Best Xray bag? Advice?

[phillip-robert]

Hi, sorry to ask so many questions at once.

 

<p>

 

Going to europe, plan to take all types of film speed, mostly B&W (probably as high as 3200 speed).

Not more than maybe 2 dozen rolls. Whats the best way for me to get the film there, and back? Use a film bag to get it there, then Fed-Ex it back to myself in the USA?

Whats the BEST film xray bag around?

 

<p>

 

Thanks!

Phillip

[geddert]

You know what, people in europe use cameras too. You might wnat to

think about taking 2-4 rolls and buying the rest there... The best

film bags are one's that can be hand inspected, and the best for that

are clear ziplocks with all the film out of canisters. If you are

polite and insistant you will likely be able to not have it scanned...

[oliver_s.]

French and British airports, however, are pretty stubborn about

X-raying anything, including ISO 3200 film. Phillip, I mentioned my

"photo service net" offer in <a

href="http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=008lBS"

>this thread</a>. It includes getting film in advance for contributors

to this forum.

[wayne_murphy1]

On recent travels, I used hard plastic X-ray resistant cases

which hold (only) 4 films each. Where I live the airport security

people are helpful. They will hand inspect but this might not

always be so.

 

<p>

 

They hand inspected inspected my plastic film cases and I

asked them out of curiousity what an x-ray resitant case looked

like on the monitor of the scanner.

 

<p>

 

They said it would appear as a green opaque mass and they

would require it to be taken out and hand checked anyway.

 

<p>

 

If you leave film in any of these x-ray resistant cases in your

checked luggage, the film will be damaged. The intensity of the

x-rays is so powerful that the film will be zapped. A nice sine

wave is how it was descrided to me by my friend who runs a

colour lab.

[anon_terry]

I like the Domke Film Guard bags. Not too heavy, velcro closure. I

don't bother asking for a hand check, if they want to see it they'll

ask. I do have the film out of their boxes, in a ziplock baggie in

each lead bag though.

[alan_purves]

Phillip,

 

<p>

 

You may want to look at the May issue of Popular Photography. Herbert

Keppler has an interesting article on this issue.

 

<p>

 

Regards,

[glenn_travis]

Try Domke Large or Small xray bag. I take film out of carton and

plastic canister, put it in freezer zip lock bag and that in Domke.

Small Domke will easily hold 30 rolls this way, maybe forty. Large

Domke will hold considerably more. I asked for hand inspection and

was denied. But they ended up hand inspecting my carry-on camera bag

(M Classics) anyway, couldn't see into Domke. So having the film like

this saved a lot of time.

[nesrani]

The way I see it is, if 1600 asa film will be fogged on one pass,

then I need to expose my E100 16 times to x-ray machines at least to

get the same fogging. So three or four times, even seven times (on

the way back from Quetta last year) is probably not a problem. And

indeed I have never seen any fogging despite some of my rolls having

gone through x-ray machines many times - for instance in Israel,

where they have them at bus stations, airports and so on.

 

<p>

 

And as someone else said, you can buy film in Europe - or anywhere

else for that matter.

 

<p>

 

Personally I've stopped worrying about it.

[mf_zimicki]

Phillip, I travel every week w/film and as much as people say you can

buy film when you arrive i rather would be doing things than tracking

down film. My old bag(in use 2-3 years) is an Optech- it seems to

work. I just got back from a trip to LA and found at Samys a

Filmshield bag model XPF20. It feels like it is made from the same

material as the lead shields they put on you at the doctors office

for x-rays!They offer an 8 level and a stronger 20 level. Their web

site is www,simacorp.com and phone 800 345 7462. Since 9/11 i have

been useing the Optech with no problems w/ASA up to 400. The

filmshield bag feels much beefier. For exposed film i just make sure

i Fed-Ex all my stuff to my regular lab in CA next day with FILM in

big black letters on the package. So far no problems. Cheers Mf

Zimicki

[noah]

I travel quite often with large quantities of B&W film. I normally

remove the film from the box and from the plastic canister. I put

the film in clear ziploc bags so it can be easily hand-checked.

And in case the security people won't hand-check, I use the large

domke film bags. I got mine at B&H. They are about the same

size as gallon ziploc bags, and without canisters can hold a ton

of film. I've zapped TMZ 3200 twice in the bags with no problem.

X-ray damage is cumulative, so try to get it xrayed as few times

as possible, if you have to at all. Whatever you do, NEVER put

film in checked baggage.

 

<p>

 

Two other quick hints. Separate your film by speed in different

ziplocs. Sometimes, they will hand check ONLY the faster film,

and it saves time if you don't have to separate it at the

checkpoint. I was returning from Cuba with a friend and he had

to separate all his film because they would only hand check film

that was faster than 1600.

 

<p>

 

Second, I have found that small rubber bands around each roll of

film will hold the leader in place, so it doesn't get ripped or bent

out of shape when in the bag. This is especially useful when

loading an M6. It's tougher to load when the leader is all bent

and crimped. Have a great trip!

[patricks]

FYI: film is quite expensive relative to US in many places in

Europe. I would recommend buying all the film you need from your

usual supplier, then do the plastic bag and x-ray bag it. happy

trails!

[avatar]

If you are in the USA, you do not need the lead bag. Under the Code of Federal Regulations, film doesn't have to be x-rayed in US airports (except maybe film backs)! Here is how to avoid the X-ray machine Check my page on it! There are links to all the relevant regulations as well as tips to make things go easier: <a href="http://home.kc.rr.com/aaronphoto/xray.html">http://home.kc.rr.com/aaronphoto/xray.html</a>