Mailing film instead of traveling with it

[J J Kapsberger]

Do postal services X-ray packages? I was wondering whether mailing my rolls of Neopan 1600 home from Europe would be better – i.e., safer from fogging – if I were to mail them rather than pass through security with them and deal with guards who refuse to hand inspect them.

Or does Neopan handle airport security X-rays perfectly well?

 

[sevo]

Usually, they won't - but if there is a mail bomb scare, they might do so, without warning and possibly on equipment older and in a much worse shape than in any remote Siberian airport.

If the images don't warrant taking any risk, I'd develop 1600 ISO film locally - film tanks may be bulky, but they are not heavy, and the latter counts on a plane.

Sevo

 

[payasam]

If you have the time to go to a post office and wait in line, you should have the time to develop the film. My impression is, though, that carrying film is no longer risky.

 

[J J Kapsberger]

Thanks, sevo and payasam.

Payasam: no longer risky as in the scanning machines currently in use shouldn't harm even ISO 1600 film?

 

[Tom A]

Any film faster than 1000 asa is risky to mail. IF it is X-rayed it will fog! You can send stuff Fed Ex with a "exposed film" tape on it and they supposedly do not X-ray it - but that gets expensive.
Depending where you are going, try to hook up with someone locally who has access to a darkroom and run the film through that. Black and white shooters tend to be helpful to each other!
How are you bringing the film along in the first place? X-ray damage is cumulative and if it is x-rayed on the first leg of the trip - you already might have fog on it!

 

[wgerrard]

The standard line is that film below ISO 800 isn't visibly harmed by passage through carryon scanners.

Here in the U.S., it's my (easily wrong) understanding that packages routed through certain facilities are x-rayed. If, or how, someone can insure a package is not handled at one of those facilities is something I do not know. Nor do I know if "Don't X-Ray" stickers have any impact.

On the other hand, lots of unexposed film is zipping around postal services all the time.

I've got a UK trip coming up. Not really worried about airport scanners, but I do plan on getting my color films processed at a local lab the day before I depart. Just for convenience and to avoid waiting a week or so to see my pictures once home.

 

[J J Kapsberger]

On the other hand, lots of unexposed film is zipping around postal services all the time.

Good point.

 

[J J Kapsberger]

How are you bringing the film along in the first place? X-ray damage is cumulative and if it is x-rayed on the first leg of the trip - you already might have fog on it!

I was planning to take it with me on the plane and hope that I could get the five rolls hand inspected. Maybe I should just buy the film there and have a local lab develop them.

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

 

[venchka]

I have requested hand inspection in the U.S. I carry a roll of Tmax 3200 to facilitate the hand inspection request. Somebody, somewhere, on a forum like this one, was of the opinion that film got more radiation during a transatlantic flight than an airport security machine. I have no clue if that is correct.

YMMV.

 

[Nikon Bob]

Kodak has some thoughts on the matter in a technical service bulletin http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/tib/tib5201.shtml . IIRC David Attenborough had some of his film stock ruined at Manchester airport in 1999 when it went through a CTX 5000 scanner used to check cargo.

Bob

 

[venchka]

The machines used for checked luggage will fry film. Or so we have been led to understand.

 

[wgerrard]

I've said this elsewhere, but, in brief, most major airports have web sites. Those web sites often include a statement about film scanning. Everyone I've seen says film at ISO 800 and below is safe in their carryon scanners. Everyone I've seen says no film is ever safe in their checked baggage scanners. Frankly, considering the potential blowback and litigation by institutions who lose serious money in fogged film, I suspect those pronouncements err on the conservative side.

The impact of x-rays is cumulative. I've had 100 and 400 film scanned as many as 6 times with no visible change.

Regardless of the law or regulations in a given country, asking for a handcheck puts you at the disposal of the local security staff. "They" say, for example, that no one gets film handchecked at Heathrow, period. If you do ask, make life easier by taking the film out of its boxes, and arrive 30-45 minutes earlier.

 

[sepiareverb]

Fed Ex. Stop in at your local Fed-Ex and get the appropriate "Photosensitive" stickers to bring with you. They will segregate your package so it doesn't even get placed near anything that might harm it.

I've used Fed-Ex to ship film multiple times and it is worth the extra little bit you pay. Plus you can drop it off and have it at home with you the next day should you wish.

 

[photogdave]

The only airport in the world I've been refused a hand check was Heathrow. Get as many hand checks as possible and if the film goes through one or two scanners it will probably be okay.
I've never had film, including Neopan 1600, damaged by x-rays by employing this method.

 

[Tim Gray]

I'd mail it Fedex. Well, if I was going to mail it. So far I've not had any problems with T-Max 3200 or Portra 800 in carry on scanners. Been all over the US with it. Also through Stockholm, Paris, and London. And tomorrow, Tokyo.

 

[J J Kapsberger]

Most encouraging. Thanks.

 

[btgc]

Discovering that macodirect.de doesn't have LegacyPro anymore, I have considered ordering it from Freestyle. I still have option to ship it overseas directly from Freestyle or receive it in US and then forward to me by means of USPS.
From topic seems that either method should be fine, in terms of x-ray impact.

 

[Mephiloco]

The last few trips I went on I put my film in one of those lead bags for film and brought it in my carry on. In the past when I brought it I was stopped and they would ask what it was and check it for contents etc, but the past couple of times it went through without event. Not a word spoken to me, not asked to open my back or anything.

My guess is that the 'x-ray' machines are no longer actual x-ray machines, but instead use a different technology and are generically referred to as 'x-ray machines' due to history/tradition.

None of my film has been fogged... The bulk of it was tri-x that I ultimately pushed to 3200.

 

[morback]

I never had a problem with x-ray machines and fogging. I used to do the transatlantic once a year since 2001. Never a problem.

Then last summer I went to Turkey from NYC. Out of 40 films, all Arista Premiums (ASA 400), I had 2 with X-Ray damage on them. Quite visible damage too.

Just an FYI.

 

[Roger Hicks]

The risk of loss in mailing is vastly greater than the risk from X-rays. As well as 'normal' (2x-3x) exposures to carry-on luggage X-rays (which incidentally are still X-rays, though other tests are used as well), I've deliberately run Delta 3200 through multiple X-ray machines (once Heathrow-Dabolim-Delhi-Dabolim-Persian Gulf) and never had a problem.

This doesn't stop me getting paranoid, but I'd be a lot more paranoid about letting the film out of my control. With just 5 rolls I'd not hesitate for a second to carry them both ways.

Cheers,

R.