film airport security

I haven't done any air travel recently, but I will be
flying in a few weeks. In the past, in the US, it was
always possible to get film hand inspected. If this
still the case?

Thanks,
Mike.

On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 21:32:58 -0400, Mike - EMAIL IGNORED
wrote:

I haven't done any air travel recently, but I will be
flying in a few weeks. In the past, in the US, it was
always possible to get film hand inspected. If this
still the case?

Thanks,
Mike.

On my recent trip to and from Ireland, this was not a problem. they
were more than happy to do a hand inspect of my film and photographic
equipment.

However when I was coming back from montreal, they said If you did not
want it scanned you should not have brought it with you. they did not
care and would do no hand inspections. Don't even ask it they will
run your items through twice. I am not joking...

Then again coming back from Cali, hand ispect was no prob, and same
with florida, but coming back from Brazil I was all but given an anal
probe after requesting a hand inspection of my equipment.

What I am triing to get at is it is like a 50-50 shot.

All travel done within the last 2 months

Kevin wrote:

On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 21:32:58 -0400, Mike - EMAIL IGNORED
wrote:

I haven't done any air travel recently, but I will be
flying in a few weeks. In the past, in the US, it was
always possible to get film hand inspected. If this
still the case?

Thanks,
Mike.

On my recent trip to and from Ireland, this was not a problem. they
were more than happy to do a hand inspect of my film and photographic
equipment.

However when I was coming back from montreal, they said If you did not
want it scanned you should not have brought it with you. they did not
care and would do no hand inspections. Don't even ask it they will
run your items through twice. I am not joking...

Then again coming back from Cali, hand ispect was no prob, and same
with florida, but coming back from Brazil I was all but given an anal
probe after requesting a hand inspection of my equipment.

What I am triing to get at is it is like a 50-50 shot.

All travel done within the last 2 months

Any problem with keeping the film in lead bags?

Mike.

Any problem with keeping the film in lead bags?

Mike.

only when coming out of montreal, they opened and emptied them and ran
them through the machine.

Kevin wrote:


Any problem with keeping the film in lead bags?

Mike.

only when coming out of montreal, they opened and emptied them and ran
them through the machine.

Who did that, the Canadians or the Americans? Was the film damaged?

Mike.

Kevin wrote:


Any problem with keeping the film in lead bags?

Mike.

only when coming out of montreal, they opened and emptied them and ran
them through the machine.

Who did that, the Canadians or the Americans? Was the film damaged?

Mike.

Mike - EMAIL IGNORED wrote:

What I am triing to get at is it is like a 50-50 shot.

All travel done within the last 2 months


Any problem with keeping the film in lead bags?


The problem with all of this, is if you were a terrorist and wanted to
pass a bomb through, then the perfect disguise for it, would be as a
lead lined film bag, or as a roll of film, since film traditionally has
been hand inspected.

Two possible solutions to all of this:

One is to buy film at destination, and get it processed before you
leave. Processes like E6 and C-41 are highly standardized, a lab in New
York, a lab in Montreal, a lab in San Paulo and a lab in Frankdurt using
the same processing machine, are all going to give you the same results.
Processed film could go through the machine easily without causing harm.

Two, is arrange shipping for your film, ask your courier if they x-ray
shipments, have it sent to your first hotel in country, either arrange
with the hotel to accept the package even though you have not checked in
yet, or send it to the couriers local office as a hold for pickup, make
sure you declare that it is a temporary import. Mark on the box in both
English and the destination countries language that it contains light or
x-ray sensitive and to not x-ray the package, customs will then hand
inspect, but this could cause delays. In this case you could use your
lead bag. Do not seal the bag, unless the seal can be re-sealed, close
it and either use rubber bands or a piece of tape to keep it closed.
Ship it home before you leave.

Two warnings though, first, on international shipments, customs can hold
whatever they want for as long as they want, make sure all of the
paperwork is correct, declare that it is film for a trip, and will be
exported at the end of the trip.

Second, planes used for cargo only, may have less radiation shielding,
then passenger aircraft, so you definitely want to use the lead bag.

Which brings up my final point, most radiation at ground level has been
blocked by the atmosphere, most radiation at 30'000 feet hasn't, so some
film fogging could be less from xrays and more from altitude.

Paul

Mike - EMAIL IGNORED wrote:

What I am triing to get at is it is like a 50-50 shot.

All travel done within the last 2 months


Any problem with keeping the film in lead bags?


The problem with all of this, is if you were a terrorist and wanted to
pass a bomb through, then the perfect disguise for it, would be as a
lead lined film bag, or as a roll of film, since film traditionally has
been hand inspected.

Two possible solutions to all of this:

One is to buy film at destination, and get it processed before you
leave. Processes like E6 and C-41 are highly standardized, a lab in New
York, a lab in Montreal, a lab in San Paulo and a lab in Frankdurt using
the same processing machine, are all going to give you the same results.
Processed film could go through the machine easily without causing harm.

Two, is arrange shipping for your film, ask your courier if they x-ray
shipments, have it sent to your first hotel in country, either arrange
with the hotel to accept the package even though you have not checked in
yet, or send it to the couriers local office as a hold for pickup, make
sure you declare that it is a temporary import. Mark on the box in both
English and the destination countries language that it contains light or
x-ray sensitive and to not x-ray the package, customs will then hand
inspect, but this could cause delays. In this case you could use your
lead bag. Do not seal the bag, unless the seal can be re-sealed, close
it and either use rubber bands or a piece of tape to keep it closed.
Ship it home before you leave.

Two warnings though, first, on international shipments, customs can hold
whatever they want for as long as they want, make sure all of the
paperwork is correct, declare that it is film for a trip, and will be
exported at the end of the trip.

Second, planes used for cargo only, may have less radiation shielding,
then passenger aircraft, so you definitely want to use the lead bag.

Which brings up my final point, most radiation at ground level has been
blocked by the atmosphere, most radiation at 30'000 feet hasn't, so some
film fogging could be less from xrays and more from altitude.

Paul

I just completed a trip and was able to get my film hand checked. They may
grumble alot, but they WILL do it.

Mike - EMAIL IGNORED wrote:

I haven't done any air travel recently, but I will be
flying in a few weeks. In the past, in the US, it was
always possible to get film hand inspected. If this
still the case?

Thanks,
Mike.

We just came back from Europe. I was able to get the
film hand checked in both US and Holland. In each case
keep the film rolls completely out of canisters in
a bag or a box. Americans scan each roll for residues
of explosives. In Amsterdam they checked if the
rolls were opened manually, they lacked the spectrograph.

Thomas