How to avoid having your film x-rayed at the airport!

[XJae]

I am definately interested in anything you find out about digital equipment.
On a recent trip my laptop survived about 10 trips through.
Has anybody had any problems with the equipment itself.
At Newark EWR I was delayed, missed the flight even, because the guy scanning my brothers Sea & Sea with strobe and brackets in a watertight case thought it was an uzi. They made us wait while they summoned the port authority police to come and open it.
Now we tell them what it is and that we want a hand inspection.
They of course give us a hassle and try to talk us out of it, we usually say its loaded with high speed film.
I will definately print out some of those laws. Thx.

 

[blacknet]

Hello,

They will never nuke 2 things I cary. 1) my film either exposed or unexposed and 2) my gps. I simply tell them "it's life support equipment"

Ed

 

[TheAvatar]

Still waiting to hear back from my EE friends. Electronics and radiation is a very difficult subject because the effecs vary so drastically depending on the type of microcircuitry used and the type of radiation encountered. I will say that I would be apprehensive about putting any electronics through the checked baggage scanner because of theft worries and until I was able to find out if the high output scan could screw it up over time. My overall guess is "probably not" for most things because of the energy levels of the X-ray photons (lower range for X-rays). I'll post when I hear on it.

For analog photography equiptment (35mm Sea & Sea cameras or Nikonos V or housed SLRs etc and lenses) there really is no need to have it hand checked. Analog cameras will not be effected bya carry on scanner's low radiation. ITs the film that you should worry about.

Interesting point on the GPS, blacknet.

 

[TheAvatar]

The TSA did request to use my webpage for training their personell and for writing some documentation for travelers. Couple of other people wanted to use the page too, including a Sima (Lead bag manufacturer), a news paper reporter for an article, and now Road Runner KC for a feature page.

The real reason for bringing that up, other than shameless bragging by me. Is that the TSA did use the information and come up with some more good information to boot. For anyone who doubts the effects of X-rays, listen to what the government agency that runs the security says about film, the TSA, whose biggest interest is to keep the line moving fast and secure, meaning they will try to give information ranging from reality to minimizing the effect X-rays damage film:

At the passenger security checkpoint, you should remove the following types of film from your carry-on baggage and ask for a hand inspection:
• Film with an ASA/ISO 800 or higher
• Highly sensitive X-ray or scientific films
• Film of any speed which is subjected to X-ray surveillance more than 5 times (the effect of X-ray screening is cumulative)
• Film that is or will be underexposed
• Film that you intend to "push process"
• Sheet film
• Large format film
• Medical film
• Scientific film
• Motion picture film
• Professional grade film

You may request a hand-inspection of any undeveloped film.

The X-ray machine at the passenger security checkpoint will not affect undeveloped film under ASA/ISO 800. However, multiple X-ray inspections (more than 5 times) of the same roll of undeveloped film may cause damage.

The machines used to screen your checked baggage or carry-on baggage will not affect digital camera images or film that has already been processed, slides, photo compact discs, or picture discs.

• Consider having your exposed film processed locally before passing through airport security on your return trip.

• We recommend that you do not place your film in lead-lined bags since the lead bag will have to be hand-inspected. If you have concerns about the impact of the X-ray machine on your undeveloped film, you can request a hand inspection.

• You may still consider bringing a lead-lined bag if you are traveling through airports in other countries as their policies may vary. Check with your airline or travel agent for more information on foreign airports.

that's all from http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=56

That TSA info seems to indicate no effects on digital storage devices... make of that what you will.

 

[reefrat]

About 12 months or so ago my wife and I visited some family in Chacargo and then flew to London.

The searches of our gear and persons were a lot more thorough than everybody else at Chicargo..probably because we were foreigners (Australian) and still had tans!!

When we got to London I pulled out our Canon S40 (with a 256 card) to show my brother the family picks and....totally blank....definately not operator error but rather wiped by whatever XRay they were using!

Very annoying.