Taking film through the airport

F

fixedimage

Suspended / Banned
Messages
902
Edit My Images
No
Will it be ok? Do I need to take it out my bag (only taking carry on luggage) and ask for it not to be scanned or will being x-rayed not do it any harm?
 
Ask for it not to be scanned and they will anyway, and will search it thoughly and take swabs as well, Ive never had a problem with films going through the Xray. heard of peps wrapping it in tin foil as protection though
 
Last edited:
when bringing my films to China, they were in a bag that was scanned at least 10 times. At the time the expo was on so taking the subway around shanghai meant xray machines before every station. At heathrow airport i tried to take them out and the lady in security wouldn't allow it. Turns out a lot of xray machines these days are film safe, even in China, which I didn't trust at first, but after developing my films I can see no problem with them.
 
You should be fine. Some of us used lead foil bags to carry film through airports years ago, but I don't know if it was really necessary. Repeated exposure was supposed to be more risky, but Rick said he didn't have any problems with this in China.

You can still ask for hand inspection. It'll probably depend on how busy "security" is, and how much they feel like ordering you about, just to make sure you remember who is in charge.
 
All sounds good.
Another sourse has said that so long as the film is under 800iso it'll be fine, which it will be.
 
+1 what Rick said. My film must have been scanned countless times in my travels in and around China and no issues whatsoever. Just keep it in the hand luggage and you'll be fne.
 
What ever you do make sure that its not in your hold luggage, the x ray scanners that they use for scanning hold luggage are so powerful that any sort of film no matter how slow will just come out fogged.

Although its fine to take film through the hand luggage scanners, if your carrying high speed film (ISO 800 or above) ask for it to be hand searched as its much more vulnerable to damage which accumulates the more times its scanned (if you say high speed professional film then their more likely to be willing to hand search according to Stansted Airports website http://tinyurl.com/xrayfilm800) although apparently it takes up to 32 separate scans before any damage is visible.
Don't bother using a lead lined bag as all the operator will do is increase the power until it can be seen through, increasing the total exposure to the film even more.
 
Took loads of film, both unexposed and exposed, through x-ray scanners from Heathrow, via Paris to Cuba and back last year and had no problem at all.
 
s162216 said:
What ever you do make sure that its not in your hold luggage, the x ray scanners that they use for scanning hold luggage are so powerful that any sort of film no matter how slow will just come out fogged.
Click to expand...
Not in my experience. Not that I'm advising anyone try it.
 
Not taking hold luggage anyway this trip and even when I do, the cameras come in the cabin with me.
Not too fussed if the airline misplaces my pants, I can make one pair last, turning them inside out, back to front and washing them in the sink etc.
Losing a camera or two would be much more traumatic!
 
The Small X-ray machines use a different type of radiation opposed to the ones they use when you put your bags in the holds. The smaller units do affect film, but it's nothing noticeable, and would require you to put it through a few times before anything is noticed.
 
When I was unfortunate enough to get sent to wars in the 1990s I used to put half in the hold and half hand luggage, shoot alternate rolls and then do the same on the way back. This way by the law of averages I would hopefully be OK.

Never had a film fogged, something I wouldn't really worry about these days.

Maybe if you were going to Russia in the 1970s, well thats a different story.....
 
Its the latest hold luggage scanners that started to be installed a few years ago that are the problem apparently, their way more powerful than past scanners so they can see through pretty much anything.
There was an interview with an x-ray operator at I think it was Heathrow on Radio 4 about a year ago and when asked how powerful this new scanner was he replied 'anything alive that passes through this won't be at the other end'.

Basically I think the answer is, only keep film in hand luggage and ask for a manual search if you have high speed film.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top