Cokin Filters in Carry On Luggage

[dw1]

<p>I am taking an International flight from the USA to England.<br>

It's a weekend trip so I'm only bringing one carry on bag.<br>

I would like to bring around 5 Cokin filters and put them in my carry on bag.<br>

*Has anyone ever had a problem getting these through security ?*<br>

To us, these are harmless filters, but to modern-day airport security, these<br>

are 5 square pieces of glass, that could be converted into some sort of weapon.<br>

Anyway, wanted to ask. I don't want to lose my filters to airport security and<br>

I'm getting a ride to the airport so I couldn't run them back to my car.</p>

<p> </p>

[steve_davey1]

<p>Have never had any problems getting glass filters on to a plane, and when I shot my last book I caught 99 flights in one year! Having said that, these guys can be paranoid and unpredictable... why not take a padded envelope with postage on it, so if you get busted, you can just post them home!<br /> Good luck!<br /> Steve Davey<br>

<b>Signature URL removed. Not allowed on photo.net.</b>

[zml]

<p>I carry Lee 4x6 filters with me all the time in carry-on w/o any issues. Of course YMMV but I'd consider many other photography-related items (monopod, tripod, both with spiked feet, 12 lb lens...) more dangerous than a filter yet the TSA have never had any issues with these items whatsoever. And to the TSA credit, the screeners are now way more professional and considerate than in the early days after 9/11 when a screener did not believe that a 500/4 lens was indeed a lens and demanded that I mount it on the camera then ran it through the X-ray machine naked, w/o the lens cap :-)<br>

Of course all bets are off if the dreaded SSS shows up on your boarding pass :-) You may want to read "Flying With Fish", a travel blog by a pro photog who flies around the globe like a crazy chickn'.</p>

[bob_howdeshell]

<p>I've flown many times with my GND filters in my carry-on camera bag. Never a question about the filters. Of course I have had my gear taken out, looked at, commented on and swabbed for residual explosive traces .... but those are another set of stories.</p>

<p>The filters should not be any problem. The Cokins are not really glass anyway ... they are a resin.</p>

[mark_olwick]

<p>Exactly - they're 5 pieces of plastic, not glass. I think you'd have a bigger problem smuggling whatever sort of lathe or cutting machine on board in order to fashion then into weapons. And why would I do that when I already get plastic knives with my meal?<br>

You won't have any problems at all.</p>

[Monophoto]

<p>I've flown several times with my 4x5 kit. I use Cokin filters that I store in a CD case right next to the film holders in the backpack that also holds my camera and lenses. Never attracted any attention at all.</p>

<p>I've also flown many times with my 35mm kit where I have both Cokin filters and conventional glass filters. Again, no security hassles at all on the filters. I did have a security guy question the set of jeweler's screwdrivers that live in that camera bag - not an airport security guy, but a dude at a hospital emergency room!</p>

[joseph_smith3]

You should be fine with taking your filters in your carry on luggage.

 

I am amazed at some of the photographers who still take monopods and tripods in carry on luggage and get away with it. They are clearly banned items from carry on luggage. They are tools longer than 7 inches. Or they are weapons, or clubs or sharp objects. Take your pick. Do not try do do this at Houston TX or Phoenix AZ airports. The TSA agents could confiscate your ballheads too because they could be used as a weapon. One agent thought mine was a hand grenade.

 

Read this for more info re US air travel restrictions: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm

 

Joe Smith

[zml]

<blockquote>

<p>Do not try do do this at Houston TX or Phoenix AZ airports</p>

</blockquote>

<p>FWIW: Not true. I just flew out of Phoenix the other week with both tripod and a monopod attached to my carry on (TT backpack) without absolutely any issues. I fly in and out of Houston often, too, both domestically and abroad with a shitload of equipment, tripod and monopod included, w/o any issues whatsoever. In fact, stateside, since last year, not a soul asked me to open my backpack, and abroad (=compulsory hand check on US-bound flights) just about the only items touched are the air blower (with that priceless WTF expression on the screener's face...) and the long lenses with the "Canon hood" lens caps ("Sir, what's that thing..?") And I always carry a tripod, a monopod or both. Plus a lot of stuff that doens't look like photographic equipment to the uninitiated...<br>

I'm positive that there will always be horror stories about air travel with photo eqiopment, but I, and the many photogs I know, have none. (Knock on wood...)</p>