shipping film overseas

[vm13]

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has anyone tried this? i want to send a few hundred rolls from new york to istanbul, i asked DHL if they x-ray but couldn't get a straight answer. 400 speed.

just don't want to deal with that much at the airport.

[Xmas]

Phone the air side shops at your airport, to see what film they stock & price. Have it dev at a mini lab or pro lab in country.

 

Noel

[earleygallery]

I bought a few boxes of film from a seller in Germany, sent to me by air parcel post, they're fine. I don't know if it was x-rayed or not. Maybe you could specify 'surface mail' if you can wait a few weeks for it.

[matiasgd]

I always bought film from Freestyle (California USA), shipped to Chile. No problem with X rays

[Brent1965]

Of course they'll x-ray the parcel. Prob open it for a look as well.

It's not going to harm the film, nor degrade it.

[dicko101]

Sent via courier from B+H or Adorama, I've not had any problems. I ordered up 400 ISO film have travelled extensively throughout Europe with various speeds. Apparently, there may be some fogging after half-a-dozen or so X-Rays, but with occupational health and safety these days, those X-Ray machines would run at the bare minimum unless they encounter a lead-lined box.

[Glenn R]

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I'm only recently back into film and had meant to ask this question. I'm taking my M3 away this year and will be flying.

 

I take it from this thread that just a standard 2 way trip should not affect any film stock I take in my luggage?

 

Cheers,

 

Glenn.

[andybarton]

Flying has no effect on your film, provided you keep it in your hand luggage.

 

You won't get a hand search any more (at least not in Europe, I don't know about RoW), but if you put the film into a clear plastic bag and then into one of the belt/wallet/key/mobile phone trays, they will give it the minimum dose of x-rays. If you try to be clever, and put it into a lead lined bag, or something similar, they will just turn up the x-ray strength until they can see it, or you will have your whole baggage turned over.

 

If you make it easy for the staff to do their jobs, they just get on with it, in my experience.

[Glenn R]

Thanks Andy, appreciate the advice.

[Peter_S]

You won't get a hand search any more (at least not in Europe, I don't know about RoW),

 

FWIW: I had my film recently hand-checked at Vancouver, Munich, Frankfurt and Tbilisi (Georgia) airports after kindly asking for it. Told them it was ISO 1600 film. They understood.

[andybarton]

That's interesting. Last time I was at Frankfurt, they virtually dismantled my M7 before swabbing it for explosives.

[Farkle-Mpls]

I always use a lead-lined film bag and I used to "bury" it in my camera bag. About 1:5 times, the camera bag would be pulled aside and hand searched. In the US, they seem to be more tolerant of the film bag and one helpful TSA agent offered me some advise to speed my trip through security: she said there was no problem using the lead-lined bag, but please pull it out of my luggage and put the bag itself in the bin so it's easily noticed. They can then hand-check it and it doesn't look like I'm trying to hide it.

 

I've used that method for my last couple trips and I haven't had any issues or questions.

 

In other parts of the world, the process and tolerance for lead-lined bags may be different. In the US, there are signs at all the TSA queues which say (in essence) they will be happy to hand-check film for you. A film-friendly TSA ...? We can only hope.

 

FWIW, I used to travel with a single roll of ISO 3200 B&W film just in case I was pulled aside and questioned on why I was hand-checking slow speed film (usually 64 or 100 ISO). I could hold up the single roll of 3200 and say that since it was mixed in with the other rolls, I needed the whole lot hand checked. I don't do that any more but maybe it is still a good idea in other parts of the world ...?

[cheewai_m6]

Flying has no effect on your film, provided you keep it in your hand luggage.

 

You won't get a hand search any more (at least not in Europe, I don't know about RoW), but if you put the film into a clear plastic bag and then into one of the belt/wallet/key/mobile phone trays, they will give it the minimum dose of x-rays. If you try to be clever, and put it into a lead lined bag, or something similar, they will just turn up the x-ray strength until they can see it, or you will have your whole baggage turned over.

 

If you make it easy for the staff to do their jobs, they just get on with it, in my experience.

 

This is just not true. I read a post on flickr from a guy who is an xray operator and he has absolute zero control on how much 'intensity' of xray is being used. It's all the same level. The image they see on screen goes through a ccd-like process, similar to that of a dig camera, and by the time they see the image, it's already passed the scanning part if the machine. Also he said, he put a roll of korai gold through the machine over 100 times with no effect. He also tested a roll of portra 15 times with no effect.