X ray bags..do they work?

[leslie_p.]

I am looking to travel overseas and wondered if the X ray protective

film bags work. I would rather buy film here cheaper than buy at the

current conversion rate there..I just wanted to know peoples

experience in using these bags. Thank you

[john_shriver]

The carry on X-ray machines expose the film to less radiation than the plane flight. Don't worry about them.

 

The checked baggage X-ray machines use enough radiation to toast any film, in a lead film bag or not.

[albert knapp md]

Lead-lined bags are heavy and a waste of time. If you use one,

the custom agent will just increase the X-ray voltage adn burn

through and destroy the film. The best solution (and what I have

used for the past four years) are simple glad bags filed with film

in their plastic cannisters. I usually have one or two ASA 1600

rolls mingled in and this gives me an excuse overseas to ask

them to visually inspect all the film. In hte USA, the TSA must, I

repeat, must honor your request for a visual inspection.

Remember, that Xray dosing is cumulative and if you just get one

or perhaps two doses over a trip, and you are shooting 400 or

less, you will be safe.

[raymond_tai]

When films are distributed across the world and across the country aren't they shipped as cargo? Don't tell me they don't x-ray cargo. I have been to Customs check points and they have X-ray machines the size of houses.

[la]

Can the TSA employee scanning your carry on luggage actually crank up the radiation?

[Robert_Lai]

Yes, they can easily crank up the radiation level until they get through the bag. The TSA inspector manning one of the carry-on luggage inspection stations in my local airport showed me how useless the lead-lined bags are by boosting the voltage of the X-ray tube (and thus the power) and showing me all of my film cassettes within the bag. He basically told me that I was wasting my money and time with these bags. After that, I never used one of those things anymore.

[andrew_hull]

Once again, the "turn up the xray" myth comes out. They CANNOT turn up the xray

machine. Look it up both under the TSA and under the manufacturers. IIRC someone here

posted that works with the machines that said you cannot, also. The bags do diminish the

amount of xray hitting the film, but the operator can still see in it.

[huw_finney]

It's probably a knob a bit like levels in PS, so the Xrays stay constant but 'cos the bag needs more time in the machine to look at it (all that knob twiddling) you end up with more of a dose in the end. Here in the UK you don't have the option of a hand search. Your best bet is plastic film cans and put them in your pocket, this assumes you don't set off the walk through metal detector otherwise it's a search and anything found will be xrayed.

 

I am flying to Glasgow from Heathrow in a couple of hours (5 AM start, yawn), after the goings on last Thursday in London I am expecting a fairly comprehensive search!

[andy m.]

I most certainly hope they don't work. Remember what the X-ray machines are being used to look for.

 

I have never had any film damaged, despite up to 12 passes on a journey. It's not an issue.

[ronald_moravec1]

Huw. I bought some plastic cans and they don`t work in screw, m or r bodies. After about 6/12 pics, I can`t advance the film anymore.

 

They are unbranded from B& H. I used to sucessfully use a similar product in my Pentax, don`t laugh. Everybody has to start somewhere. The color pics weren`t bad. Monochrome sucked.

[andrew_hull]

Well I have actually SEEnt he image thrown off by an xray bag and you can see in it. I have also traveled hundreds of times with film from 100 to 3200 ASA and film that I was to push and never seen any issues from the machine, and that was without an xray bag. I think that the bark of xray fogging is worse than its bite. Next thing people will blame the supposed Xtol failure on the xray machines!