Current airport X-rays & film

[spylaw4]

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I"m off to India next week and taking my M4-2 as one camera, the D2 being the other.

First time with film in hand luggage for many years (160 ISO colour and 400 ISO B&W). I estimate 6 times through security (LHR, DXB, DEL, UDR, DEL, DXB), unless there are arrival x-rays as well in which case there would be three more.

Need I be concerned? Or should I attempt to opt for a hand examination? UDR (Udaipur) is the one that worries me most, possibly the oldest machine. Should I get a lead lined bag? I'm going to take the film out of its boxes at least and maybe also the plastic cans.

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[nobbylon]

I was over in Bangladesh and Nepal last year with a variety of film 100-400 asa. I used a lead film bag and had no problems at all. Don't however put any film stock in with checked baggage as the strength of radiation is much higher. Have a good trip

[peter_n]

You shouldn't have any trouble. I've had ISO 100-400 through several x-rays and no problems. If you feel queasy about the number of passes take the film out of the boxes & cans and put it all in a clear plastic bag like a freezer bag and try for hand inspection wherever you can. Most places I've been to insist on you putting film through the machine but they will still hand-examine here in the US. I had a security checker tell me recently here that digital was rubbish and he was only too happy to examine film.

[D Carter]

I've been thinking of starting out from the U.S. with a couple of rolls of film, hand inspection, then buying film overseas and mailing back the exposed film to the U.S. for processing every couple of days.

 

To make this work I assume that "professional" film is readily available in larger European and Asian cities and film is not X rayed by the various post offices.

 

Any one else work this way?

[rsherdvm]

Aren't the TSA or airport security concerned about the contents of the lead lined film carrier? Do they inspect it separately? The bag would seem to be a great solution!

[nobbylon]

yep they do get concerned and visually inspected my film after it had gone through the machines

[Xax]

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in asia i never had a problem with hand inspection, but i opted for it in only in:

 

osaka, tokyo, bangkok, krabi, chiang mai

 

in vienna i had problems but some talk and they would do it.

[gylee]

I"m off to India next week and taking my M4-2 as one camera, the D2 being the other.

First time with film in hand luggage for many years (160 ISO colour and 400 ISO B&W). I estimate 6 times through security (LHR, DXB, DEL, UDR, DEL, DXB), unless there are arrival x-rays as well in which case there would be three more.

Need I be concerned? Or should I attempt to opt for a hand examination? UDR (Udaipur) is the one that worries me most, possibly the oldest machine. Should I get a lead lined bag? I'm going to take the film out of its boxes at least and maybe also the plastic cans.

 

There are no arrival x-rays in Delhi, but you will get x-rayed again when you transfer to domestic for the Udaipur leg. I have travelled extensively with film in India and never had a problem. One thing to keep in mind though - many public buildings, and some hotels, will also want to x-ray your bag when you enter. This can mean exposure to many more x-rays than just at the airport and on some older, less regularly adjusted equipment. As I said, I have never had a problem, but if you are concerned, you might want to take your lead lined bag with you everywhere.

 

G.

[ejd]

I've never noticed any problems with X-rays, having carried film (iso 100, 400) through machines on many flights -- the same film getting x-rayed many times. I had several films developed in Dehli when I went there in 1997 -- at a place in Khan (spelling?) market, as I recall.

 

John

[earleygallery]

I bought a load of film from an e bay seller in Germany, I assume its been through X rays somewhere on its journey........must shoot a roll to check that it is OK !!

 

So far - touch wood - I've not had any problems with airport x rays and film.

[Eelco Beket Amsterdam]

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No trouble. I've had ISO 100-400

[Michael-IIIf]

Brian,

 

I'd be curious to see if you could get some shots of DXB's new Terminal 3 and Concourse 2. I worked on them five years ago and they're supposed to be open soon. Although if you are transiting you won't go into the terminal.

 

They don't allow design team members to take photographs, we could never smuggle cameras through the staff entrance, but I've never had any problem with photography when passing through as a normal passenger.

 

Have a great trip.

 

Michael

[nobbylon]

Eelco, just curious, which ttl OR M7 is that? plain top plate, nice.

[ndjambrose]

Aren't the TSA or airport security concerned about the contents of the lead lined film carrier? Do they inspect it separately? The bag would seem to be a great solution!

 

Lead-lined bags are not great solutions. For a start, they're not made from solid lead, so they're not impervious to X-Rays. They merely contain enough trace elements of lead to reduce the penetration of X-Rays a little. So all that happens is the security staff see something they can't view clearly and they rescan it at a higher dosage. And then higher again if needed.

 

All a lead-lined bag does is make your film a target for repeat high dosage scans.

 

If you want to be kind to your film put it in a transparent plastic bag and send it through the machine by itself. This way it will receive only minimum scanning.

[rsherdvm]

I wonder whether the cannister the film comes in is essentially impervious to x-rays. It's made of medal, afterall!

[Eelco Beket Amsterdam]

Hello Nobbylon,

 

It's a M7 à la carte in Silver chrome finish, without engraving.

Controls in silver chrome finish (like M6). Classic Vulkanit leatherette.

0.72 universal viewfinder magnification. Frame pairs for 28 and 90mm, 50 and 75mm, 35 and 135mm. No personal engraving. And optical DX

[spylaw4]

Thanks for all the responses - both on and off topic.

 

There seems to be some difference of opinion, which I suppose is what I expected - nothing new here. But it does seem that most folks have not experienced much problem with passing film through x-rays a few times. I'll play it a bit by ear I think.

[gyoung]

Thanks for all the responses - both on and off topic.

 

There seems to be some difference of opinion, which I suppose is what I expected - nothing new here. But it does seem that most folks have not experienced much problem with passing film through x-rays a few times. I'll play it a bit by ear I think.

 

Just got the first two rolls of Provia (100 & 400) back from a New Zealand trip, it went through 8 security scans in hand luggage on the trip, no sign of any problems.

I wouldn't put any film in checked in baggage though, the scanning is at much higher levels than hand baggage

I tried Metro in Birmingham (England) for these two, sent Monday 1st class, back Wednesday 1st class, nice and clean and in Quickpoint mounts which I like best of all. Thats miles quicker than the Fuji lab or D lab 7 in Guernsey.

 

Gerry

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[Chuck Albertson]

I've been thinking of starting out from the U.S. with a couple of rolls of film, hand inspection, then buying film overseas and mailing back the exposed film to the U.S. for processing every couple of days.

 

To make this work I assume that "professional" film is readily available in larger European and Asian cities and film is not X rayed by the various post offices.

 

Any one else work this way?

 

I wouldn't bother, unless you already know some places to pick up film overseas. Particularly for "professional" film (if it's refrigerated by the dealer), you may end up spending a lot of time looking for obscure distributors in industrial parks on the outskirts of some cities. Even then, they may not have the kind of film you're used to shooting, and what's on offer may be outrageously expensive (compared to the cheap prices we enjoy in the States).

 

Airport x-rays simply aren't the big deal they once were, at least the scanners used for carry-on bags. I routinely take TMZ through half a dozen scanners on a trip, and it hasn't adversely affected it. That includes the new scanners they're using at Heathrow. Lead bags may slow you up going through a checkpoint, if the security people want to open it up for a look inside---contrary to popular myth, operators do not have the ability to jack up the dosage of scanners to "look" inside a lead bag.

 

Ask for a hand inspection where you can (mostly in the US, similar requests elsewhere in the world get turned away with a hiss and a chop of the hand), and when you have the time to spare, but otherwise just put it through the machine and don't worry about it.

[brill64]

Does anyone have any experience of carrying Infrared film through? Hand inspections are okie as long as customs don't open the cannister! On leaving Siem Reap in Cambodia, the officer insisting that he wanted to open a week's worth of canisters containing infra-red film. The ensuing queue delays caught the attention of a more senior officer and he had no problem hand checking the film inside a film changing bag which I demonstrated how to use although we had difficulty understanding each other's language. Even after that, he placed the cans into a sealed envelope which was given to the chief purser on the plane and only returned to me personally in Bangkok terminal after the flight. I was nervous and chewing my nails that they would just shove it through a scanner anyway but when on finally processing the films back in Hong Kong, they were completely fine.

 

My question is, is infra-red film really that sensitive and is it destroyed by even mild, accumulative x-ray scans for hand luggage?

 

I think patience and consideration really helps as well as arriving earlier than normal for your check-in, especially if you are a little concerned like me about hand inspections of film. It doesn't help to have a ton of people behind you losing their temper and being made late for their flights!