LF and Traveling Overseas

[QT Luong]

I carry 5x7 film that is cut and reboxed. About half of the time, what I hear is "if we cannot see it, we have to X-ray it" (which makes senses from a security point of view). With that in mind, you could carry your Velvia in quickloads. What concerns them also is that the boxes are retapped. With factory-tapped boxes, it should be easier.
So far, I did not notice problems from X-ray exposures going through major airports.

[Nature Photo]

Maybe it's a good idea to label items checked in. On domestic flights I had my checked-in luggage opened every time it contained a tripod -- Gitzo 1227 and a separate Arca B-1 ballhead. These are too big to carry on board and probably would not be allowed in the passenger compartment anyways. They also must look strange on Xrays. I anticipated that and attached self adhesive labels. I recognize this is not a film issue, but you may decide not carry every piece of hardware onboard.

[Tony Karnezis]

Hi Mike. I went to Greece in December through Frankfurt. I took my Kodak Master 8x10 and a buttload of film. On the outgoing trip, the Frankfurt airport simply did a swab and sent me on my merry way. On the return flight, they insisted on Xraying it. I brought my changing bag on Michael Smith's recommendation in case they would let me do a hand inspection. However, the airport was extremely busy, my brief layover didn't allow the time for the inspection, and they insisted on Xraying the film. I brought a box of ruined film as an example of what the rest of the boxes were like, but they didn't bite. Like others have said, it's a crap shoot. Happy travels!

[tim atherton]

Posted here, but continued in a seperate thread:

"I traveled to Greece last May with three other photographers and
all of our film was subjected to no less than 7 rounds of x-rays from
Detroit to Amsterdam to Athens to Santorini and back.

--Robert A. Zeichner

"Hi Mike. I went to Greece in December through Frankfurt. I took my Kodak
Master 8x10 and a buttload of film.

--Tony Karnezis"

How was the experience of spending time photographing in Greece?

[Michael Kadillak]

Arrived in Germany a couple of days ago. Surprisingly, not one screener asked me to take my two boxes of 4x5 sheet film out of the large Domke lead shield X Ray bag I had sideways in my back pack and I sailed through numerous security screenings without a hitch. One screen in Denver and two screenings in London.

Surprisingly, the only difficulty I had with checking into our British Airways flight was with the weight of the carry ons which blew me away. I was always of the opinion that as long as the dimensions were sufficient to meet carry on specs that the weight was not an issue. I was told that it could not exceed 6 #. Hell, my Linhof Master is nearly 6# all by itself as is many portable computers. When I add the film holders, lenses and other items I felt that 14# was pretty reasonable. I had to re-distribute some of the items to my kids backpacks to get checked in. I do not know if this is a new policy of all airlines, but I will tell you that I had plenty of space in overhead compartments to stow my pack even with a full flight on a 777.

Off to photograph. Germany is marvelous and the dark beer is fabulous.

Cheers!

[Michael Gordon]

I just returned from Scotland and was refused a handcheck of my film in Glasgow. Immediately after clearing the walk through scanner - and while waiting for others I was traveling with - I watched the "security" official assigned to the monitor on the next aisle over blatantly people-watching instead of paying attention to the what was before him on the screen. In the 60 seconds or so that I watched him, a number of bags passed by the screen that were unseen by him.

I tell you, no matter the geography, airport security is as bogus as ever.