Airline travel with unprocessed film

Hello,

I am planing a trip to Peru in a few months and would like to bring along my own

film stock to take pictures. Two cameras and a variety of b&w and color

(negative and slide) film. I've read about the possible problems with airport

scanning/x-ray equipment and film. But what happens once the film is used but

not processed? I plan to bring back my rolls of film and develop theme here in

the US (b&w I'll develop myself). Does the airport scanning/x-ray equipment have

any effect on exposed film or the effect is the same on all unprocessed film?

Thanks.

I find it easiest to remove all film from the boxes/wrapper and put it in a large zip-loc type

clear bag for hand checking. Of course, you have to carry it on and not check it with your

luggage, but it's generally worth it.

The effects of x-rays at any level on any photographic materials are cumulative. So, that effects both exposed and unexposed film of any ISO. While one or two passes of lower speed ISO films through an carry-on baggage scanner may not produce base side emulsion fog, multiple passes may do just that. It doesn't matter who processes the film. In the U.S., you're still entitled to hand-inspection of carry-on film. Not so overseas or at foreign airports. They may or may not hand inspect. In England, forget it. Either your film rides through the scanner or you don't get on the airplane.

 

Here's the current TSA link on flying with film and the associated problems. http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/editorial_1035.shtm

 

Of course the problem with lead-lined bags left in checked bags is they can crank up the power used to scan those bags and see through the packaging. That kind of level is known to harm any films.

 

So, Imir, the two best ways I've found to handle the problem are either send the exposed film back to the lab I use in the U.S. via Fedex or UPS and mark the box "film do not x-ray" although I'm told they don't x-ray their shipments. The other way is to find a Kodak quality lab where you are and get the film processed before you head for home. And when you get back, take the unexposed stuff and test it before you use it to ensure it's not fogged by the return trip.

 

Take it light.

Mark

The effect, if you expose it to xrays, is the same for exposed and unexposed.

 

Don't put the films in the hold, they will be affected by the more powerful checked luggage scanners.

 

100-400iso films are fine pretty much where ever you go in hand luggage. I've carried faster, but don't bother anymore, since I uprate the 400's.

 

By all means ask for a hand inspection if it gives you peace of mind. I would suggest this actually for where you're going, since I've heard mention smaller third world airports tend to have older more powerful machines. I know this is counter intuative, but we're lucky enough to have things such as working conditions that limit xray dosage. Not so in other countries where cheaper machines are used. I guess it costs money to shiled or fine tune the dosage.

 

Anyway, others may be able to correct me but looking out there at all the photos from that place before digital came along, I'd say you won't have anything to worry about either way.

I went to Peru last summer and managed to avoid scanning.

 

It goes 100 times smoother if you have a spanish-speaking traveling buddy. But they will paw through your film. The guy went through and looked at the leader for every single roll...

Ross is correct: ALL undeveloped film - exposed or unexposed - suffers from X-ray.

Sometimes more than other times, depending on the field-strength of the X-ray 'blasts'

used. Airports NOT in the western world often use 'second-hand' X-ray equipment 'we', in

the west, used 30/40 years ago. Imagine the field-strengths . . .

 

To protect film from X-ray carry it - ALL your films, exposed and unexposed - in lead-

lined bags or pouches when going through X-ray machines. They are impenetrable for X-

ray, but can be hand inspected, of course.

 

More: http://www.magellans.com/store/article/376?Args=

Don't lead lined bags just cause them to turn up the power?

We went on a trip last year involving 3 legs/transfers each way and on the 4th leg we were not allowed on board with our carry on bag and I had to remember to quickly take out my unprocessed film and put it in my wife's handbag or it would have gotten the stronger dose reserved for checked luggage. They then proceded to lose that bag for several days. It had one unused roll of film in it which I threw away rather than try to use.

I don't know how other countries feel about lead bags.

 

The TSA recommends NOT using lead-lined bags. If you go to their webpage www.tsa.gov and simply read it, it says they DO NOT RECOMMEND LEAD BAGS. But people ignore that. Why read the actual rules when you can make stuff up?

 

I don't know if they can 'turn up the power' on their x-ray scanners or not, but if they can't see through a bag, they're supposed to open it and rescan. That means:

 

a) scan bag.

 

b) realize they can't see through your lead-lined bag and take your film out.

 

c) rescan your film without the lead-lined bag.

 

d) give you the TSA anal probe for ticking them off, because they can.

 

Not worth it. IMHO. Hand-inspection is best if you are in the USA and you are concerned about it. I used to travel for a living - never saw any damage to my film that I could blame on x-rays. Some say your film gets more exposure to cosmic rays passing through the body of the plane at high altitude than x-rays - could be, could be. In any case, enough x-ray exposure will damage unprocessed film. The real question is, how much is 'enough to cause damage?' The TSA says five times with normal-speed film.

 

It's all on their website. I don't know why people don't read it.

Just came back from London. They xrayed my exposed film as they would not hand search it. No problem. They advised me that up to 1200 or so (I had only 800) would not be affected. Every time I left USA I carried my film in a "xray proof bag" The machine operator said that he could xray through it and proved it. Film still worked. USA will at least to my experience hand search. However, I just carried standard Kodak and Fuji nothing special.

Avoid all trouble and just process it on the plane ride back ;-)

 

"Sir, what are all of these liquid kits you're carrying with you for?"

There is no documented evidence that carry-on X-rays damage film of any speed, color or black and white (other then actual X-ray film, even after dozens of passes. X-rays are not cumulative any more than light exposure is cumulate below a certain threshhold.

 

Since you apparently have no interest in searching the pnet archives on this mouldy question, you should switch to digital for your own peace of mind;-)

"X-rays are not cumulative any more than light exposure is cumulate below a certain threshhold."

 

I have to admit, this one has me stumped. Can you explain that? Every technical paper I've read on the subject - not just about photographic film, but on x-rays themselves indicates that damage *is* cumulative. If they are all wrong, or if I'm reading it wrong, I'd like to know how. And yes, I've done the search on PN. I think we all know that the search function on PN is not the greatest, it is easy to miss things.

Cumulative? X-rays expose film primarily by causing fluorescence in various components of the emulsion, and only slightly by direct action. Regardless of the mechanism, low levels of exposure are not linearly cumulative because the reactions that initiate the latent image are reversible to some extent. If the level is low enough, "exposure" does not accumulate at all. The effect is directly related to "reciprocity law failure", significant in exposures longer than a second or so (depending on the film), or at low light levels. You can also see this effect in the characteristic curves of film.

 

While the concern is more for the safety of operators than the convenience of photographers, the exposure level of carry-on X-ray machines is very low. Again, there has been no objective evidence that ordinary film is affected.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the photography industry undertake a series of tests in coordination with the US federal government, to determine what levels of exposure to x-rays would cause film to become damaged? I thought it was the basis of the recommendations that causes the TSA to recommend that 'five times' is the limit without observable damage for film speeds lower than ISO 800. If I am wrong, please educate me.

Kodak published something on this line about 10 years ago. However the method and results appear to have no bearing on current TSA practice. If you have a specific reference to any such collaboratation, please share it. From an impirical stance, there has been no objective evidence of any damage from any credible source. Even unsubstantiated evidence would get extensive playback on photo.net, which has not been the case. A search of photo.net simply reveals QUESTIONS identical to this OP, not answers nor evidence.

Well, this is what I was referring to, it seems to be more recent:

 

http://www.i3a.org/pdf/I3AFilmXrayTestReport.pdf

 

There have been tests that I can find references to online from 1973 and from 1991, but this was from September 2004. It appears to be a joint effort between the Internation Imaging Industry Association (I3A) and the TSA, with tests performed at the FAA's facilities. It notes cumulative damage by counting the number of passes through a typical x-ray scanner used for carry-on baggage for various types of film before detectible damage occurs - I think this would tend to establish that airport carry-on security x-ray machines do cause cumulative damage.

 

I am not an expert, but I think that's what this document is saying. Please advise me if I am wrong.

<p>1. Don't believe anything an airport offical tells you about film exposure to scan equipment.<br>

2. Why mess around with lead bags? They just complicate the issue.

</p>

<blockquote>'There is no documented evidence that carry-on X-rays damage film of any speed, color or black and white (other then actual X-ray film, even after dozens of passes. X-rays are not cumulative any more than light exposure is cumulate below a certain threshhold.' </blockquote>

<p>3. In its page <a href="http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/tib/tib5201.shtml#SEC49">Baggage X-ray Scanning Effects on Film</a> Kodak says 5 exposures is maximum before damage to <i>any speed</i> film and the risk for single exposure is for film of <i>speed 400 and above</i>; the company also has some sobering information on push- and pull-processing; but nobody underexposes film do they ;-); there are some charming examples of the effects of exposure.</p><p> I think Kodak knows more than most people about this issue, so some of you may wish to read what they have to say. The document is authoritative in my opinion, and is dated April 2003. Not sure if this constitutes 'playback', although I have cited this information in past posts to this place. </p>

 

<p>Digital still won't look anything like film [some things never change], provided the film is not damaged, and is treated 'reasonably'. In my experience, film can shrug off extreme temperatures, even for quite long periods; and extreme cold - but do be careful with very high humidity, for example, monsoonal levels [90-95% RH]. </p>

<p>4. Your best course of action is to be friendly and you will most likely sail through airports in any developing country; they are way more understanding and helpful than their counterparts in the so-called developed world. I am up to 25+ flights with <b>no</b> forced x-ray scans. This is in India, Pakistan, China, and Malaysia; all since 2004. Some of these x-ray scanners [which, incidentally, were in most cases very modern] were in airports and border crossings in active war zones...<br>

5. I suggest you carry an unwanted roll and show them what your film looks like, and say you are using <i>professional film</i>. I go early to the counter if it is quiet, and offer to come back nearer flight time if they want..I carry a laminated copy of the relevant pages of the document I have provided herein as a link. I always carry exposed film back home with me, I cannot muster a decent level of trust in processing in many labs at home, let alone in places not known to me. A last tip - don't forget to remove the roll still inside your camera before you pass through the check-in counter - as they do insist on x-raying your camera. good luck, hope this helps, philip. </p>