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How harmful are new x-ray machines?


Humood

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Ian, I agree, interesting question.

I'm only going by my own experience.

BUT, the clear impression I get reading the comments from others is that it's not their experience at all but hearsay.

The day someone comes up with hard facts, I'll reconsider my decision or go completely digital. But than, what if x-rays corrupt SD cards? :eek:

Falstaff

They don't.

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  • 3 months later...
What do x-rays do to your brain :confused:

 

Why does the dentist leave the room when he/she x-rays your teeth :confused:

 

The technician leaves in order to minimize the accumulation of doing many x-rays. She usually stands behind a leadened wall or window.

 

We are lucky in our little town to have an Aquilion One scanner which uses a fraction of the radiation of competing units. One full body scan exposes the patient to about the same amount of radiation as six cross-USA air flights.

 

Anywho, your dentist should be into digital X-Rays by now.

 

For film - it is a crap shoot. Hand it to the tech and ask for a hand inspection.

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Having traveled frequently with film over the last couple of years, my experience is that (in the US at least) most X-ray machines will have ISO-safe ratings posted. If they don't, I've found that I always get a straight answer if I ask security personnel. I fly in and out of Portland, Maine quite frequently, which is an airport the 9/11 hijackers passed through that fateful morn. They now have particularly powerful X-ray machines for check-in luggage. When I mentioned that I had film, the gent operating the machine advised me to take it out of my check-in and carry it through. I've also never had problems using lead bags and have never been refused a hand inspection. Then again, I make a point of wearing a suit & tie to fly. It's made a difference in how I'm treated.

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As I travel quite a lot I notice much more resistance or even outright refusal to check film manually. I do not use a lead bag because it is too big and obvious.

 

What does seem to get through without a second glance is the Hama/Kaiser lead box labeled Film-Safe X. This contains 4 films and is good to iso3200. You can scatter these around your hand luggage and your wife's.

 

Just picked up a few more on e-bay for $5 apiece.

 

Regards

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Its in German, but shows my experience with x-ray machines, flight was to Miami.

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/analog-forum/159934-tri-x-kanns-den-sein-sein.html#post1572218

 

I recommend handchecking, they do that for 1600 ISO films by default, for 400 with a bit of asking nicely....

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i have travelled through asia/india recently carrying my film in a lead bag, some pushed up to 3200, and had no issues (several accumulations of scanning up to 10 times).

 

with regard to lead bag, i guess some (but not all) x-ray machines have the ability to increase power which is why i always first asked for hand checking, and if this is denied i told the guy that there is a lead bag and no need to increase power but to do a hand check if they can't see what's inside; this usually worked fine.

 

developing locally is an option but processes result in variations of quality: eg, had some film done in Bangkok and the lab is professional, ie, good results, yet much more grainy compared to what i'd get back home, so it was more a continuity issue than a quality issue if this makes any sense

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Have traveled a lot and have never had problems with one exception. Usually the security people have done a hand check but film has also gone through the scanner with no ill effects.

 

Only problem was one trip about 10 years ago with the family from US to Kenya and Tanzania and back. I brought a lot film with me and it got hand search all the way out to Nairobi. I shot 23 rolls in my old M6. No problem at Kenyatta airport on the way to Heathrow but leaving Heathrow they refused hand search and despite pleading scanned all my films. Most came through OK but 6 rolls had bars of fogging that showed as vertical light green bars on the prints. The film was Ektapress 400 (I think it was called PJ400).

 

The lab-photoshop where i had the film developed said it was x-ray fogging and was undoubtedly radiation passing through the film slot of the cassette. I was sorry that some of the photos were ruined and my next trip to the UK I had films developed before I went to the airport.

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