Film for Travel

Two years ago Seattle-Honolulu I had 220 size Fuji NPS 160 and NPZ 800 out of the boxes but still in the foil wrapper, asked for hand check, and the two ladies took the time to open every foil wrapper and check the contents while I ground my teeth and calmed down. I thanked them for their dedication.

This past Fall Seattle-Kahului (Maui) I had about 20 rolls of NPZ in 220 out of the foil wrappers and they all fit the regulation quart-size ziplok bag. I kept that clear ziplok inside an opaque zippered bag just the right size, taking the ziplok bag out at the inspection point. I asked for hand inspection, handed over the bag, they looked it over carefully and put it around the other side of the conveyor. Very nice. On the way back out of Kahului things were more hectic for some reason, and I forgot to ask in time, so the film bag went through the machine, but no apparent damage was done the film by this one pass. Everyone at both ends of the flight were polite and professional.
 
I always ask for hand check...
Last year in Rome the security guys were very polite and they did a hand check. I had plenty of 400s and 2 rolls if 3200 tmax.

This year in the Czech Republic, at the airport of Prague they refused to hand check my rolls of film and besides that, they were VERY rude.

Are slide films like Velvia 50, Provia 100 safe to pass through the x-rays? Because I think I've seen a sign on the box of provia saying that x-ray is not safe for this emulsion...
 
Equalizer, I had rolls of Provia 100F & Provia 400F (and HP5+) go through ten x-ray machines (UK, Spain, Netherlands, China) and kept in quite hot conditions (>30C in my car during the summer for a week and then in China).

They were all fine as far as I can tell, even the Provia 400F rolls I pushed to 1600. But I'm not sure what I should be looking out for - if it is fogging then I didn't see any, if it's grain then I couldn't tell.

Of course, it all depends on the machines, you might get unlucky and have your film go through a recycled microwave.
 
I just got back from a long trip to Southeast Asia in which I took a lot of short flights and probably went through at least 20 security checks in 6 weeks. I brought mostly kodak portra VC 400, fuji reala 100, tri X 400 for B&W, and fuji NPZ 800 (rated around 600). People told me that the 800 would be fine going through the scanners, but I was a little worried about the cummulative effect of going through so many checks. So I did the plastic bag thing that everyone here recommends and it worked great. I put one decoy roll of 1600 in and made sure it was always vissable. A lot of the time in smaller, more remote airports they would look at me like I was crazy. But if I just kept saying things like, "high speed prefessional grade film," they would eventually do a hand check. The only time that didn't work was going from Cambodia to Bangkok right after the new years bombings. But everything looked fine when I had it processed at home.

They probably could have gone through the scanners several more time before getting fogged, but I figured the best thing to do was to always ask, because you never know how many times your going to have to go through checks. Sometimes you have to go through a few just to get to onto your flight.

On a sort of related note, I brought 2 cameras for the first time and it really helped, especially since I had so many film types. A lot of the time I'd keep the NPZ loaded in my XA for carrying around at night, and then use the rest in my CL.

Hope this helps. Have a great trip.
 
No boxes

No boxes

amateriat said:
...(Addendum: one trick is to tuck in a roll or two of ISO 1600/3200 film; in this instance, even the more reluctant inspectors (most of them, anyway) will go along with a hand-inspection request.)


- Barrett
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Grinning. Not by plan, but I had a roll of Fuji 1600 color neg. film mixed in with 64, 100 & 400. I asked for hand inspection and that went very well. I didn't know I was being clever!

Plastic canisters in a zip lock bag, 6-8 rolls. Worked fine in Houston & Tampa at Christmas.
 
Pablito said:
And, for what it's worth I've heard from a NYC lab tech that specializes in b&w hand-processing and works for many int'l photogaphers that the carry-on x-ray machines in FRANCE are notorious for ruining film. But I have not experinced this - never had any film ruined by carry-on x-rays
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I brought several rolls of ASA 400 film with me to Paris CDG Airport a couple of years ago through the carry-on x-ray machines departing (exposed), and I did not experience any fogging. Maybe the x-rays have gotten stronger since, or maybe they only ruin unexposed film. Anyway, I've never had a problem with the carry-on scanners in any airport, but I have heard that the checked baggage x-rays are much stonger.
 
I have to go to Sweden, I'll take an empty camera, buy Fuji or Kodak process paid and post in Sw.

Is there a Fuji lab in Sw?

Noel
 
I don't know for sure if there is a Fuji-lab but I can't imagine there won't be one.

Everytime I travel per airplane I trow in all my film in a leadbag and when it get noticed by the people operating te machine they will hand check it.

In Japan last year I asked the guys to do a hand check, cause I had already exposed the film and wasnt willing to take any chances. And they did so very carefully and polite, and smiled at my Canon gear.


Be very carefull with xray machine's in africa and poor country's though I've heard lots of story's about fogged film from photographers going there, even using a lead bag.
 
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