Airport CT scanners

seany65 said:
Aww, flippin' flip! I've just ordered 10 cartridges of 126 film that expired in the late 80's and early 90's from Vinton in Virginia and I'm in the UK. I bet these films have to go through a couple of dozen CT scanners. I only ordered it because a few minutes earlier I'd read that film speeds below 800asa were safe to go theough airport scanners.
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Cargo is unlikely to be CT scanned.
 
Packages sometimes get X-rayed, but I don't think anything goes through a CT scanner.
Don't expect much from that film though. I gave away dozens of expired Kodacolor II and VR 126 cartridges years ago because none of it would give even the slightest result when developed (all expired in the 80s).
 
I am planning a trip to SE Asia, and going through at least a hub that for sure has CT scanners. The particular difficulty is not knowing/having ensured a handcheck even if some photographers report getting handchecks in CT scan security points, it is still up to the personnel's discretion.

Somehow I got a lead bag for cheap, so will be carrying it and using as fallback protection. I am considering different routings, and perhaps will layover in a large Asian city with film labs. TBH the buy and develop at destination can partly work, but it depends a lot on time and logistics. It's also like, rural SE Asia isn't the best place for that. I also travel a lot intra-EU and a week home doesn't give me enough time to buy+develop locally. B&W I do myself back, so it has to travel around.

Lina is taking an initiative with Silvergrain Classics to heighten the hand check requirement to the EU, as to have something equivalent to TSA's policy.

Ororaro said:
This summer’s trip to Europe will require me to go through London, an airport that notoriously zaps everything. I once asked hand inspection and They probably intentionally triple-double dosed the zap, a few films got ruined by xrays, a decade ago.

This summer I’m taking no chances: I will not shoot color films, and I will only shoot PAN-F rated at iso 25. I believe this will mitigate the Three anticipated ct scans.
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It would take me quite a bit to fetch the specific source, some user (Photrio maybe) emailed the Department of Transportation in UK. The response they had was that traditional X ray is never hand checked below ISO 800, but they do handcheck on the CT scan points.
At the moment I have no plans to travel east with a layover in Heathrow or Paris but I have heard the negative experiences about handchecks. Might be traveling to NYC next year, but purchasing film there is simple.
 
Ororaro said:
This summer’s trip to Europe will require me to go through London, an airport that notoriously zaps everything. I once asked hand inspection and They probably intentionally triple-double dosed the zap, a few films got ruined by xrays, a decade ago.
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There are three airports in London (and at least two more which claim to be connected to London but really aren't). Being based near London, I've flown from them all (and with film). I've had hand-checks every single time. Heathrow is definitely the worst of the three (especially Terminal 5, the newest one); Gatwick and London City are much more accommodating. But in general, if you're not an ass, they'll hand scan for you.

It helps if you have at least one film over 400 ISO with you - or if you mark up a roll of 400 as "push to 1600", but you might have to explain what that means!
 
pschauss said:
From my limited recent experience:

Places where CT scanners are being used:
Memphis
Helsinki
JFK Terminal 8
Old machines:
JFK Terminal 1
Laguardia Terminal B
Lisbon
Paris CDG

I have had no problems getting hand inspections of my film at Memphis or Helsinki. The people that in both locations acted as though it was a routine request.

On film that I let go through a CT scanner I have seen evidence of fogging on unexposed frames, but, interestingly, not on the exposed frames.
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I fly from Helsinki on a regular basis - they do hand inspection very politely. In Europe, you can add Riga airport (so far they have both old and CT, but, I assume, soon it will only be CT).
 
Coldkennels said:
There are three airports in London (and at least two more which claim to be connected to London but really aren't). Being based near London, I've flown from them all (and with film). I've had hand-checks every single time. Heathrow is definitely the worst of the three (especially Terminal 5, the newest one); Gatwick and London City are much more accommodating. But in general, if you're not an ass, they'll hand scan for you.

It helps if you have at least one film over 400 ISO with you - or if you mark up a roll of 400 as "push to 1600", but you might have to explain what that means!
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Coldkennels said:
There are three airports in London (and at least two more which claim to be connected to London but really aren't). Being based near London, I've flown from them all (and with film). I've had hand-checks every single time. Heathrow is definitely the worst of the three (especially Terminal 5, the newest one); Gatwick and London City are much more accom But in general, if you're not an ass, they'll hand scan for you.
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Good ass, bad ass, Heathrow is intergallactically renowned to be mega rigid. You were maybe an extra nice ass to them? Care to share your technique?

I personally wouldn’t know how to be an ass, even if I tried, while waiting in line for a checkup.
 
It’s usually not a problem.

Last trip forgot to mention film on my trip out.

I put film in a Zip Lock bag.

Only use black and white film anymore. Pan F Plus and Delta 100 favorites. Rolleiflex or Leica. Mic-X developer.
 
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Freakscene said:
Glycerine can give false positives to the explosives swab test. If anything used on the camera contains glycerine it can set the swab test to report a positive. It is a likely component of products used to refresh the vulcanite.

The other common causes of false positives are nitrates from fertilisers or medications, ammunition or gunshot residue, fireworks and accelerants. An acquaintance who was a mine site explosives technician in the 2000s used to set off the swab test twice weekly on the way to her job.

Marty
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A friend of mine was in the army. One time, he had to pass through Australian domestic airport security in uniform that had been worn during live fire drills. They had to swab him, of course, and asked why he tested positive! The answer was self evident, but I think he had to show them his army ID.
 
Berlin Airport, January 2024.
I had two Fuji 800 rolls re-spooled in plastic reusable cassettes in my trousers pockets. Like other passengers, I went through a surface whole-body scanner (feet wide apart, arms stretched). A green silhouette (mine) was visible on their monitor – with two red dots over my pockets !!! I had to hand them both rolls that were imediately passed through the scanner where all carry-on luggage was routinely screened. No time for explanations.

I was not aware that they were able to detect small plastic items with such accuracy…

The good part : the negatives showed no visible damage, after all this.

Regards
Joao
 
Joao said:
Berlin Airport, January 2024.
I had two Fuji 800 rolls re-spooled in plastic reusable cassettes in my trousers pockets. Like other passengers, I went through a surface whole-body scanner (feet wide apart, arms stretched). A green silhouette (mine) was visible on their monitor – with two red dots over my pockets !!! I had to hand them both rolls that were imediately passed through the scanner where all carry-on luggage was routinely screened. No time for explanations.

I was not aware that they were able to detect small plastic items with such accuracy…

The good part : the negatives showed no visible damage, after all this.

Regards
Joao
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Berlin airport still uses the standard scanners, no CT scanners there.
 
lukx said:
Berlin airport still uses the standard scanners, no CT scanners there.
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Indeed - there are curious combinations of CT body and metal detectors, x-ray and CT carry on luggage scanners and low- and high-intensity x-rays and multi-angle CT scanners (such as the CTX-5000, which was introduced in 1994) in airports. The type of scan you get at one point in the chain is independent of the type of scan your carry-on and checked-in luggage receives.
 
Edinburgh have one new scanner and point blank refuse to hand scan saying that even high speed film can go through 35 times - didn’t want to argue, so will see how the rolls of portra 800 and delta 3200 will turn out in a couple of weeks…lovely
 
FWIW, last September I flew from San Francisco to Frankfurt with at nearly a dozen rolls of film, mainly TMax 400 and Portra 160. I had no problem obtaining a hand-check of the film at SFO security and in any event they told me that they were still using the old x-ray scanners that did not damage film at or below iso 800. I'll be traveling again soon, from Sacramento and SFO, and will update on the scanning situation.
 
girdwoodINC said:
Edinburgh have one new scanner and point blank refuse to hand scan saying that even high speed film can go through 35 times - didn’t want to argue, so will see how the rolls of portra 800 and delta 3200 will turn out in a couple of weeks…lovely
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Please let us know how they turned out when you develop them.
 
I tend to only take one of two film cameras on a trip any more ... a Polaroid SX-70 type, or a Minox submini. I just wrap the whole submini and its film, same for the Polaroid packs, in a little bit of lead foils (or use a FilmBag) and show it to the scanner folks if they're curious. Haven't had any issues even with just carrying them in my carry on.

But this is one reason I am happy enough to just carry the M10-M or Light L16. (Actually, the Light L16 often gets stopped in the inspection because the folks running the scanner can't figure out what it is... LOL!

G
 
Had no problem getting hand inspection a month ago in San Francisco, London Heathrow and Rome (had to lie about ASA in Rome 🙂)
 
fdu said:
Had no problem getting hand inspection a month ago in San Francisco, London Heathrow and Rome (had to lie about ASA in Rome 🙂)
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Generally it's no issue in N America. Europe is another story.
 
When I was shooting film I always asked for hand inspection. The agents always did so willingly. But they are obliged. It is a good habit to have. Why take the risk? Just always ask for hand scans.
 
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