Airport CT scanners

[Mute-on]

I don’t need this level of anxiety when traveling. And I don’t care what other people say regarding certain European and American airports willing to hand check film because you’d never know if you will get that one power hungry asshole that day.

Unfortunately the very reason I finally abandoned my beloved Leica M2, M4 and MP for overseas travel and substituted an M240. I’m still in mourning at the loss of the film photography experience that made my overseas trips with family that bit more enjoyable for me.

 

[lamefrog]

UPDATE: As it turns out, roll number 6 has little or no fogging. I took 5 rolls with me on my outbound trip and bought the rest at my destination and I'm developing in chronological order. So Frankfurt may not be the culprit after all. It doesn't make sense because I go through the Nice airport regularly, and although they will not hand-check, I've never noticed any degradation. Perhaps it's the combination of both scanners.

I would be very interested to see a couple of pictures.

The negatives are dense. The image retrieved by the film scanner is low-contrast and grainy.



Below:
Left = normal negative
Right = fogged, from this trip

 

[valdas]

UPDATE: As it turns out, roll number 6 has little or no fogging. I took 5 rolls with me on my outbound trip and bought the rest at my destination and I'm developing in chronological order. So Frankfurt may not be the culprit after all. It doesn't make sense because I go through the Nice airport regularly, and although they will not hand-check, I've never noticed any degradation. Perhaps it's the combination of both scanners.




The negatives are dense. The image retrieved by the film scanner is low-contrast and grainy.

View attachment 4877812

Below:
Left = normal negative
Right = fogged, from this trip

View attachment 4877817



View attachment 4877820

My experience is that regular x-ray has negligible impact which is hard to notice, so, it must be CT scanner. It would be strange that they deny handcheck for CT type machine.

 

[Coldkennels]

UPDATE: As it turns out, roll number 6 has little or no fogging. I took 5 rolls with me on my outbound trip and bought the rest at my destination and I'm developing in chronological order. So Frankfurt may not be the culprit after all. It doesn't make sense because I go through the Nice airport regularly, and although they will not hand-check, I've never noticed any degradation. Perhaps it's the combination of both scanners.




The negatives are dense. The image retrieved by the film scanner is low-contrast and grainy.

View attachment 4877812

Below:
Left = normal negative
Right = fogged, from this trip

View attachment 4877817



View attachment 4877820

...is there a chance the film on the right is underfixed? I've had rolls come out exactly like that when the fixer has gone bad. Refixing clears it right up.

Of course, it could just be toasted by the scanner, but it's worth a go.

 

[Coldkennels]

My summer of travel is now over, so here's the updates from airports I've been to this year:

Heathrow, Terminal 2: Still using old X-ray machines (I think). Took the film aside without question or complaint and actually hand-checked it. A bag full of FILCAs raised questions about why they were so heavy, but otherwise fine.
Heathrow, Terminal 5: CT scanners in place, absolutely no issue with film being taken aside... but they immediately ran it through a small x-ray machine for things that can't go through the CT scanner.
Berlin, Terminal 1: CT scanners in place, large signs telling people to ask for a hand-check. Big improvement over previous years. No questions or complaints from staff. In previous years, airport police actually got involved; nothing like that this time.
Copenhagen, Terminal 3: I actually don't remember much about this one - which scanners were being used - but still had a hand-check.

Overall, people seem much more responsive for hand checking film than they did just two or three years ago. The new scanners and new training is probably the biggest reason why. Still worth arriving a bit earlier, having the film bagged separately, and being polite always helps.

As an aside, the one time I've ever had a real issue at airport security was in Berlin a couple of years ago... my bag got pulled aside and fully searched. The reason? They thought a sizeable flash bracket was a gun when they saw it on the X-ray. Eventually all the staff were laughing about it, but it was tense for a second!

 

[lamefrog]

...is there a chance the film on the right is underfixed? I've had rolls come out exactly like that when the fixer has gone bad. Refixing clears it right up.

Of course, it could just be toasted by the scanner, but it's worth a go.

A valid and welcome suggestion, thanks, but I'm sure that's not the case here .

 

[Tuna]

FYI - recently travelled overseas out of Dulles in Washington DC and they readily hand checked my film - looked like they expected that to be a viable option they were ready for.

A few months ago I flew out of Laguardia in NYC and they had a box labeled for hand checked items where, presumably, you placed those items in the box and they would be hand checked.

 

[Freakscene]

More good advice:



I can also add that Perth Airport (IATA: PER, ICAO: YPPH), Western Australia, has changed their infrastructure to 100% CT scanners.

Adelaide (IATA: ADL, ICAO: YPAD), which has only one terminal, has 1 CT scanner and 3 x-rays in the general entry area, but the international area is CT only.

Marty

Adelaide (ADL, YPAD) now has all CT scanners.

 

[mike rosenlof]

Denver, Frankfurt (twice), and Eurostar at St. Pancras in London. September 2025. All hand checked without drama. six rolls of 120 film in a mesh bag.

 

[Bingley]

Edinburgh update - all cool today hand check on a load of high speed 120

I flew into and out of Edinburgh airport in May. On the return to the US, I had no problem getting a hand-check of the film (both exposed and unexposed).

 

[kxl]

Pre CT scanners, the primary culprit was the accumulation of xrays, and especially for ISO 1600 and higher. I do recall passing through several xrays in Europe and being denied hand checks—the only film that fogged were the Kodak TMZ 3200.

With today’s CT scanners, word is that a single pass will ruin film of any speed. I do NOT want to find out for myself.

On my current trip, they hand checked my film at LAX and Haneda, and hopefully they’ll do the same at New Chitose and Haneda on my way home.

 

[valdas]

Pre CT scanners, the primary culprit was the accumulation of xrays, and especially for ISO 1600 and higher. I do recall passing through several xrays in Europe and being denied hand checks—the only film that fogged were the Kodak TMZ 3200.

With today’s CT scanners, word is that a single pass will ruin film of any speed. I do NOT want to find out for myself.

On my current trip, they hand checked my film at LAX and Haneda, and hopefully they’ll do the same at New Chitose and Haneda on my way home.

Not any speed. I just developed Orwo TF12 (sound recording film) which I forgot in my backpack when passing through a CT scanner in Helsinki. I see no impact. The same was with another iso 100 b&w film some months ago. So, it is not an instant death in all cases.

 

[p.giannakis]

I just passed Terminal 1 security in Manchester airport. It is nightmare this morning due to school holidays but staff hand checked my film, no questions asked. It is important to have them in a ziplock bag as it speeds up times

 

[fdu]

Happy to report that San Francisco, Hong Kong and Bangkok airport hand check films without asking questions, with a smile in Bangkok 🙂

And to my surprise, a roll of Tri-x left in a camera doesn't show any degradation after passing through 2 CT scanners (SFO and HKG).

 

[d_c]

I recently travelled through Stansted and Pisa without issue, although for Pisa the thing that swung it was having the film cannisters in a separate clear bag with one of the Kodak branded multi-language warning labels that you can print out from their website.

 

[pmviewcam]

Recently returned from NZ to Australia, and airport security at Wellington has a large sign saying the scanners ruin film. Don't know about hand checks, but going on the Australian experience, I doubt it.

 

[dourbalistar]

Recently returned from NZ to Australia, and airport security at Wellington has a large sign saying the scanners ruin film. Don't know about hand checks, but going on the Australian experience, I doubt it.

@Slumgullion was looking for info about hand checks in NZ.

 

[Slumgullion]

@Slumgullion was looking for info about hand checks in NZ.

I found out that they don't happen :/

 

[dourbalistar]

I found out that they don't happen :/

Well, that's a shame. Traveling internationally with film has become increasingly difficult. Not impossible, just seems like a lot more planning.

 

[kxl]

Not sure how accurate this is, but it does seem to include 2025 updates. I just submitted my experience (yes to hand check request - informed and friendly) in Hokkaido, Japan at the New Chitose Airport.

WORLD AIRPORTS (Copy) — Handcheckfilm

www.handcheckfilm.com