Airport customs x-ray and undeveloped film?

<p>I'm going away in a few weeks and am planning on shooting a lot of film (35mm B&W 400 ISO Pushed to 800 to be exact :P)</p>

<p>I'm a bit worried, I like to do the processing myself so it's not an option to get them done over there. But will the customs x-rays ruin my undeveloped film?</p>

<p>Should I put the film in my luggage or carry it on the plane?</p>

<p>Any other suggestions would be great. Thanks</p>

<p>NEVER, EVER put your film into checked luggage, unless you really want to ruin it. I always carry my film onto the plain and take it through the x-ray machines. Never had a problem. The machines for the checked luggage are much more powerful and they will fog your film.</p>

<p>Yeah, put it in your carry on. When I was traveling last my local airport had signs near the security check point that said film under ISO 800 would be unharmed going through the checked luggage x-ray machine. </p>

<p>Those signs are not to be believed. It may be true that going through ONCE may not show a detectable difference, but what about when you have a trip that has multiple stops. Before I went to digital I hand carried my film and requested a hand check for it. Before that I had bought a lead film sleeve, but found that it just meant that I had to open my bag, open the lead sleeve and get the film hand checked anyway - so I switched to just carrying it in a heavy duty zip lock bag and refusing to put it through the X-ray machine. <br>

I've found it helpful to carrying a single roll of ISO 800 film in the bag. </p>

<p>Where is over there? The rules are frequently different at different airports. But first let me add another voice to Juergen's never-never. Also, besides the less than 800iso rule of thumb, it is my understanding that exopsed film is less likely to be affected by the carry-on xray machine.<br>

Here in the US you can request a 'hand inspection' of the film. Take it out the boxes and plastic canisters, store them in a clear zip-lock bag. Hand that to the agents at the x-ray and you shouldn't have a problem, even though I had to insist last time I did it.</p>

<p>I accidentally put some film in my checked bag recenty, and the 400 speed film was mildly fogged while the 100 speed film was slightly fogged. I got of easy from what I have heard.</p>

<p>The security x-rays for carry-on luggage won't seriously affect your film. With multiple scans of high-speed film (e.g. 800 ISO or higher) you might get a noticeable effect, but it would be hard to distinguish from the effects of the extra radiation your film (and you) get from flying around for hours at 35,000 feet.</p>

<p>After several trans-Pacific flights carrying film, I couldn't see any difference between Delta 3200 film that had been hand-inspected whenever possible and film that had simply gone through the carry-on scanners. I finally stopped bothering with hand inspection.</p>

<p>Well, I would say that Juergen's advice is wise.... but on a recent trip to Europe (Santiago-Sao Paulo-Frankfurt-Berlin-Budapest-Berlin-Köln-Berlin-Düseldorf-Paris-Amsterdam-Frankfurt-Sao Paulo-Santiago) I put all my film (ASA 100, 400 and 1600, total 54 36 exp B&W rolls) in my checked luggage . Last weekend I developed the last roll (Neopan 1600), <b>No</b> problem at all, not even with a single frame of any roll. Only precaution: I used lead lined bags (by Domke).</p>

<p>I would not recommend you to play the russian roulette, but "<i>never eve</i>r" is a bit too pessimistic, just avoid it whenever possible. (I had no choice, I decided to travel light, so no hand baggage, just the M6 on my neck).</p>

<p>I think slide film is a totally different story.</p>

<p>This is why I drive rather than fly. It's also why I haven't been out of the country in a long, long time. In the US, I always ask for hand inspection, despite the statements of low-dose x-rays. I make it easy for the inspector by having all my film in see-through plastic bags, and I'm polite and friendly. So that I don't have to lie, I have one roll of 1600-speed film. I've never had a problem, but I've only flown in the U.S. I would absolutely never put film in checked luggage, even in lead-lined bags.</p>

<p>The little secret is that they don't actually x-ray everything, all the time. That's why you can get lucky and get film through in your baggage on occasion. However, a trip that I took to Berlin, with multiple stops going and coming, put a low level of fog on every roll of negative film I had with me (all hand carried), and I had hand inspections at places where they warned of high exposure settings (e.g., first US stop coming back). It wouldn't have shown up in prints, but I discovered it when I went to scan the negatives.</p>

<p>That, plus the technology reaching something like maturity, was the final push for me into converting to digital photography.</p>

If you can buy the film at your destination, you only have to worry about the return trip. I don't know what happens to film mailed back for processing, any info?

<p>You can't control whether your checked bags will be X rayed or not, and at what strength, so its a no-no. The fact that some people (including me) have put stuff in a checked bag and got away with it is not relevant. Fact is you cannot be sure and the chances of a problem are high.</p>

<p>If you're travelling out of the UK or many Eurpoean airports you have no right to get a hand inspection and indeed you may well be refused one. So you can't rely on that either. </p>

<p>What you can rely on is that there is a mass of threads on here to indicate that putting film-even medium speed film- through the normal scans given to hand baggage will not cause material (ie visible) damage to your film. My own experience- and I'd suggest that of those people who travel a lot with film and whose livelihood depends on getting pictures- echoes that view, even with multiple passes. Some of my rolls of 120 Tri X might well have been through ten passes on multiple several-flight trips before I expose it. Still no visible problem.</p>

<p>So it seems to me that the strategy is quite clear- put it in your carry-on bag; ask for a hand inspection and in the likely event that you are refused put it on the belt and don't worry.</p>

<p>You could of course decide to buy film at your destination. Personally I've never considered this seriously -unless I run out- because I don't want to waste valuable destination time shopping and I want to be certain I can get the film I want without hassle.</p>

<p>Most x-ray carry-on scans I've had was 6 (or possibly 7) on ISO400 film with no visible impact. I still ask for hand inspection when I can (IE in the US), but beyond that I just don't worry about it and leave it in my carry on luggage. Between my camera, lenses and film I tend to have not more then a very basic change of clothes, my glasses, a book, Ipod and a snack in my carry on.</p>

<p>Since every pass through the X-ray scanner affects the film in a small way, wouldn't it be safer to always put the film in a lead pouch to cut down on the radiation exposure? I was surprised to see <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/148886-REG/Op_Tech_USA_4501122_X_Ray_Pouch_Medium_.html">B&H still carry these</a> in many <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/344/X_Ray_Film_Bags_Pouches.html">different sizes</a> . As Joel said above, it might mean that would guarantee each time they would hand-check the luggage. To me that seems like an advantage, since I have found that whenever I have asked for hand-checking they refuse more often than not, saying all film is safe in the scanner probably because most of the folks don't undertsand the higher susceptibility to fogging with higher ISO or the effects of repeated scanning of film. On the other hand, if they initiate the hand-checking for whatever reason, well, there aren't going to be any arguments.</p>

<p>I've heard of many people who have simply been required to take the film out of the lad lined bag and then had it run back through the scanner. I just ask for a handcheck everytime. So far I am 4 for 4 getting a hand check in US airports and 0 for 6 in foreign (European) air ports.</p>

<p>I was told by the airport security personnel that the xray machine for the checked baggage is stronger than the carry on. So, I don't check the film.</p>

<p>But I don't ask for a hand inspection either. Why? They look at every single freaking roll of film if you do that in the US. They didn't even know what 120 film was last time and they opened all the little cardboard boxes and foils! Gees. I put my film regularly into a lead bag (domke), no matter the ISO. Then I put that into my carry on. The whole thing goes through the scanner and if they want to, at their discretion, they are welcome to inspect my carry on. They usually want to. I tell them "oh - that's film in a lead bag - you're welcome to check it out." But they don't look at every single roll, usually they just peek into the lead bag, see it's really film, and put the bag back. I always keep the lead bag at the top of the carry-on too, so I can take the bag out easily. If you ask for hand-inspection, they have to do the whole 9 yards. If not, how much they inspect is at their discretion. That's what they told me at BWI, anyway (Maryland/DC).</p>

<p>I have tried to buy B& W film in other countries. Hah. In Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, they just laughed and said they were barely carrying any color 35mm anymore, let alone B&W. In Morocco I was lucky to get any 35mm less than 4 years old. In Europe I had much better luck and even found specialized camera batteries. I imagine in England you'd be in Ilford heaven. I don't like to take chances on something like film or prescription medication, for instance. These are things you cannot be certain you'll find in other places. That's why I shield my film from x-rays and solar wind as best I can, and I buy what I need before I go. If airport security was truly upset at my lead bag or I thought that I might not get my exposed film home, I would either surrender the film or put the whole kit and lead caboodle into a FedEx box and ship it home instead.</p>

<p>I have recently flown within the UK from a small regional airport to Edinburgh and back. I requested a hand search which was given reluctantly with an assertion that the machines had been safe for the last 10 years at least. On return I left a film in my Widelux (Agfa 400APX) which showed vertical dark bands when developed.As some of the bands were in the rebates between frames I have discounted any problem with camera, and have to conclude that it was fogged by the scanner. The camera was the object of some curiosity as it looks different on the scan screen and I was asked what it was and I think it got an extra blast as a result.</p>

<p>I had a woman at LAX insist that they would not even consider handchecking my film unless it was over 800 ISO. Luckily, she really had no idea how to tell the difference, so I just told her it was 1600. From then on I kept an old expired roll of 1600 in the Ziploc bag, just in case I get another nasty security agent.</p>