Topic: film through customs

[irv_b]

I know about the fancy new scanners that they are using at airports world wide now and I was considering taking 5x4 film to my trip Sicily trip.
What I was concerned about, with hand checking, what will they do with an open packet of film, or even worse darkslide that have exposed sheets in them.
Has any managed to fly with 5x4 flm sheets ok, even internally across the states?
Am I just at the mercy of a kindly Brit/Italian custom official.

[Indofunk]

I've been throwing all my film through airport scanners and haven't had any noticeable problems, even with 400 film. HOWEVER, at Rome Flumi[...] their scanners are not safe for film, and they have signs that say so (in English). There I requested a hand scan (I had 35mm film and one 35mm camera), and they didn't really do much, just looked at the film and the camera and did a swipe test. Hopefully they'll do the same with 5x4.

[Francois]

Maybe you should bring along a dark bag and if they insist on hand checking the film, insist that they use the dark bag.
It is a light sensitive product after all.

[Bryan]

I’ve put a lot of film through scanners, even those new ones that everyone is so scared about.  I haven’t seen any problems, but I rarely travel with fast film.  If security isn’t super busy I get a hand inspection.  In the US you can be there while they do it and can warn them about opening stuff that may damage the film.  I don’t usually travel with sheet film but it may be safer to bring an old film box with the dark plastic bag to put your exposed shots in instead of leaving them in the holder.  I have one marked exposed and bring a changing bag with me. 

[irv_b]

Thanks for the input guys I think that I'll just play it safe and stick to 35mm/120 black and white & colour

[Francois]

That would be the easiest thing to do.

[Moto-uno]

  I just returned from a trip last week to San Diego from Vancouver and they simply did a wipe test on my Fuji Provia 120 film , easy peasy !

[Francois]

That's gotta be the best customs experience 

[irv_b]

I returned to the UK last night and to say custom both ends were absolutely insistent that they were not gong to hand check my film as most were 400.The 1 800iso, I didn't shoot, so we'll see how the results are.

[Indofunk]

I returned to the UK last night and to say custom both ends were absolutely insistent that they were not gong to hand check my film as most were 400.The 1 800iso, I didn't shoot, so we'll see how the results are.

oooohhhhh first rule of traveling with film: say that the ISO is like 1600 or something. Doesn't matter if it is or isn't, they won't know (even though it's usually printed in bold numbers on the canister itself 🤣🤣🤣). Also, they don't know that lower numbers mean less sensitive, they just know that 400 is "safe" to run through the scanner, so I've said that my film is ISO 64 and they're like, oh, right, it needs to be hand checked 🤣🤣

ALL of that being said, for the past 7 or 8 years I've given up on hand checking, and last year my film went through at least 10 scanners (all sorts of ISOs, but mostly 400 shot at 1600) and there was no noticeable affect. Hope the same is true for you!

[Bryan]

I returned to the UK last night and to say custom both ends were absolutely insistent that they were not gong to hand check my film as most were 400.The 1 800iso, I didn't shoot, so we'll see how the results are.

oooohhhhh first rule of traveling with film: say that the ISO is like 1600 or something. Doesn't matter if it is or isn't, they won't know (even though it's usually printed in bold numbers on the canister itself 🤣🤣🤣). Also, they don't know that lower numbers mean less sensitive, they just know that 400 is "safe" to run through the scanner, so I've said that my film is ISO 64 and they're like, oh, right, it needs to be hand checked 🤣🤣

ALL of that being said, for the past 7 or 8 years I've given up on hand checking, and last year my film went through at least 10 scanners (all sorts of ISOs, but mostly 400 shot at 1600) and there was no noticeable affect. Hope the same is true for you!

Save those ISO 1600 boxes.  I had a few rolls set aside in a bag marked X-ray.  They had gone through several scans at airports.  I recently shot and developed them, I don't see any damage. 

The TSA staff in Honolulu were super friendly about hand checking my film on a few recent occasions.  Didn't even questions the ISO.

[Indofunk]

I returned to the UK last night and to say custom both ends were absolutely insistent that they were not gong to hand check my film as most were 400.The 1 800iso, I didn't shoot, so we'll see how the results are.

oooohhhhh first rule of traveling with film: say that the ISO is like 1600 or something. Doesn't matter if it is or isn't, they won't know (even though it's usually printed in bold numbers on the canister itself 🤣🤣🤣). Also, they don't know that lower numbers mean less sensitive, they just know that 400 is "safe" to run through the scanner, so I've said that my film is ISO 64 and they're like, oh, right, it needs to be hand checked 🤣🤣

ALL of that being said, for the past 7 or 8 years I've given up on hand checking, and last year my film went through at least 10 scanners (all sorts of ISOs, but mostly 400 shot at 1600) and there was no noticeable affect. Hope the same is true for you!

Save those ISO 1600 boxes.  I had a few rolls set aside in a bag marked X-ray.  They had gone through several scans at airports.  I recently shot and developed them, I don't see any damage. 

The TSA staff in Honolulu were super friendly about hand checking my film on a few recent occasions.  Didn't even questions the ISO.

Smaller airports will always be more willing to accomodate you than bigger airports. I live in NYC, but my sister lives in Santa Barbara CA. I can't get away with ANYTHING in NYC, but I've walked into SB airport with liquids, unscanned film, whatever ... and the TSA people are fine with it, because I talk to them, joke with them, and honestly I'm probably the only civilian they've seen all day 🤣 (literally ... the security line has never had more than zero people every time I've flown out of there for the past 20 years)

[Indofunk]

wait, once in 2018 or something there was someone ahead of me on the escalator to the security line ... but i walked past them so there were still zero people on line before me 😂

[grit]

Lina Bessonova just did a whole project about the current state of scanners at the airport and their effects on film. Helpfully, she also started putting together a list of what to expect at different airports around the world.

[Indofunk]

Lina Bessonova just did a whole project about the current state of scanners at the airport and their effects on film. Helpfully, she also started putting together a list of what to expect at different airports around the world.

WOW! I am truly impressed by the scientific method and attention to detail she took in this post 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 MUCH respect for that!! 💖