Leaving for Point Lobos in two days...

[Sam]

I am leaving for a trip to Point Lobos in a few days and I was wondering with current airline regulations would be the best way to bring my 4x5 film and holders. I have a "Changing room" (a collapsable dark box large enough to load film on location). How do you travel with your 4x5? I have all of my equipment in a carry on bag but I am frightened of the X-ray machines. I

[Rory_3532]

I carry my 4x5 gear in an Osprey backpack that meets carry-on regulations and I have yet to run into a problem with security people in North America, Europe, the South Pacific and Israel. If you are carrying low ASA film, I wouldn't worry about putting it through x-ray screens assuming that you will not be taking several flights. Otherwise, ask them to check it by hand. I've heard horror stories about asking for a hand-check, but I've yet to run into a problem, including at high-security airports in New York, Paris and London.

[Sam]

I am using Hp5. Is this ok for X-ray?

[wfwhitaker]

My entire 4x5 kit is very compact and fits in a Domke shoulder satchel which I can then carry on the aircraft. The tripod gets checked. X-rays won't hurt the camera. The film, however, I ship to myself at each end of the trip to avoid the hassle with the airlines and TSA.

[J. Wolfe]

Check the TSA website on regulations.

Here is an addresses:

http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?content=090005198006ce43

I've found TSA personnel very courteous and cooperative, but it wouldn't hurt to take a copy of their own regulations with you.

In regard to equipment, I'd pare down what you carry to only what your need for the work you'll be doing, and to ensure it will fit in a carry on bag.

As for film, based on experience and discussions with other photographer/travelers, you need to be concerned about the number of xray exposures more than anything else. If you only have two exposures --one on the way out, and one on the way back-- you should not have too much concern. If you don't want to trust the system, or expect many more exposures, ship your film ahead or by in Monterey, and then ship it back.

[Brian Ellis]

How much 4x5 film are you talking about? I remove the foil or paper in which the film is packaged, which substantially increases the amount of film that will fit in a box. Then I put as many boxes as I can in my pants and jacket pockets and walk them through the metal detector. This works fine as long as you make sure you don't have anything metal on you that will set off the detector. If the detector goes off they'll make you empty your pockets and then they discover the film and want to run it through the xray machine. One time I carefully got everything metal out of my pockets but forgot that my jacket buttons were metal. I put the empty holders in my suitcase and load the film when I arrive.

With Readyloads I ask for a hand inspection. I've never had any trouble with that and actually also never had any trouble getting hand inspections of normal boxed film. I started carrying it through the metal detector just because of the time it sometimes takes to find the person to do the hand inspection and then having it done.

I'd be a little concerned about HP5+ since it's 400 speed. The inspectors seem to think that anything 800 or lower is o.k. for x rays but I was uncomfortable running 400 speed through the x ray machine. When I used to get a hand inspection I told them that TMax 100 and HP5+ were 1200 speed films and that helped in getting it hand inspected since they think 100 or 400 are o.k. I haven't yet found an inspector that can tell from looking at a box of 4x5 film what the speed is.

[Frank Thoma]

You are leaving for a trip to Point Lobos? Oh, you lucky guy! I've been there some years ago. It's a wonderful place. Hope the weather will be fine. Have a nice trip and happy shooting!

[Sam]

Thanks for the great info. I have printed the regulations for the TSA and my airline and will have them with me.

Frank: I hope the weather is nice too!

[Tom Westbrook]

Having just returned from a trip to that area for a Sexton printing workshop, I encountered the first bit of grumbling from TSA folks about hand inspecting 3 sealed boxes of TMX readyloads at the Minneapolis airport. It was pretty early, so maybe that inspector hadn't had his coffee yet, but it still made me remember it since I have never had any resistance before about hand inspection before.

Interestingly, during the workshop John Sexton mentioned that he usually just let his film go through the x-ray machines and had never had any problems with it. He pretty strongly expressed the opinion that he didn't really want to get on a plane where things had not been x-rayed, including hand inspected boxes of film. Though, he did mention that most of the time, though not always, he shipped exposed film back to himself rather than carry it with him on flights. There are several shipping locations in Monterey you could ship your film back if you're nervous about the stuff you exposed.

If you are carrying loose sheet film and holders, you might want to just ship the film to your hotel ahead of time. I've had some issues with TSA people wanting to open boxes of film for hand inspection.

BTW, if you need more film, Myrick Photogaphic in Monterey carries some types of sheet film. I thnk they had HP5+ on had last Saturday when I was there. Might be worth it to just buy it from them when you get there. Contct them here http://www.myrickphoto.com to confirm. They might sell it to you and hold it for pick-up (probably cheaper than shipping it). They were nice, helpful folks.

Have fun there. Point Lobos is beautiful.

[steve simmons]

I would try shipping the film ahead via Fed Ex or UPS. In addition to Myrick there is CameraWest in Monterey. If you order film from someone like Calumet, etc. you could hav ethem ship it to the hotel, etc.

steve simmons

[Rob Gertler]

Several years ago I tested the effects of carry-on airport x-rays 4x5 Agfapan 100. I pre-exposed sheets of film to a achieve Zone 5 densities, then took several sheets in my carry-on bag (they were x-rayed twice), while others stayed home and received no x-rays. I then developed matched x-rayed and non-x-rayed film sheets in FX-1 at N, N+1, and N+2 times. Finally, I used a MacBeth densitometer to measure transmission density of the developed sheets. The final results- there was NO difference in density resulting from x-ray exposure. I think that this test was a rigorous examination of a specific slow (EI=100) film that was x-rayed only two times(please correct me if I made errors in experimental design). Since doing this test, I have simply put the film in my carry-on bag and not worried about fogging or hassles at airports. Have any of you done similar tests which involved greater x-ray exposure of the film? If so, please educate me. Thanks.

[Nature Photo]

I have done a similar, though far less methodologically fastidious test with Tmax 100 and Velvia 50 that was irradiated (carry-on) -> exposed -> irradiated -> developed. The control was film used on the same locations within one hour or so on the same day. The control film was irradiated -> exposed -> developed. I didn't notice (by the naked eye) any difference. I am not going to worry about this again.