edgar_njari Posted June 4, 2006 Share Posted June 4, 2006 Did anyone have any experience ordering film from them to Europe? What I'm wondering about is x-raying. Do films get damaged during a typical shipping from BHphoto using regular mail or EMS to Europe. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_shriver Posted June 4, 2006 Share Posted June 4, 2006 I think B&H is interested enough in the satisfaction of their customers that they would not ship film by mail to places it would be routinely damaged. Have it insured and go ahead. More realistically, the shipping services cannot afford to pay people to watch x-rays of every package. The only reports one sees on photo.net of film damaged by X-rays is checked baggage on airplanes, which is certain film destruction. What you do need to worry about is the VAT tax man, collected cheerfully by the local Post -- you might not save any money in the end. Remember that B&H's cheapest film is bought wholesale outside the US and shipped back to B&H. The manufacturers sell the film for lower wholesale prices in countries with high VAT prices, and B&H takes advantage of this by grey-market importing it back to the USA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgar_njari Posted June 4, 2006 Author Share Posted June 4, 2006 I'm not considering this to be a replacement for my regular film shopping (which is cheaper than ordering from US, yes), but I just wanted to know wheather it is an option or not. Also the demand here is pretty low for pro film, since most pros switched to digital, and this is a small country (Croatia) so sometimes they don't have all emulsions in stock. Last time I called they didn't have E100G in stock, which is pretty much bread and butter. They usually sell every Kodak emulsion there is, even the older ones, it's just that it's sort of gambling wheather they have it this right now or not. So I thought, when I'm buying something from BH I could squeese a bunch of rolls in the package. You know as a backup, so I don't have to wait for these guys to get what I want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edward_karaa1 Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 Edgar, why don't you contact B&H and ask them about this issue? I'm sure they would be more than willing to help. As for myself, I have considered the same matter myself (ordering to Bangkok) but I changed my mind as I am 99.99% sure the packages are heavily X-rayed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fotohuis RoVo Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 In fact almost all (95%) oversea packages are X-rayed, normally with the same equipment baggage is done on the airport so a big change an emulsion is fogged. Maybe this link is interesting for you: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Gg8m&tag= Best regards, Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amund_aaeng Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 I get film from B&H and others in the US all the time, no fogging ever. I live in Norway and have had film sent by FedEx, UPS and USPS. Were do you get you "95% of overseas packages get x-rayed" numbers from Robert? I think you`re wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fotohuis RoVo Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 I am talking about the standard low cost post parcel packages. Maybe Fedex or other couriers have the possibility to make special arrangement for this problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amund_aaeng Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 All film I get from JandC is sent with USPS airmail parcel post. Only ground shipping is cheaper. Think abaout it, with the amount of packages sent every day,I don`t think any country has the capacity to X-ray 95% of the parcels... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgar_njari Posted June 5, 2006 Author Share Posted June 5, 2006 Robert, have you had experiences with fogged film yourself ordered by mail, or are simply stating the theory behind it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fotohuis RoVo Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 http://www.FotohuisRoVo.nl But we 're talking about parcels from Europe to the USA which are sent by regular mail for a relative low cost price. Incomming parcels to the USA are 95% X-rayed due to 9/11 I think. 'DO NOT X-RAY, contains unexposed photographic materials': does not help is our experience. Low speed films (iso 25-100) are normally not affected. The other direction we have no experience but I am sure there is a regular check with X-Ray on also incomming parcels and if you have ordered e.g. NPZ 800 film, I can tell you they will be fogged when they are exposed to this type of X-ray. TPG-Post (so also our Fotohuis) can NOT guarantee an X-Ray free parcel to the USA! Best regards, Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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