byronr@teklds.UUCP (Byron Rendar) (08/27/85)
I will be taking a trip overseas (Thailand, Nepal, etc) and will be taking a bunch of film with me. Is it safe to put some of it in baggage that is checked (to avoid the problem of having 80 or so rolls hand inspected) or are high energy x-rays used such that even Film Shield won't protect the film?
smh@rduxb.UUCP (henning) (08/28/85)
**** **** From the keys of Steve Henning, AT&T Bell Labs, Reading, PA rduxb!smh > a bunch of film with me. Is it safe to put some of it in baggage that is > checked (to avoid the problem of having 80 or so rolls hand inspected) > or are high energy x-rays used such that even Film Shield won't protect > the film? Yes, checked baggage gets x-rayed, and those x-rays are often very unfriendly to film. On a trip to Iceland, Icelandic Airlines removed a can of Gaz, butane gas, from a checked and locked suitcase. They didn't say a thing. The suitcase was delayed 2 days and when it arrived, the can was gone. So much for trying to be sneaky. The worst x-ray machines are in S.E. Asia. On a recent trip to the Orient, I had no trouble getting them to hand check my film. The closest thing to a problem was a bozo in the US that insisted on opening up every film can. I just pulled out a magazine and read it until he was done. He was only doing his job, but most security people just spot checked the film and shook the cans to make sure they didn't contain someing like gasoline. The old film shield is only for 400 speed and slower film in the US and similar well behaved x-ray machines. The new super film shield is for 1000 speed. However when traveling abroad through many x-ray machines, I never let anyone x-ray my film with any machine and keep it in a film shield bag anyway. On the Orient trip I had to go through airport security 19 times. I doubt if even US x-ray machines would be safe for 19 times not to mention the other 18 airports.
doc@cxsea.UUCP (Documentation ) (08/29/85)
> I will be taking a trip overseas (Thailand, Nepal, etc) and will be taking > a bunch of film with me. Is it safe to put some of it in baggage that is > checked (to avoid the problem of having 80 or so rolls hand inspected) > or are high energy x-rays used such that even Film Shield won't protect > the film? I spent two weeks travelling in the Soviet Union last summer. This involved quite a bit of inter-city air-travel. The USSR, security- conscious as it is, uses cery powerful x-ray equipment at its airports. The film in my Film Shield came through just fine. The film in my camera (unshielded), however, was ruined. I don't imagine the x-ray equipment in Thai and Nepalese airports is any more of a hyper-zap than the ones in Russia, so I would guess your Film Shield will do just fine. Just take the film out of your camera before travelling.
clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis) (08/30/85)
In article <962@teklds.UUCP> byronr@teklds.UUCP (Byron Rendar) writes: >I will be taking a trip overseas (Thailand, Nepal, etc) and will be taking >a bunch of film with me. Is it safe to put some of it in baggage that is >checked (to avoid the problem of having 80 or so rolls hand inspected) >or are high energy x-rays used such that even Film Shield won't protect >the film? With some of the more recent airline incidents, many Airport authorities are starting to X-ray everything. So, don't put film in your checked baggage - even if you are using a Film Shield, it is likely to look suspicious [ "Hey Charlie, there's this big amorphous lump in this one - maybe a couple of grenades!" ] and they'll open your baggage for a hand inspection anyways! Lately my wife and I have been using 35mm film that comes in transparent plastic canisters (unlike the black and grey Kodak ones) (Canadian chain store (Black's) repackaging of FujiChrome/Colour), we then put 'em in a baggie, and carry that inside hand luggage. When we hit the checkpoint, out comes the baggie and we ask to have it transferred around the machines. Since it is all clear plastic and you can see the rolls of film, they don't have to open it. Then again, sometimes even that isn't enough. San Francisco airport INSISTED on us carrying it thru the metal detector. (Yeah, it shouldn't do nothin, but we'd rather not anyways) -- Chris Lewis, UUCP: {allegra, linus, ihnp4}!utzoo!mnetor!clewis BELL: (416)-475-8980 ext. 321
dys@homxa.UUCP (D.SZE) (09/24/85)
Regarding x-rayed film. I just got back from Japan/Hong Kong. In Japan, the X-ray machines are posted as being safe for ASA <= 1000, and travelers are asked to request hand inspection for ASA >= 1000. (The attendents said "Don't worry.) In Hong Kong, the X-ray machines are posted as **NOT** being safe for film, even in checked baggage I think. My film shield worked fine, I even sent it through the X-ray machine (and got beeped as they couldn't see inside it). David Sze Bell Communications Research
karn@petrus.UUCP (Phil R. Karn) (09/25/85)
At Mirabel airport in Montreal, I requested a manual inspection of my camera bag (I do this as a matter of course, even though I don't shoot VR 1000). I was told to "take a picture of the floor". When I protested having to waste film on pointless harassment, I was told that "it's policy" if I "don't trust the machine". Anybody ever heard of this one? I thought that hassle-free manual searches were the passenger's right in any member country of the ICAO. Considering that the ICAO makes its headquarters in Montreal, I thought that applied to Canada too. Phil
dave@onfcanim.UUCP (Dave Martindale) (09/27/85)
In article <591@petrus.UUCP> karn@petrus.UUCP (Phil R. Karn) writes: >At Mirabel airport in Montreal, I requested a manual inspection of my camera >bag (I do this as a matter of course, even though I don't shoot VR 1000). I >was told to "take a picture of the floor". When I protested having to waste >film on pointless harassment, I was told that "it's policy" if I "don't >trust the machine". I've gone through security at Montreal Dorval (not Mirabel) several times with no trouble of this sort. I cannot imagine that "it's policy" - you must have gotten a jerk who was irritated at you, or the world in general. One thing I often do is to take the film cannisters and camera body out of my bag, request that they inspect them by hand, and send the rest of the camera bag through the X-ray machine. This is faster, and less work for the security people, than having them inspect the whole camera bag by hand.