Old Cameras and Air Travel

[c_watson1]

Jeesh, another slow day on PN??? Post dates from August...

[Rick Helmke]

Yes but since I haven’t replied yet it remains relevant. 😄Actually I took film and digital to Europe a couple of years ago and had no problems at all with security or inspection. I got lucky the one time it went through the machine  even though I requested a manual inspection as it didn’t cause an film problems. It was one of the 100 speed films. 
 

Rick H.

[httpwww.photo.netbarry]

There's so much paranoid crap floating around.  People here a few anecdotal instances and then extrapolate to the general while forgetting about the thousands and thousands af times their were no incidents at all.  But that's the internet.

[glen_h]

I was recently in Europe, with some rolls of film, but more important, two packs of Instax Wide.

As usual, no problem with TSA, but I wasn't sure about Europe.

At CDG in France, they were nice about it when asked, and used the usual swab test.

Going out from Barcelona, they pointed to where it said safe to ISO 1600 on the machine.

I pointed to where it said "No X-ray" on the Instax box, and so they did the swab test.

 

I had originally thought about not bringing Instax and buying some there, but brought two pack that might be 10 years old.

(There are at least four years old, from when I got them, already old.)

So then in Fatima, PT, I found a tiny photography store, and asked about Instax film.

First they pointed to some rolls of Kodak 35mm film, maybe about 10.  I said, no Fuji.

Then they found the two boxes of Instax wide, expired in only 2019. So I bought one.

I ended up only using the orignal two packs, which worked fine, and so brought back

the 2019 packs.

 

I don't know how sensitive Instax film is in ISO terms.

[Ricochetrider]

Ha ha ha so since this is STILL going on, I'll relate my most "recent" (June 2022) experience.

 

We flew from teh U.S. thru IIRC Schiphol  in Amsterdam to Athens on our way to some remote Greek Island out in the Aegean. (and hopefully obviously, back home again later)

I carried my film in a lead "bag", in my carry on luggage- which went through a security check at every airport. Rather than saying anything to anyone (having been previously met with mixed results in various US & world airports), I just handed over my closed carry on luggage and let them run it thru the X ray machine. Of course a large ish blob showed for the film bag, so at each airport they would open the suitcase & pull out the bag- at which juncture I'd open it for them, show them the film and explain.  It no doubt helped that my carry on also had numerous cameras in it!

The folks in Athens confiscated a pair of pliers I  had along with me, but other than a few raised eyebrows, this tactic was by far the most effective to date, for not having my film x rayed. 

[glen_h]

On 11/12/2023 at 8:53 AM, Ricochetrider said:

(snip)

I carried my film in a lead "bag", in my carry on luggage- which went through a security check at every airport. Rather than saying anything to anyone (having been previously met with mixed results in various US & world airports), I just handed over my closed carry on luggage and let them run it thru the X ray machine.

(snip)

 

Some time ago when the lead bag inside my carry-on bag went through the X-ray, they asked to take the bag out, and run it through separately.

But didn't ask to open the bag.

 

It seems that the current models can see through lead bags.

As always, it is a dynamic range question, and they now have enough to do it.

 

Well, even more, it used to be 20keV was common, and lead bags do pretty well with that.

Many now, though, do both 20keV and 70keV, which allows them to differentiate materials.

But also, 70keV goes through lead well enough to image through it.