Traveling through AMS airport with film/trains in Germany

Yes, yet another film traveler question!

I'm traveling from Minnesota (USA) to Nuremberg, Germany for a short vacation. I have a real hankering to shoot B&W film this trip.

TSA agents in MSP are awesome about hand-checking carry-on film but as I transfer to KLM in AMS I am wondering (I don't remember) if I have to get my hand luggage re-scanned as I go from gate to gate at the airport. Does anyone remember?

Another question: Are the carry-on scanners X-ray or the newer CT scanners at AMS? (My return flight is via AMS.)

As a bonus question, cross country train travel within Germany ... any scanning of carry-on luggage?

If it seems too much hassle/risk, I'll carry digital but I want to run down this line of questioning first. I've some wonderful older film cameras I've re-discovered lately. I'd love to take them with me.

Many thanks!

There is still 35mm film made and sold in Germany. Make a convenient connection, risk a little film to travel with, and get more there. You can probably even ship exposed film to your home, almost certainly get it processed in country and bring it home without risk. Sounds like a fun trip!

Sandy -- I like that idea. Anyone know of a place to buy film in the Old Town in Nuremberg? Else, I'll Google for it.

No luggage scanning on trains. Exception might be UK headed ones.

Great news -- thank you!

I have returned from Germany today. Traveled through AMS coming and going -- no security scanning there moving between EU and USA (just passport control). Bought TriX in Nuremberg, shot five rolls over the last two weeks and brought it back through the BER (Berlin) airport. I asked for hand-check at BER and had the rolls neatly packed in a carrier I bought from B&H (I think) awhile ago (see image). One inspector grumbled at me that Xrays are OK for film and I tried to share the diff (and unknowns!) between Xray machines and the Killer CT Scanners. He didn't seem to be in "an edica'tin kinda mood" but the film got handed through anyway. So ... all the way back to the USA without scanning!

Footnote: the Leica store in Nuremberg offered to get the B&W film processed and scanned for me, providing the digital files ASAP and then mailing the negs back to the USA. I thought that was a kind offer, although I'm sure it wouldn't have been cheap. Still: an option!

I have returned from Germany today. Traveled through AMS coming and going -- no security scanning there moving between EU and USA (just passport control). Bought TriX in Nuremberg, shot five rolls over the last two weeks and brought it back through the BER (Berlin) airport. I asked for hand-check at BER and had the rolls neatly packed in a carrier I bought from B&H (I think) awhile ago (see image). One inspector grumbled at me that Xrays are OK for film and I tried to share the diff (and unknowns!) between Xray machines and the Killer CT Scanners. He didn't seem to be in "an edica'tin kinda mood" but the film got handed through anyway. So ... all the way back to the USA without scanning!

 

Footnote: the Leica store in Nuremberg offered to get the B&W film processed and scanned for me, providing the digital files ASAP and then mailing the negs back to the USA. I thought that was a kind offer, although I'm sure it wouldn't have been cheap. Still: an option!

 

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Thanks for the update! Not planning foreign travel, but others will certainly benefit from your shared experiences.

It's been a long time since I carried film on a trip.

After I got back from a trip to Berlin in 2004, all my higher speed film (CN, mostly) had slight fogging. Don't know what caused it, but the hand option was greatly irritating to the security people then. They insisted on very slowly opening every single film canister.....

It doesn't show much when the contrast is cranked up a little in Photoshop, but it does show in the film margins. Only some Kodachrome seemed unaffected.

Pergamon Museum, Berlin 2004

I bought a Canon EOS 20D and a Canon "Rebel" XTi (400D) right away and haven't looked back. I still shoot film in my beloved old cameras, but only on ground transportation in my own vehicle.

By the time of a Phototrek trip to Egypt in 2007 there was only one film shooter in the two bus loads of participants. On a similar trip in 2015, there was none.

Sandy and JDM -- thanks for the comments.

One additional footnote which I want to emphasize is that I bought that film holder to make is as easy as possible for the airport security agents to hand-check my film. I'd emphasize taking that approach if you hope to get your film hand-checked anywhere with minimal push-back.

To your point, JDM ... I took my Leica M10R as well since I was unsure how the whole film experience was going to go. I set the camera for B&W JPGs as well as RAW files. All the previews on the rear screen were B&W and as I looked at the JPGs I was really impressed. It made me think what many others have said for years: leave your film cameras at home. Even without shooting a "proper" Leica digital monochrome camera, the images were far better than I could've gotten with any B&W film. I knew this intrinsically but when I went out at night and shot at 8000 ISO, I was completely blown away. I do love the artistic look of film -- particularly B&W film -- but I also really like to shoot in the evening hours and the digital experience was very, very impressive. Might be the last time I shoot film when I travel internationally.