Carrying film in European travels?

boilerdoc2

boilerdoc2

Well-known
Local time
4:06 AM
Joined
Nov 16, 2005
Messages
474
We're going to be in Lithuania, Germany, Prague, and Rome next month. Whats the scoop on travelling on airlines, trains, etc. with film these days. Any problems?
Thanks in advance.
Steve
 
Since my wife and I retired, we travel rather frequently. Often there are multiple foghts involved. I simply use the lead protective bags with Fuji Superia ISO 400 film and have never had a problem with unexposed or exposed film. Dave
 
or just carry them in a clear plastic bag.. most places in europe are quite good except french immigration for some reason will just not co operate and hand search.. stick with low iso... or what i do is find a good lab wherever i am i know some good labs in paris .. prague is quite good with hand searches
 
I fly for my work and carry my camera in my flight bag. As well as the film in the camera I usually have a spare roll or two in my bag and these all go through a multitude of scanners and security machines on a weekly basis. At least 4 or 5 times a week. So far I have never had a problem with this. A friend of mine was going through security at Bangkok however and the SD card in his IPAQ was completely wiped!!!
 
The airport security may ask you to open your camera to show the inside. So you might want to have it empty of film at that stage of your journey.
 
I never worry about the scanners and I've never had a problem. I went to Berlin two weeks ago through Frankfurt and the only trouble I had was that the M6 showed up as a "large chunk of metal"... as in "sir, do you have a large chunk of metal in this bag? Can you please open it up and show us what it is?'" Followed by "Oh! A Leica... wow that's heavy!"

Cheers,
Alex
 
Ossifan said:
I never worry about the scanners and I've never had a problem. I went to Berlin two weeks ago through Frankfurt and the only trouble I had was that the M6 showed up as a "large chunk of metal"... as in "sir, do you have a large chunk of metal in this bag? Can you please open it up and show us what it is?'" Followed by "Oh! A Leica... wow that's heavy!"

Cheers,
Alex
Click to expand...

:D

Hi Alex,

So you returned safely.
How was your stay in Germany?

Best regards,
Uwe
 
I found this link which may be of interest to some of you,

http://www.kodak.com/cluster/global/en/service/tib/tib5201.shtml

The problem for flash memory are the walk through gate type magnetic security detectors. If you walk through with flash cards or cameras, pda's etc in your pockets when the detection is on high then you run the risk of losing data.
Better to put them through the baggage check as they are unaffected by xray
 
Last edited:
Hi,

I fly on a regular basis and also always carry film.
Never has been a problem. Only in London city I had to open the camera's. Most of the times the bag is scanned and that's it. If i carry films faster than is 400 i hand them over to be hand checked.

Enjoy your trip.

Michiel Fokkema
 
Most importantly nowadays when flying into (also just for a transfer) or within the EU is that you're not allowed to carry liquids in containers larger than 100ml in your carry-on luggage. These liquids must be placed in a 1 litre clear plastic bag, and only one bag per person allowed. Any larger container will be confiscated! So, be aware when you buy tax free outside the EU and bring it in. It will be confiscated. This goes for drinking fluids but also for gels, pastes, lotions, spray cans, tooth paste, shaving foam, hair gel, lip gloss and creams! And that big bottle of expensive perfume for the misses, as well as the bottle of Courvoisier that you're bringing to restack your liquor cabinet. Items bought at the airport itself must be sealed and remain so or else these will also be confiscated. The EU airports are very serious about these regulations and you will be made to comply with them.
 
I had no problems with film on a recent trip to Greece, though I had to open my carry-on bag at Gatwick as the M3 showed up in it but then had quite a chat with the security chap about how lovely old Leicas are and how he disliked all these new-fangled digitals !
 
I criss-cross Europe by plane - as part of my job - almost every week. Regardless of carrying your film as hand luggage or checked in luggage your film will be exposed to some hefty scanners at all the major airports in Europe. I rarely carry any film anymore - because of this. I have never seen any ill effects on ISO 160 Portra film, but 400VC/NC get yellow stripes and dots - from the first to the last frame. The scanning simply destroys fast film. Previously you could ask to have your film go 'beond' the scanner. With the hefty atmosfare at just any checkpoint at any major airport in Europe, to have anything 'excluded' scanning; forget it!
 
Uwe_Nds said:
:D

Hi Alex,

So you returned safely.
How was your stay in Germany?

Best regards,
Uwe
Click to expand...

Hi Uwe -

I had a great time visiting friends and drinking fresh beer (yes, you really can taste the difference). I was really lucky with the weather. I also ate my fill of Wurst and even brought a huge bag of Thuringer(sp?) Salami and Wurst back with me.

I was struck by how many tourists are visiting Berlin - way more than when I lived there - the World Cup must be paying dividends. I was also impressed by the Hauptbahnof, now completed. I went and took some photos of Templehof - I understand they're tearing it down soon.

I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to make it your way - my "tourguides" (friends) had a packed week for me (but I'll be back!). After the second or third day I realized how liberating it is to walk around, into and out of places without being searched. As you can imagine, security in Israel is a bit tighter.

I hope you are doing well.
Cheers,
Alex
 
Thanks for all the help. I guess I won't worry about carrying film around Europe. I'll get it developed there when possible to avoid Xrays.
Steve
 
Olsen said:
I criss-cross Europe by plane - as part of my job - almost every week. Regardless of carrying your film as hand luggage or checked in luggage your film will be exposed to some hefty scanners at all the major airports in Europe. I rarely carry any film anymore - because of this. I have never seen any ill effects on ISO 160 Portra film, but 400VC/NC get yellow stripes and dots - from the first to the last frame. The scanning simply destroys fast film. Previously you could ask to have your film go 'beond' the scanner. With the hefty atmosfare at just any checkpoint at any major airport in Europe, to have anything 'excluded' scanning; forget it!
Click to expand...

Do you always encounter this problem with 400 speed film?

I am going to Italy this summer and thinking of shooting Kodak 400UC with my MP. I may have to rethink 400 speed film, or just bring the DSLR :(.
 
I had 100, 200, 400, and 800 scanned coming and going on my trip to Prague last fall with no ill effects. Anything faster than 800 should be hand checked -- I can't speak for any other countries, but the Czechs and US security people had no problems with this. When in Prague, visit Foto Skoda off of Wenceslas square!
 
My wife and me flew from Italy to Paris for the RFF meeting a few weeks ago. I had a few rolls of XP2 (400 iso) which have not been affected by the scanner at airport. flying to and coming back. I have difficulties to find security people who make a visual check for film, so I stop asking. Most of time the answer is "if you want to get in that plane please put all your things throu this machine ! take or leave " Any way not a problem, but I know the effect is cumulative and I have no experience with multiple scanning or airport outside europe.
robert
 
No problems up to Fujipress800, took me some time to talk them out of scanning my Delta 3200 in Bremen last time :)

Don't carry Zippo lighters! They take the cotton out :(
 
We travel quite a bit internationally, and in our experience so far the incomparably worst experiences have been here in the USA. IMO film is the least of the problem, as I always put it in a ziplock bag and in the bin along with my shoes, so it always goes through once and quickly and have never had any ill effects. The problem is my bag with cameras and lenses. Sometimes the personnel are very polite and simply swab the bag carfully inside for explosives, but other times they paw through it like animals, and one time a security agent carted my bag (with only one buckle fastened) back 50 ft out of my sight to the checkpoint to run it through x-ray again. Wouldn't have been any less stressful with a $5000 M8 than it was with a couple of M6's.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom