Loaded Sheet Film and Airport Carry On X-Ray Machines

[alpshiker]

Michael, excuse my approximate english and a bit off topic answer. Thinking twice, yes it could well be that

individual invoices are treated differently from known companies invoices. I assumed perhaps wrongly that it

was the airports rather than the shipping companies who carried the checkings. I should have said "X-Ray

machine at the boarding gate". From what I have gathered, they are still safe for films, but the baggage hold CT

scanners used in some airports are destructive. The CT scanners search for explosives, therefore a lead bag

will appear suspect and might call for a closer inspection (the operator will stop the belt, zoom on the suspect

item and increase intensity, this will result in worse film exposition to radiation). The cabin luggage checks are

mostly for arms; although things are unfortunately changing for worse, I suppose most terrorists do not wish

to participate in a general firework! I would think the gargo freight is not checked as intensely as the

passengers luggages. It would be difficult to target a particular plane by sending a parcel through Fedex or

another company, but no need to say, that's just a personal opinion. Well I guess we are entering a sensitive

debate and I hope I've not been too talkative!

[christopher_campbell2]

I came across this on the web this morning, and it would rather

appear to change the rules of the game for safely moving film

around. I've included a couple of paragraphs here, but the whole

piece is well worth looking at, especially to see what the fogged

film samples look like. This problem is getting nasty!

 

<p>

 

http://www.kodak.com/country/US/en/motion/support/technical/xr

ay4.shtml

 

<p>

 

> Baggage X-RAY Pre-scans

 

<p>

 

> This information is presented as an alert to travelers carrying

unprocessed

> film. A new FAA-certified explosive detection system is being

used in more

> than 50 international airports to examine (x-ray) luggage. The

InVision

> CTX-5000SP, produced by InVision Technologies, Inc.,

employs conventional

> x-ray and cat scan technology.

> The system pre-scans baggage to evaluate it for any potential

threat

> (explosive), then scans further using a focused, more intense

narrow width

> beam if suspicious materials are detected.. This concentrated

high-energy beam

> (1cm wide / 100 - 300 mR in power) is causing fog damage to

unprocessed

> photographic films. By comparison, older, conventional x-ray

inspection units

> produced less than 1mR of energy and after "many" passes

through these

> systems, unprocessed films could exhibit a radiation caused

effect.

> Systems employing this new technology start with an initial

inspection at

> lower x-ray intensity. If anything is deemed suspicious about

the shape, size

> or content of objects in the luggage, it automatically triggers

additional

> scanning with the CTX-5000SP machine.

> The silver halide content of film and the metal container it may

be packaged

> in are sufficient to trigger a high intensity x-ray scan.

> A sample of unexposed 16mm film that has been scanned by

the CTX-5000SP is

> shown below and is presented here to give the reader some

idea of its

> appearance and severity. This particular piece of film is Kodak

VISION 320T

> Color Negative Film (7277).

 

<p>

 

> Kodak suggests a number of common sense precautions:

>

> * Never ship unprocessed film as checked luggage with

commercial airlines.

> * If you plan to hand-carry unprocessed film on an airplane at

an

> international airport, contact the airport security office well in

advance of

> your flight time and see if they will agree to conduct a manual

inspection.

> * Bring a light-tight changing bag in case it is needed.

> * Relative to hand inspection, Kodak learned of a new

procedure where a cotton

> swab was rubbed on the outside of an unopened camera bag

and then the tip of

> the swab was placed in an analyzer, presumably to chemically

detect any trace

> amounts of explosive that are always present after handling.

More information

> about this inspection technique will be reported as data

becomes available.

> * Be cautious with short-ends and other film purchased from

re-sellers. Ask

> about the source of the film, and consider shooting a test

before you use it

> in production.

> * Check the policies of commercial package and mail

carriers and reputable

> courier services regarding x-ray scanning in the cities where

you will be

> receiving and shipping unprocessed film. Kodak can assist in

making

> arrangements.

[alpshiker]

Christopher, would you agree that the X-Ray machinery at the boarding gate used for hand held luggage should

still be safe for film, or have they integrated the same power technology used for checked luggage?

[alpshiker]

Space should be suppressed in the above link to Kodak. There is some interesting but alarming stuff in there.

They say reports are made that in some airports CTX scanners have been implemented to check the hand held

luggage already. (They are easy to recognize: http://www.invision-tech.com) If there is no possibility to have

the luggage hand checked, that means a pretty bad journey for any photographer carrying film.

[christopher_campbell2]

Paul is correct, an extra space in the word "xray" crept into my

prior post for the URL of the Kodak page on X-rays. The correct

URL is:

 

<p>

 

http://www.kodak.com/country/US/en/motion/support/technical/xr

ay4.shtml

 

<p>

 

I have never paid attention to the manufacturer of X-ray

equipment in hand luggage scanners before, but we obviously

need to keep our eyes open for the InVision Technologies CTX

5000.

[christopher_campbell2]

This is very annoying. Simply pasting the full URL for the Kodak

page into the "Post an Answer" box for this forum breaks the line

at the word "xray", and apparently inserts a "space" character. As

Paul says, simply remove that space, and the URL is good to go.

[yongfei]

I used leadbag for 120 films. About 50% of the time, the security

guard asked me to open my bag and see what blocks their "view". So I

think the best way is to "smuggle" the films under cloths thru the

safe gate. Of course, 8x10 films are pretty hard to do so.

[avatar]

X-rays do not generally bounce unless they are just grazing the material. Soft X-rays can cause secondary emissions of beta particles in certain metals however. If your whole holder and darkslides are made of aluminium, then its time to worry. Try to avoid the X-ray machines! <p> Under the Code of Federal Regulations, film doesn't have to be x-rayed in US airports (except maybe film backs)! It does not matter what speed it is. It can all be hand checked if you like. Print out the regulations (49CFR1544.211(e)(4) to show the screeners! There is too much information on my page to put here. Here is how to avoid the X-ray machine Check my page on it! Here is your definate answer to x-raying in airports. There are links to all the relevant regulations for printing along with an explanation of the federal structure and 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>