Airport X-ray - Is my film ruined?

[Jamie123]

I finally got my free Portra film today. I had it sent to where my friend's sister was staying at in NY and she just recently returned to Switzerland.

Anyways, I did mention to my friend a while ago that she should transport the film in her carry-on luggage but I don't think he told her or maybe she didn't remember. Now I'm pretty sure that she put the film with the checked luggage and I'm wondering if there's any chance at all that it's not completely damaged? Obviously I can just test but I'd be really curious to know beforehand what to expect so I don't waste any good shots on a bad roll.

thanks!

PS: It's two rolls of 400VC, one of 400NC, one of 160VC and one of 160VC - all in 120 format.

 

[shenkerian]

I think it's ruined. Sorry to hear that end after you waited so long for the film.

 

[Jamie123]

I was afraid to hear that but you're probably right. It's a pity that 5 rolls of this beautiful film are ruined! Oh well, it's not the end of the world.

 

[mbisc]

They're probably cooked, but I'd try one just in case (start with the 400 film since it would be more sensitive). Since it is 120 film, at least it doesn't take too many shots to finish the roll...
Sorry to hear about the loss...

 

[dmr]

Not too long ago I accidentally left a partly-exposed roll of Fuji 800 in a camera is a bag I checked at Midway. When I discovered it I thought it was probably ruined, but when I had it processed it came out normal with no fogging apparent in the unexposed areas.

My guess is that for some reason that bag did not go through any kind of a powerful x-ray.

 

[kaiyen]

If you put it in checked baggage, and it came out okay, then it didn't go through x-ray _at_all_. They don't make "low power" baggage x-ray machines, AFAIK (and I chatted with a baggage handler friend from southwest about it, though he isn't the x-ray guy, obviously).

Kinda bad that your bag wasn't scanned...

allan

 

[Jamie123]

Update:

I shot a roll of 400VC today and had it developed at a one hour lab. The negs themselves look fine even when inspected with an 8x loupe on a lighttable. When I scan them, however, I can see a slight effect of the x-ray. It's just visible in a few frames and even there I can hardly see it unless I play with levels.

I will definitely not use these rolls for critical shots but I guess it's ok for the not so important lets-see-how-this-looks shots. I'm guessing that the ISO 160 film would come out better than the 400VC I tested so that's good.

All in all it's nothing that photoshop couldn't fix so if I ever forget a roll in the checked baggage it's won't be a catastrophe.

 

[dmr]

If you put it in checked baggage, and it came out okay, then it didn't go through x-ray _at_all_.

Here's one shot from that very roll:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=6949

I was really expecting to see streaky and blotchy fog marks on it, but nothing like that shows at all, even on the unexposed parts of the negatives.