|
I've been asked often, when flying how do I travel with my camera equipment and how I deal with film and the X-ray machines. I'm writing this just after having taken my first international flights (Tahiti Trip) since September 11th. The suggestions that I am giving here are based on my experience from this trip plus other trips that I have made in the past. I have always brought my camera equipment and film on board with me as carry on luggage. The tripod is too large to bring on as carry on, so it has always been packed along with my checked luggage. My thinking is, who would want to steal a tripod and if they did, how could they conceal it after they stole it. So I figure it should be pretty safe from theft, my only concern is that it might get bent as they throw the luggage around. To avoid this I pack it in the center of my suitcase with a large beach towel wrapped around it. On this trip I did exactly what I've been doing for years and found very little difference from my past experiences. At the security check points, I usually have to take all of the equipment out of my bag and show each piece to them. On this trip I had to do this, but as well I had to take off both end caps from the lenses and let them look through each lens. I had to open up each camera body, front and back, and I had to fire off the flash and my light meter totally confused them. The only really usual thing that happened on this trip was at the security checkpoint in Los Angeles on our way to Tahiti. There were 4 guards at the checkpoint, when I handed over my 2 bags of film for a hand check one of the guards said to me, you look familiar. After thinking for a second, he asked me if I had a cute dog named Clancey, which I do, he remembered me from seeing my web site. It turns out he's an avid photographer and views my web site frequently. I always try to get my film hand inspected rather than having it go through the X-Ray machine. When packing, I remove the film cassettes from their boxes and their plastic containers, then I place all of the cassettes in large "ZIP LOC" freezer bags. I have found that at most security checks when I hand them the film and ask for a hand inspection of the film that they will immediately do a hand check. Then there are others that tell me that their machine will not harm the film - I politely argue with them, this usually doesn't get me anywhere. But if I argue long enough with them, it catches the attention of the supervisor. Who will come over, and usually 85% of the time they order a hand inspection of the film. If they refuse, I know I'm in big trouble. I will explain that I'm a professional photographer, and that I would really appreciate it if they could hand check it. They're reply is that their machine is safe for film up to 1600 ISO - well I've heard that one a few times, so I've got wise. Now I always pack several rolls of 3200 TMax film, not that I'm ever going to shoot it, but I pack it in the "ZIP LOC" bag so that I can easily find it and show it them. I've been doing this now for about 6 years and in that time I've only had my film X-rayed once. What you should know is that the newer X-ray machines are pretty safe for most films. If you shoot 50 and 100 ISO speed film a couple of zaps shouldn't have any effect, but I'd rather not take the chance. So avoid the machines by following my advice. The other thing that you should know is that X-rays have a cumulative effect on all films, so even the slower speed films can be damaged if taken through many times. I wouldn't recommend passing any high speed film through a X-ray machine. Also machines that were made in Eastern Europe or in the former Soviet Union, should be avoided. The last word of caution involves your checked luggage. You should NEVER put your film in your checked luggage. The X-ray machines that they use are extremely more powerful. I'm not sure how much more powerful, but I seem to remember having read somewhere that they're 80 times more powerful than the ones used at the boarding gates and that even lead bags won't save your film. |
|
This article will only be posted on the workshop participants web site, as I don't think the entire world needs to know how to get something on a plane without having it X-rayed!
Here is a link to Kodak's page on Baggage X-ray effects on film. |
|
|
