About X-ray scans of international shipment.

[Clement Apffel]

Hi all.

I plan to order from France quite a lot of sheet film (mostly low ISO) in USA.
in a New-York store.

And it seems that film isn't insured against X-ray damaging during shipping.
I can understand that.

Therefore my question is :
What kind of X-ray scans is used to inspect oversea shipping ?
Is it systematic ?
Does anyone in this forum experienced this kind of order ?
Is it possible to specify on the package to ship something like "X-Ray sensitive content" ?

thanks for any answers.

regards,

[roteague]

FedEx is probably your best bet. Yes, they are more expensive, but they don't x-ray that I am aware of.

[Once]

Maybe You worry too much. The firms in NY would be under deluge of complains if their films came fogged to their customers. I order films from B&H with no worries and it never came fogged. Shipped to many countries in which I stayed and was taking pictures. Relax.

[Clement Apffel]

Maybe You worry too much. The firms in NY would be under deluge of complains if their films came fogged to their customers. I order films from B&H with no worries and it never came fogged. Shipped to many countries in which I stayed and was taking pictures. Relax.

thanks to both of you for your answers.
i might concider FedEx for the shipping.

and Once, maybe you're right.
actually I was about to peacefully confirm my order when I thought "what about x-ray checks ?"

and then i asked the supplier in NYC.
and that is what they answered.

Unfortunately, Overseas shipments are subject to security Xray checks which might damage film.

All film shipped overseas, is shipped at the customers risk.

There are no Refunds or Returns on Film.


Shipping film within the USA is generally not X Rayed


Unfortunately, B&H is not set up at this time, to ship film in
X-ray protective bags.

that is why I came to ask people's experience on this forum.
but if you tell me that you already recieved overseas shipped film from them with the lower cost shipping option without any problems, i will definitely trust you and do so.

[Once]

thanks to both of you for your answers.
i might concider FedEx for the shipping.

and Once, maybe you're right.
actually I was about to peacefully confirm my order when I thought "what about x-ray checks ?"

and then i asked the supplier in NYC.
and that is what they answered.

Now you have me worried too... No, but I'm surprised. I don't remember well what shipping I used with th B&H but it was probably the FedEx, I think so. Anyway, never any problem.

[stevebeyer]

I just shipped some film from the USA to Canada. I asked the Fedex people and they assured me they do not x-ray. I hope this helps. I believe that the US post office has to x-ray since they use public airlines to move the mail

[roteague]

I just shipped some film from the USA to Canada. I asked the Fedex people and they assured me they do not x-ray. I hope this helps. I believe that the US post office has to x-ray since they use public airlines to move the mail

I believe the US Post Office uses FedEx for overnight and priority mail. I use USPO all the time to ship film for processing - I've never had any issue with fogged film.

[Dirk Rösler]

Don't worry about it

[Clement Apffel]

thanks for all your answers.
i start to relax now.

I'll ship through FedEx so I can sleep without nightmare about fogging films.

i'll keep you updated if ever the film gets fogged.


best regards,

[Dirk Rösler]

See, I was told not to use FedEx/UPS/DHL because they do x-ray, unlike the world's postal services... who's right, I don't know. I only use the postal service, never a problem in ~2K packages incl. plenty of ISO 1600