flying with (bulk) film

[itf]

Hope I got the right forum for this! Just wondering if anyone has any hints for flying with rolls of bulk film? I doubt hand checking, as with individual rolls, is going to be a possibility. I mean, asking security to either just check the outside of a black box, or go into a completely dark room to open the box and check it by feel! It's tempting to ask just to see the reaction 😀, but somehow I doubt it's going to happen.

The film is Jessops 400 (something rebranded, but I like it and it's cheap), and I regularly push it to 3200. Do you think it would be OK? I've heard the machines are different one place to the next. I'm going to Europe then Vietnam and who knows after that.

If you have some experience/suggestions that would be great.

Oh, by the way, I'm fairly new here and feel like a bit of a leach having mainly used the forum to ask questions, buy a few things, and just lurk and read. I can offer some photos on my blog though!

 

[sting-ray]

A friend of mine had one of two bulk rolls opened in broad daylight at the airport... I think putting it through in your luggage is out of the question... even if you were to shoot it at 400... they're powerful X-rays for luggage - much more so than the human checking ones. My suggestion and what I did when I went to Europe recently is just roll it all out into canisters... they're not very expensive and i just put them all, without cases inside the black bag that comes with paper/film and ask for handcheck. That seemed to pose no difficulty... and having it all rolled out is nice.

 

[kully]

Not sure about the x-rays mucking up your film (never happened to me), but I'm with string-way on rolling the film before you go.

Go to Jessops, ask them for empty film canisters and fill them up.

 

[Zorkiiglaza]

I have traveled abit with lots of film. I use the lead X-ray bags and put it in my hand luggage. It will go through the scanner or tell them you have film in bulk.
I have never had problems with my film fogging.
On the other hand, last year I flew from Washington to Kazakstan and then back and then to Amsterdam, New Delhi, Kazakstan, and then back to New Delhi and then back to Newark and Washington with 2 rolls of Fuji slide film in my camera bag that were completely unprotected from the X-rays. I shot one of the rolls this past September and there was no sign of fogging on the film. Granted it was ASA 100 film.

 

[peter_n]

As others have suggested, just load it into cassettes before you leave then you won't have any problems. I'm a bulk loader but I wouldn't take bulk film on a trip - too much hassle.

 

[breeze]

It is now widely accepted that the x-ray machines for carry-on baggage will not harm ISO 400 film unless the film has been put through the machines many times. On a personal note, I have not run into a single problem with damage in several years of airport screening.

In any event, if you are currently in the UK, as your blog suggests, it would be a good idea to assume that authorities will require that your film be scanned regardless of whether it is in bulk or in cannisters. You may find it helpful to read this very recent discussion on current policy at UK airports: http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00KC8f&tag=

 

[Socke]

I had to take out the cotton from my lighter, they swabed both my Gs and I had to open both cameras for this purpose. Luckily they allowed me to rewind. All my film had to go through the scanner even the Delta3200! This was at our local airport, later in Paris CDG they didn't care for my bagage, there I had to take off my shoes and belt.
Back to Bremen I stood for an hour on the runway in a queue with some 150 people coming from London so our passports could be checked. In a business suit at some 2°C!
Passport check from Paris to Bremen? What happened to Schengen?

I don't think I'll fly in europe anymore, if I can avoid it.

 

[itf]

Thanks everyone, I think I'll do what kully suggested and get a load of used cassettes from a lab. That way I don't have to buy 50 cassettes, and I can ditch them when I'm done. Oh, and yeah I'm in the UK, should've mentioned.

Cheers.

 

[John Rountree]

Over the past Christmas holidays my wife and I flew to New York. I carried about 20 rolls of bulk film, already loaded into cassettes. I took the cassettes out of the protective cannisters and put them into two ziplock bags and asked for a hand check. ( dropped a couple of factory rolls of T-max 3200 in the bags too. Leaving from Charlotte and returning from Newark, I had no probems with security. Both times the bags were handed to a screener who opened the bags and did a swab from the inside of the bag and from a cassette chosen at random. I really was surprised at how uneventful the process was.