Never flown - film question

[WeatherGeek]

I have ten disposable cameras that I am carrying on and need to get through security. I understand that the x-ray machines will ruin the film. Will the security people hand-inspect these items? Any tips? Thanks.

[little britain]

Airpost x-ray machines do not wreck film any more. If I were going through some 3rd world airports with very very old machines then I would be worried - but I don't think StL comes into that category!

[musicmansmom]

Airpost x-ray machines do not wreck film any more. If I were going through some 3rd world airports with very very old machines then I would be worried - but I don't think StL comes into that category!

 

this is true for the carry-on exray machines. the checked luggage exray machines are still very powerful and can do damage to you film . i always carry on my valuable items with me ( especially all my medications and money ) so there is no chance of them getting seperated from me.

 

have a great 1st flight. take a magazine or book with you to pass the time. wear comfortable clothes and always take your purse with you to the restroom if you need to visit it unless a member of your party can watch it for you :) .

[nparmelee]

Definitely take the film in your carry-on and put the disposable cameras into zip locks so it's easier to hand them to the TSA folks. When you are putting everything on the conveyor, pull the ziplock bags out and ask them to hand check them. Don't wait for them to ask you or they'll go through the machine. Usually the carry-on xrays won't hurt film, but occassionally they can alter how well the film will do with colors, so it's best to have it hand checked.

[wrp96]

I second the advise to take all film and disposable cameras in your carry on. DO NOT PUT IT IN YOUR CHECKED LUGGAGE. I too always just bag it up together in a ziploc bag. That way if necessary it is easy to pull out of the carry on and put back in. In fact almost everything I put into my carryon is in either a ziploc bag or a see through plastic carry case. It makes security so much easier since they can pull out the bag and see without having to search through each individual bag plus I don't have to spend us much time putting my carryon back together.

[Ehpride]

I put my film in my carry-on and it went through at least 4 x-ray machines. My film was fine except for the last roll that got double exposed, but I don't believe that was caused by the airports.

[ahoymatey3]

I had some damage from the carry-on xray last april. Despite what the signs say, have them hand inspect it.

[silentbob007]

I carry a medium sized camera bag for my digital SLR camera. On my trip in August, security screeners both ways made sure it was digital before it went through the machine as a carry on. On the trip I just completed, no one said a word. Have new machines been installed since August, or is this just a chance difference in TSA employees?

[TexasFyre]

Its a crap shoot to be sure. anything higher then 400 exposure MUST be hand carried it will get ruined. I rarely use anything lower then 200 so I can't say on that. Anything higher then 400 MUST be hand carried. I never check my film in a suitcase, I have a back-pack that holds all my camera equipment so it goes on the plane with me. I never leave a roll in the camera either, regardless of how many i snapped. I can say that in the many years I have been a photographer, I haven't had one piece of film ruined this way, even in other countires. They make film nowadays able to withstand xray machines, because of all the photography journalists out there. I just like to carry it all in one place because i shoot at any given time.

 

The throwaways are good, keep them in the foil wrapper either in checked or carry-on, oh, and be sure to get a good named camera IE: Kodak, Fuji (my favorite) or poloroid, other brands regardless who made them (they still come from a different warehouse) are made with inferior products and chemicals. Those are so questionable I don't buy them anymore because they tend to have major problems.

 

And..I am ranting, so sorry! :eek: Uhmm...okay, back to the post. :D

[WeatherGeek]

Thanks for your help everyone. We only have carry on bags (other luggage is riding down in a car with my parents....I absolutely cannot take the risk of our wedding attire/reception attire being misplaced by the airline, no matter how minimal the risk). However, we need the cameras before my parents will be arriving in Cocoa Beach so they have to fly with us- I don't know what brand they are, they are special made cameras for our wedding with our name and wedding date on them and a beach scene. I'll be sure to put them in ziplock bags and hand them to the screeners.

[dsclark]

Never, ever let your film be xrayed. Xrays do have an effect on ALL film, from xray film to 100asa. Some say they don't notice damage, however, most people simply take their film to the local walmart and think THAT looks good!

Xray damage from the scanner will not look like "everything is black!" . That may be why people think it doesn't damage film. Damage will appear as a misty, foggy look. I have seen it on 100asa speed. My local camera shop/developer said that you should never allow ANY film through ANY scanner- they have seen too many rolls that have been damaged.

Insist on hand inspection. They hate to do this because it takes more time and effort on the part of the screener. Screeners love to say that a machine won't hurt your film. Tell me, when it does, do you think they'll pay for you to go on another vacation to take replacement pictures? I don't think so!

[Globaliser]

Never, ever let your film be xrayed. Xrays do have an effect on ALL film, from xray film to 100asa. Some say they don't notice damage, however, most people simply take their film to the local walmart and think THAT looks good!

There are degrees of paranoia, as well as degrees of damage. If you're using film speeds below ISO 400, a few passes through a modern carry-on X-ray machine won't do any noticeable damage. There are many places around the world where hand inspection of film is not permitted for ordinary passengers - all film must be X-rayed. I've never had any problems with this (I'm normally shooting on ISO 100), although I do try to make sure that any particular roll of film doesn't do more than a dozen or so passes through X-ray machines.

[seamagic]

:( My disposable camera film was all ruined last year by airport security. Next time, I'll try the idea of handing it to the guards in a zip loc bag, so they can see it and not send it through the machine.

[dsclark]

:( My disposable camera film was all ruined last year by airport security. Next time, I'll try the idea of handing it to the guards in a zip loc bag, so they can see it and not send it through the machine.

 

That only backs up what I keep saying. Those who say that modern xrays won't hurt film are only displaying ignorance of what how xrays work.

All film contains silver (I think the exact name of the silver containing chemical is silver nitrate). When exposed to xrays, the silver reacts. If you have ever gotten an xray at the hospital or dentist, they are using film that works the same way as what's in your camera. The more silver in the film, the more sensitive. That's why high speed is easier to damage. That's also why higher speed film cost more. However, they ALL have silver and all are affected by xrays. It's all a matter of how much will it affect your pictures, will you notice it and does it bother you? Ask any professional photographer and they'll tell you the same thing.

[Globaliser]

That only backs up what I keep saying. Those who say that modern xrays won't hurt film are only displaying ignorance of what how xrays work. ... It's all a matter of how much will it affect your pictures, will you notice it and does it bother you? Ask any professional photographer and they'll tell you the same thing.

This is all technically true, but it still does not detract from the point that most ordinary film will not be noticeably damaged by half a dozen passes or so through a modern cabin baggage screening X-ray machine. (Checked baggage screening machines are different and are much higher risk.) That is the advice that is given to most ordinary travellers.

 

Lead-lined film bags are still a good idea if you're concerned, or if you know that your film will have to go through many X-ray machines in the course of a trip - particularly in places where hand searching is not permitted, and everything must go through the X-ray.

 

I had a discussion about my bag with a screener a couple of weeks back when he couldn't understand exactly what he was seeing - we were both looking at his screen. The film canisters were clearly visible inside the film bag, but the whole of the bag was a noticeably dark shade on the screen - demonstrating that it was reducing the amount of radiation reaching the film and therefore increasing the number of times that the film could safely pass through screening machines.

[dsclark]

This is all technically true, but it still does not detract from the point that most ordinary film will not be noticeably damaged by half a dozen passes or so through a modern cabin baggage screening X-ray machine. (Checked baggage screening machines are different and are much higher risk.) That is the advice that is given to most ordinary travellers.

.

 

That's the "advice" given by screeners who don't give a rats @ss about your film. They hate hand inspecting film because that requires extra time and effort on their part.

As for the claim

"This is all technically true, but it still does not detract from the point that most ordinary film will not be noticeably damaged by half a dozen passes or so through a modern cabin baggage screening X-ray machine. "

You use the qualifier ""noticeably damaged". Again, a lot of people won't recognize damage. For example light xray damage can appear as fog. Also, I have not seen any studies that support the claim that multiple exposures don't harm film. If you have some, please post a link.I have, however, seen film that was damaged by one pass at the airport screener. Again, I ask- if these memories are important, why run them through an x-ray screener?

[Globaliser]

Again, I ask- if these memories are important, why run them through an x-ray screener?

Some of us have no choice. No, it's not just advice given by the screeners, it's the rule at many airports that I use that everything must go through the X-ray machine, or it doesn't fly. Unless you've made special arrangements beforehand for specialist stuff, of course - but they're not likely to do that for the ordinary holidaymaker.

 

If you have the luxury of the choice at airports that you fly from, of course you can take it up if you like - but I repeat that ordinary holidaymakers have nothing to worry about from ordinary film going through a handful of X-ray scanners.

 

So tell us more about this film that was damaged by one pass? Where did you get it from? When? How was it stored before you developed it? How can you know that the film was damaged by that one single pass through the X-ray machine, and not before or after?

 

I suspect that all you know is you know that it went through an X-ray machine once, and that you found afterwards that it had been damaged. That doesn't demonstrate cause-and-effect; it couldn't have done unless you did a controlled experiment, with half of that particular film hand-searched and half of it X-rayed once in the machine. The film could very well have been damaged before you ever bought it, or while you had it by means other than X-rays.

 

I, however, have seen the numbers for the actual radiation doses given by modern screening machines. One pass through the machine gives you less radiation than you'd get flying from London to Sydney and back. But countless thousands of people fly distances like that with undeveloped film that doesn't get ruined by natural radiation, which spoils film in exactly the same way that an X-ray machine does. Were the numbers accurate? Yes, they were, because they were being evaluated for a purpose that meant that humans were likely to be exposed to the X-rays that they generated, in the same way as if they lay on the belt in the airport screening model and got passed through the machine.

[kaykay51]

A few times I have had my film hand inspected. It usually takes a lot longer and my travel companion (my husband) gets very irritated. I now just let it go through the xray. I got a large quantity for our trip to Germany, and used what was left on another trip. The film went through many xrays and none of it was damaged.