Travelling by air with a M7 and film

[BlackDE]

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I'll be travelling to Greece in a few weeks and I am planning to take my M7 with me. What do I need to pay attention to in order not get stuck in security? Should I carry the camera in my hand luggage or put it away in the bag? What about the rolls of film? Frequent travellers, please give me some advice.

 

Bernhard

[FiZZ]

I've never had trouble, other than in Paris, Charles De Gaulle airport. They're the only ones that asked me to open my bag. Oh, and in Amsterdam. But they just asked me to open the bag and check the cameras that I had. I think they were worried more about customs than anything else. I haven't had any problems with X-ray machines and film, and this includes Damascus Airport's ancient X-ray machines. Modern machines are film and magnet strip safe. The fastest way is to put it in a separate bag if you want it with your carry-on. I usually put my film with my luggage and carry a spare roll with me as I like to shoot in the airports I go through.

[gyoung]

always in hand luggage, hold bagage gets much higher doses at scanning, and risk of theft by baggage handlers is much higher.

Gerry

[roydonian]

Between 1995 and 2006 I regularly carried an SL2+M5 outfit through UK, US, Italian, Turkish and Egyptian customs and had no problems, except for once in the UK when an over-zealous security man checked about 30+ boxes of Fuji slide film to make sure that each box was still sealed.

 

I remove the padded inserts from my camera bag and use these to stow the cameras and lenses in one side of a twin-compartment canvas briefcase, along with the film (in the old days) and the memory cards, batteries, charger, mains adaptor, and anything else that's electronic or electrical. Other stuff such as passport, tickets, medicines, glasses, book to read on the plane etc get stowed in the opposite side of the briefcase.

 

The empty camera bag is collapsed and stowed in my suitcase.

 

Film should never go in your checked luggage. The X-ray machines used to check hold baggage are more powerful than those used for hand luggage, so that the operator can be sure of 'seeing' inside any X-ray resistant object that might be in the bag.

 

In Egypt, my camera bag was X-rayed at many of the major museums, and at every airport used for internal flights. My 800 speed film was unaffected.

 

 

 

Best regards,

 

Doug

[honcho]

..... What do I need to pay attention to in order not get stuck in security? Should I carry the camera in my hand luggage or put it away in the bag? What about the rolls of film? Frequent travellers, please give me some advice.

 

Bernhard

 

I travel by air frequently, mainly for wedding commissions in Ireland (10 Ryanair and BmiBaby flights in July 2011 alone). I carry all of the camera equipment I need for this as cabin baggage, except my tripod and chargers, which go in my checked baggage.

 

I think you would be very foolish to leave your M7 in your checked luggage.

 

Security will not be problem but your equipment and film may be subjected to a dust swab and hand search after passing through the x-ray machine. This has happened quite often for me and seems to be random but it only takes a few minutes. In the past I have sent a lot of film through airport security and never had any films damaged or affected, even after multiple x-ray passes on connecting flights. That said, I only ever took transparency films up to 100 asa with me. It may be a different story with faster films. You take your chance.

 

You must keep your cabin bag within the airline's spec or you will risk having to pay extra at best or at worst having it thrown (literally) into the hold.

 

I use a Think Tank Airstream roller bag to transport 2x D3s's, 3 lenses and 2 SB-900's when flying. It is a bit of a squeeze but the Airstream fits into Ryanair and BmiBaby baggage cages. I also have a Think Tank Airport International V2 roller bag and despite the manufacturer's spec, the V2 does not fit.

 

Beware, check your bag size before you go!

[bill]

Good advice already. I'd only add two things.

 

1. Don't stress about it

2. If you can, keep your camera and film separate; maybe put one in your hand baggage, the other in your travelling companions. The only reason I say that is because the film Ms are dense blocks of "something" on x-ray so I have known mine to be given an extra pass as the operator tries to work out what it is.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

[BlackDE]

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Thank you all for your helpful advice. I have been travelling by air extensively in the past but not anymore in the last years and never with a block of metal, called a Leica camera, and rolls of film in my bag.

 

Bernhard

[earleygallery]

Just to add to the above.

 

Always carry your camera and film with you. Luggage going into the hold can be treated roughly (see them throwing bags into the trucks by the planes?) as well as lost!

 

X rays aren't an issue unless you are intending to take your films through 10 or 20 airports! The machines that X ray the big bags in the hold are just the same as the smaller hand luggage ones BUT airports do use higher intensity machines to check suspicious bags.

 

So, carry your camera with you, not loaded with film (in case the airport security want to see inside it), and be ready for them to ask you check your hand luggage after it's been through the xray machine.

[andybarton]

I carry my film in clear plastic bags of the same size as the liquids bags now required and I place them in one of the trays, outside of my hand baggage. When in the bag, they go in the front pocket on the carry on bag so that they are easy to get to. That way, if they can be bothered, the operative can give them the minimal XRay dose. I had them hand checked without much fuss at Gatwick last year, just by using the "I don't suppose you could hand check my film, could you please?" routine.

 

My camera and lens(es) are in the carry-on bag, inside my camera bag but easy to remove should security want to have a closer inspection.

 

I have had my cameras checked manually by security staff more than once. At Frankfurt, on the way home from a forum meeting, they did a full examination of the M7, including swabing for explosives residue, cocaine and whatever else they swab for. Anyone would think that they'd never seen a Leica pass through there before.

 

I only put things in the hold that I am prepared to never see again. My camera, although insured, isn't one of them.

[Nick_S]

Perhaps save some anxiety and purchase your film in Greece. If you are passing through Athens, then a wide range of film is available, e.g., you will find Skiadopoulos (Leica distributer/dealer), Adorama and B&W (analogue specialist supplies) near Platea Kanigos and the Omonia underground station.

 

Nick

[aesop]

...stick to slow/medium speed film if you are going to go stomping through airports with film, Bernhard. Anything over ISO 800 or 1600 and you're asking for trouble. And do what you must to avoid CDG - I am an experienced "film" traveller and, IMHO, the folks there lack the ability to reason. Bunch of turd-brains, the whole lot.

[jippiejee]

Although a single x-ray treatment might not be all that harmful, the effect is cumulative. On a single trip from Amsterdam to Kathmandu last month my bags were x-rayed 5 times. Especially in India and Nepal there seem to be endless rows of machines at random places. I just took the film bag out and asked them to be hand-inspected. Because 10 x-rays back and forth didn't sound all too comfortable to my precious 400 asa films. Only in Frankfurt they took my films through an explosives detection devise, but still they respected my wish to not have them x-rayed.

[FiZZ]

If need be, you can buy an X-ray safe bag for flight. I got one from Adorama just in case, and now I just use it as my film bag.

 

Hakuba

 

This is the one I have. As a test, this year, I put this in my luggage, and I carried four rolls of film with me to use on the way. The four rolls were in the plastic canisters in my carry-on, and I had three rolls in three of my cameras already.

 

I haven't noticed any difference even though I travelled through two airports in both directions. In Amsterdam I was asked as to what I do, but it took 5 minutes and I didn't have to open anything. CDG was a different matter. Those guys were too edgy to begin with. I was expecting security to chase me down the terminal because I was taking pictures all the way.

[bill]

If need be, you can buy an X-ray safe bag for flight. .

 

That's second only to a strap with a steel cable in it as a daft idea. They WILL turn the power up to see what is inside.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

[EddieB]

I made the trip to Australia via Glasgow, Heathrow, Singapore, Cairns, Melbourne, Bangkok, London and back to Glasgow my film (mostly Velvia, but with some HP5+) went through x-ray at least 10 times. I didn't see any evidence of damage / fogging etc to the film.

 

I've been back and fore to Arizona for the past few years - always with film, from PanF to HP5+, and I've given up even thinking about asking someone to check the film by hand.

 

As others have said, keep your film - and camera - in hand baggage. Check very carefully the airlines regulations for size and weight and make sure you're within the worst of them. Some of the airlines seem intent on finding passengers with oversize hand luggage and imposing an excessive charge to transfer them to the hold...

 

Best regards

 

EddieB

[siglo]

I've traveled with film and leica bodies many times. If I am taking lots of film, I sometimes put the new film in my check-in luggage. Haven't had a problem though as the fastest I shoot with is iso400. I've asked for hand inspection at airports where the machines looked outdated, and they've always accepted my request and did a hand check. When I am in big cities, I usually develop the film there before leaving if I have the chance. If you do that, always ask to see negatives they've developed recently to make sure their machine won't scratch or otherwise damage your film.

 

The only time that I got my cameras taken out of the bag was in Heathrow and they were not Leicas. I've had a normal rolling bag with 3 Sony DSLRs and various lenses, they actually swapped every lens, body and accessory for explosives, drugs, etc. They said they couldn't make out what's in the bag because I've had things stacked on top of each other. This took about 20 minutes but I had plenty of time to spare as I always go early. I've switched to a camera specific rolling bag and never had that problem again.

[jaapv]

That's second only to a strap with a steel cable in it as a daft idea. They WILL turn the power up to see what is inside.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

+1

[andybarton]

The worst problem we had going through security was when my wife had put all the bits of change collected on the holiday into a plastic bag so that she could hand it to the stewardesss for some sort of charitable collection, on the flight back. There was quite a lot of it, so when it was x-rayed, it just looked like a solid lump of metal.

 

We had all of our bags searched, PowerBook swabbed, questions asked etc etc.

 

We decided it was best to leave the loose change as a larger tip the next time.

[FiZZ]

That's second only to a strap with a steel cable in it as a daft idea. They WILL turn the power up to see what is inside.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

 

Well so far I haven't had any problems, so I'm thankful. I'm yet to have any film fogged by X-rays. I'm beginning to think this is just hype from film companies!!!

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[Tietje]

I had trouble with the folding Minox tripod. The security guard (a policeman) at Bergen airport looked very alarmed when he saw it in my hand luggage. I was summoned to one side and asked to prove that it was the innocent piece of photographic equipment that I claimed. I assembled it and even removed the cable release. I was allowed to keep the tripod.

 

To agree with the others, I'd never put anything valuable or fragile in checked-in luggage. If you've seen it been handled by baggage handlers, even falling off the trolley and on to the tarmac and left behind.