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TSA Requires a Separate Screening of Cameras in Airports Now


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I just went through TSA twice in the past 2 weeks - once with TSA precheck, once without. I traveled with 3 cameras, 4 lenses, 4 chargers and associated batteries and cables, a disassembled tripod, 3 miniheads, a regular head, 3 headlamps, a handheld flashlight and an iPad. I was expecting to have to unpack everything since the whole thing must have looked like a confusing mass of metal and wires jumbled together. I breezed through without a hiccup even with an photo ID of me clean shaven which looks nothing like me now. Go figure.
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I got my TSA PreCheck, it is more convenient but I still occasionally have my bag opened and looked through and computer swabbed and I have been flying two times a week for the last five months. So even PreCheck is no guarantee of a free pass, but as a frequent flyer, it was worth the $85. Not a big deal, just how it is today. The TSA isn't the big deal, it is those seats designed for 14-year-old Japanese boys that they cram us into, in every seat past row 5. And the constant "this flight is fully booked and we are running out of overhead baggage space and we want to check your bag. Try to get into boarding group 3 or 4 so you can get your bag in. I don't want to hand my carry on bag over with several thousand dollars of camera gear in it. So I have my camera and big lens in smaller camera bag cases in case I am forced to check the bag and will keep these with me.
Cheers, Mark
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  • 2 weeks later...
I have TSA PreCheck and have yet to be subjected to a hand inspection of my camera gear. As for gate checking luggage, I limit my camera bag to one that will fit under the seat in front of me. My wife says I am a little bit compulsive. I take a tape measure with my when buying luggage to make sure it fits airline carry-on requirements. Some manufacturers do not include wheels and handles in their published dimensions.
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My recent experience (4 flights during the past 3 weeks, just returned home yesterday): Lens stayed on camera, but extra lens (I only carried one and it's bubble wrapped) must be put in bin as well. Agents in the US and Europe handled my equipment with utmost gentleness, with both hands and one item at a time. Not one person looked through the viewfinder. The reason they touched my camera and extra lens was to rearrange them in the bin the correct way (I had BR strap on camera.)

 

My filters stayed inside the bag, and no one asked me to peal the bubble wrap off the extra lens.

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I've been through two TSA checkpoints in the last ~36 hours and had my D800 with a 24-85 in my carry-on. I did not have any additional lenses or other "stuff' including speedlights, batteries or chargers(strictly business, so I just had the camera along in case I had some free time).

 

At the first, I just pulled it out and put on the conveyor in the same bin as my wallet, watch, etc. with no comment either way.

 

At the second, I specifically asked "Does my camera need to come out" and was told "Anything larger than a cell phone has to come out."

 

Of course. policies can vary airport to airport so don't take this as gospel-just a couple of recent experiences.

Edited by ben_hutcherson
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When I went through security in early October, they were hollering about pulling out all electronics larger than a cell phone. Since my cameras I had with me were all pre-electronic (1890s-1950s), I left them in the bag.

 

They made me pull them out and run them through the scanners separately. When I pointed out they were antique cameras and had no electronics whatsoever, they said they still had to come out because "the bags block the view through them."

 

TSA is an insult to the intelligence of all people.

Handmade silver gelatin prints at:

 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Pictoriographica

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I suspect that anything big enough to fill with explosive, and make a bomb out of.

 

If I have film cameras, I usually let them go through the x-ray, but ask for rolls not loaded to be hand inspected.

 

TSA is pretty good about doing that. Other countries usually won't do it.

-- glen

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  • 5 months later...
Try flying to Mongolia through Korea with film. The 20-somethings in Korea with limited English have no idea what these little cannisters are, or why you are so adamant about them.

 

I will remember that the next time I have a hankering to visit Mongolia...

 "I See Things..."

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