Topic: To Check Or Not To Check

[jharr]

I am flying up to Spokane this weekend and I have decided that the K1000 and the Yashica 44 will accompany me. I have rolled 5 127's which are now securely wrapped in aluminum foil. My fear is that TSA will see 5 little pipe bombs in the x-ray and take the liberty to unwrap them and unwind them if I put them in my checked bag. Will I fare better if I put them in my carry on with the camera, or will I find myself in a windowless back room for 48 hours with a bare lightbulb shining in my eyes? Terry, Bryan?? Have you traveled like this before?

[Bryan]

Whatever you do don't check it, the X-Ray machine for checked baggage will fry your film.  I have never traveled with foil wrapped film, I usually put it in a plastic container.  I would put it in a ziplock bag and ask to have a hand inspection.  Tell them it's film when you ask, that way they will know right away.  They will likely want to unwrap the foil to check but they should do that in front of you so you can tell them not to unroll it.  Sometimes you get a dipshit that doesn't understand that film is light sensitive.  I had one agent that wanted to open a can of 8mm film to inspect it.  I told him it would ruin the film but he insisted.  I told him to run it through the X-Ray rather than completely destroying it.  The film came out fine, one or two X-rays won't hurt slow film. 

Another option is to mail the film there and back, they won't X-Ray it.  If I shoot color film I mail it directly to the lab before I fly back but I don't develop my color film. 

You could also put two rolls in the Yashica and one in the Pentax and let them go through the X-Ray. 

Can't wait to see some Palouse pics!

[Late Developer]

+1 for never, ever placing film in hold baggage.  Not too many places will do a hand inspection (certainly not in the UK from my experience) but, as Bryan said, the x-rays used on hold baggage is a different league to that used at Departure gates.

I'm not sure where Spokane is or what a Palouse is but I hope the trip surpasses your expectations.

[hookstrapped]

Like what others said, checked baggage x-rays are much more powerful than carry-on scans so never put film in checked bags. My experience with TSA is that they are very accommodating in doing manual checks of film, though lately the lines at security have got worse so that might depend on the situation. Lately, I've just let them scan my film (ASA 400) in my carry on and have had no problems with fogging.

[jharr]

Thanks for the advice all. Maybe I will just mail my film up there and not worry.

I'm not sure where Spokane is or what a Palouse is but I hope the trip surpasses your expectations.

Hmmm... I'd never really thought about 'what a Palouse' is, but since you mention it... It's an area of the inland NW USA primarily composed of grassland, wheat farms and conifer-covered hills. I grew up in Spokane, but this trip will be mostly spent in Northern Idaho. I'll be sure to come back with some pictures of lakes and forests. I think the Yashica 44 will do nicely for this subject matter. The Bronica and the Speed Graphic are both a little too heavy for tromping around the woods.

[Indofunk]

Here's my personal tl;dr rant about film vs airports. http://www.indofunkstudios.com/2013/12/03/airports-vs-film/ But to summarize, like Peter said in the US you can generally get them to hand-check your film, but I too have stopped worrying about it and just run it all through the scanner a couple of times. The only time I'll try to ask for a hand scan is if I know I'll be going through a dozen airports on a single trip. (PRO-TIP: if you're on tour with a band and you're flying multiple times while the gear is riding in a bus, put your films on the bus )

[Terry]

James, I've never taken hand-rolled film on an airplane.  Normally I travel with the Exakta to save a little space and beacuse I can usually find 35mm film wherever I go, so I wouldn't be taking 127 anyway.  I pack the camera and lens in my checked bag and take the film in my carry-on.  I used to ask for a hand-scan, and always arrived a little early to accomodate the extra time.  But the last few years I just let them put it through the carry-on scanner and I haven't had any fogged film yet.

If you're going to ship your 127 ahead, I'd recommend fedex--they don't x-ray.  And they're faster and more reliable IMO.

[jharr]

I'm not really worried about fogging the film, but more about an over zealous TSA agent thinking they need to inspect my film all the way down to the spool because it is hand wrapped in foil.

[Indofunk]

If you're going to ship your 127 ahead, I'd recommend fedex--they don't x-ray.  And they're faster and more reliable IMO.

I've always assumed that all postal carriers xray their international packages. No? If there's concrete evidence that FedEx does NOT xray, then consider me a convert 

James: the foil wrap may definitely throw up some red flags, because xrays do not penetrate metal and they might wonder what you're "hiding" in there. That being said, maybe xrays DO penetrate foil, so it might not be a problem Otherwise, can you wrap them in an xray-transparent material? Plain masking tape?

[hookstrapped]

Carry-on scanners see through metal

[Bryan]

I'm not really worried about fogging the film, but more about an over zealous TSA agent thinking they need to inspect my film all the way down to the spool because it is hand wrapped in foil.

That's why you should ask for the hand inspection if you choose to carry it on.  Every time I have asked for it they do it while I'm standing next to them watching.  If they want to take it apart then you can tell them to send it through the scanner rather than destroying the film.  By then they understand it's film.  If you ask for a hand inspection I believe they have to do it, even if they are grumpy about it.  I have never been turned down.

Northern Idaho should provide some great photo ops as well, there's some beautiful landscapes up there.  I spent some time working on the south end of Lake Pend Oreille, the views and the cliffs were amazing. 

Late Developer, this is the palouse:
http://www.filmwasters.com/forum/index.php?topic=7944.0

[Adam Doe]

+1 on manual inspection request. I've had some of the more savvy TSA folks ask what speed my film is, they'll state that low ISOs are safe to go through X-ray, so pack a roll of delta 3200.

[jharr]

Northern Idaho should provide some great photo ops as well, there's some beautiful landscapes up there.  I spent some time working on the south end of Lake Pend Oreille, the views and the cliffs were amazing. 

That's exactly where I will be, at Farragut State Park with possible day trips to Sandpoint and/or Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls for some cliff jumping.

[Indofunk]

+1 on manual inspection request. I've had some of the more savvy TSA folks ask what speed my film is, they'll state that low ISOs are safe to go through X-ray, so pack a roll of delta 3200.

THAT is frikkin' smart. Though even the "savvy" TSA employees are only reading from a rulebook, so when they say "film is safe up to 800ASA", I say, "well this is 100ASA film! It's 8x more sensitive!" And they believe me

[hookstrapped]

In the end, such shenanigans are unnecessary. TSA carry-on scanners won't hurt your film, at least to 800 (coincidentally, like they say). However, Eritrean scanners are a different story

[Bryan]

Northern Idaho should provide some great photo ops as well, there's some beautiful landscapes up there.  I spent some time working on the south end of Lake Pend Oreille, the views and the cliffs were amazing. 

That's exactly where I will be, at Farragut State Park with possible day trips to Sandpoint and/or Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls for some cliff jumping.

If you're willing to drive a few hours round trip on a dirt road this is one of the most amazing views I have seen.  It's the top of one of the highest cliffs on the lake.  I think you will hit a few vantage points if you follow the mapped rout below but the end point was the spot I remember best.  The road was in good shape when I was there but that was several years ago.  In my opinion it's worth the drive.  The site I worked on was an old mine a little further down the road but there's not much to see down there. 

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Farragut+State+Park,+13550+Idaho+54,+Athol,+ID+83801/47.9457786,-116.4937654/@47.9368973,-116.5850931,8121m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m8!4m7!1m5!1m1!1s0x53619bc71ed5b161:0x2814394d26d2a884!2m2!1d-116.6007378!2d47.9504376!1m0

[gothamtomato]

I don't have a lot of experience flying, but I followed the advice given me and had no problems getting film hand inspected. That advice was, get there early and be polite and sympathetic and apologetic to the TSA staff you encounter. 

That said, the foil wrap will likely throw them off. If there's any way you can find something that looks more like what film would wrapped in you're better off. I carry everything out of boxes (though still in the regular inner wraps) in ziplock bags to make it as easy on them as possible. Because of the foil wrap, maybe if you happen to have with you anything that supports what you do (like a mini photo album). OR, maybe make a little how-to video and post it to YouTube about how to hand roll 127 film, that you can pull up to explain to them.