FSTOP Group Issues New Warning about X-Ray Damage to Film

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks very much for posting this. Does anyone know where you can purchase lead containers of the type described in the article and how much 4x5 film a single container will hold?

[Ellis Vener]

How about carrying the film on one's person; for those not requiring very large quantities?

nice idea, but how are you oingto explain it when you get singled out for one of those random searches (it has happened to me three times, in six or eight flights since September '01.

[Natha Congdon]

The sky is not falling. "CAT Scan" type X-rays are NOT used for carry-on luggage except for those persons pulled aside for higher level scrutiny, who are clearly identified as such. You are welcome to ask for a handcheck of a large box of sheet film, but if you are thinking this will mean that the box will not be opened and your film exposed, in the post-9/11 world, you are dreaming! No one has ever shown me a substantiated case where film in the <=ASA 400 range was damaged when carried on and run thru a standard carry-on scanner. Has ANYONE in this forum had such an experience? I routinely run multiple boxes of 12X20 sheet film thru the carry-on x-ray (the only other choice is to start walking!) and have never had a problem. This forum is way too susceptible to alarmist announcements ("All film to be discontinued tomorrow: better buy a walk-in freezer!") After extensive travel on four continents with sheetfilm before and after 911, I simply do not think that a sensible and prudent traveler carrying sheetfilm has anything to worry about .

My $0.02, anyway!

Nathan

[Matthew Runde]

You can get lead bags for film from Sima Products Corporation (http://www.simacorp.com).

[Bill Marsh]

If you carried on your person a small box of, say, 4x5 silver-rich film (Bergger ?), would it trip the metal detector? Now there's a head scratcher.

Bill

P.S. Sorry, Ellis.

[dan nguyen]

I think that films or no films or anything else does not matter for the airport security people...all they want is to do their job FAST (getting more people thru the gate without incident)... so my opinion is better safe than sorry because I don't want to deal with people who do everything "by the book"..again Richard here has the point.. thanks...

[Richard C. Trochlil]

I have always been puzzled by the lead bag scheme. It seems to me that the moment they spotted that, they would stop everthing and tear it apart to see what was inside. Am I missing something here?

[Ed Burlew]

I have been in communication with Mel Gibson , the lead actor in Conspiracy Theory, and he absolutely KNOWS that this is a ploy by the camera manufactures to make all travelers use DIGITAL. The digital allows the scurity to view the pictures taken immediately, and the travelers of course have o but new cameras for their travel pictures.

I have also heard it on high authority that when a person is abducted by aliens there is no security scan made before you are taken on the U F O. Given thsi I then asked my source:"Why are there no pictures of the interiors of the alien spacecraft?". He replied with a wry smile" You just haven't seen them yet!"

[Christopher Condit]

I believe that rolls of 120 film, being metal-free, will pass through the metal detector with no problem. So a few of rolls could be carried in your jacket pocket(s).

Also, I second the query above: has anybody on this forum personally had film >1600 ISO damaged by a carry-on x-ray machine? Can I take my NPZ to China in my flight bag?

[David A. Goldfarb]

Curious about the possibility of carrying film "on my person" (always thought that was a strange expression), I recently carried 2 rolls of 120 film from New York (JFK) to Heathrow and 12 rolls back (purchased film at the destination) in my shirt pockets, without tipping the metal detector (120 being on plastic reels) or attracting undue attention. It wouldn't be difficult to carry at least 50 rolls of medium format this way, with a not-unfashionable number of pockets.

I suppose one could do the same with a box or two of 4x5", as long as it didn't have a metallic bag. I have gotten a hand inspection of a sealed box of 8x10" film, where they just ran a swipe for explosive residue over it and didn't X-ray, but obviously one only has a sealed box of film when traveling outbound.