stuffing film in their with the lenses allows it to be given a dozen exposures of radiation.

I had my film in a shoulder bag which was in a separate gray tray with my coat or shoes, I forget which, and it got one pass. It seems there is no way or place that film is safe, it's a crap shoot whether the film will go for a radiation ride though the machine and back, or just stop and collect exposure, that's a strong possibility too. They pause and do a look see for a while. The only way to know what exposure is given to the piece of luggage is to have the right type of dosimeter in with the items. The dosimeter would have to be calibrated and there is really no way to do that with equipment that's untouchable so the bottom line is we as the public are screwed. It's getting more and more the case where any reasonable liberty is being taken away by a totalitarian entity. Make a scene or waves and you will be taken away to a room where you will be reduced of your rights permanently. Fumble through the system and you might be all right, but remember they are always watching you and what you do and how you react.

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