Travelling with lots of film - ziploc bags?

Excellent information. Thanks!

I will definitely call them when my trip gets closer -- I do want to hear directly from them that this is true for packages that go into mainland China. (China often is the 'exception' to the rule in things like this.)


sepiareverb said:
Fed Ex owns their own planes, and will label packages needing particular conditions. No X-ray, Photosensitive- the package will not even travel near anything that can damage it. They have always delivered film on time and safely.

I've never had film damaged by X-ray anywhere but at the airport, from getting scanned as I'm traveling with it. I've sent film via Fed-Ex with proper labeling many times without any trouble. I have also sent film via the US Post Office within the US, properly labeled, without damage from x-ray; in fact I send in my color films (35mm, 120 & sheet) for processing via the mail 90% of the time and have since moving to Vermont in 1995. Outside the country and with a definite time needed at point A I choose Fed-Ex for the superlative tracking and knowledge that it will be there when they say it will no question.
Click to expand...
 
Inside a ziplock bag I've carried 50 rolls: officers see -instantly- that it's film.

Inside it I have a smaller ziplock bag for some rolls of 3200 film: I ask them to pass through x-rays the bigger bag with most of the film rolls, and please hand check the small bag with the real fast film.

All officers have been kind in all countries for years since I do it this way... And they used to hate me with my lead bag, even years before the terrorism era!

With the ziplock bags they like it because they see you made an effort to make it easier for them...

Cheers,

Juan
 
FedEx may heed "Don't X-Ray" labels, but do the labels carry any weight with airport security authorities who operate their own scanning equipment?

It doesn't seem prudent for them to scan all passengers and all baggage and freight going on and off an aircraft, but to ignore the stuff shippers like FedEx and UPS fly around the world. The threat from a remotely detonated bomb shipped and tracked with one of those carriers seems apparent.
 
wgerrard said:
FedEx may heed "Don't X-Ray" labels, but do the labels carry any weight with airport security authorities who operate their own scanning equipment?

It doesn't seem prudent for them to scan all passengers and all baggage and freight going on and off an aircraft, but to ignore the stuff shippers like FedEx and UPS fly around the world. The threat from a remotely detonated bomb shipped and tracked with one of those carriers seems apparent.
Click to expand...

I worry about that too...

Cheers,

Juan
 
Papercut said:
Excellent information. Thanks!

I will definitely call them when my trip gets closer -- I do want to hear directly from them that this is true for packages that go into mainland China. (China often is the 'exception' to the rule in things like this.)
Click to expand...

I would suggest that you're worry about nothing. Back in 2004 when Ilford went into receivership and I was living in Beijing, I bought some 800 rolls of film (mostly HP5 & Delta 400, a little Delta 3200). I have hand carried and x-rayed (over 2 trips in a case) all that film from Beijing to Bangkok and later, Bangkok to Singapore the same way. Ive later had individual rolls of that batch pass up to 16 carry on x-ray screenings (some of that has been through multi provincial Chinese airports, which are actually quite modern) and none of it has presented any visible deterioration. BTW, all this film is stored in a dedicated freezer :D
 
Good to hear, Craig. I'm especially glad to hear about the Delta 3200, as I'm likely to do some shooting with Tri-X pushed to 1600 or 3200.

The connecting flight from Beijing (or HK) to Chongqing is the unpredictable one (sometimes security is tight, other times stations are unmanned and the machines all off), but like a lot of the provincial airports it's newly built in the last few years, so it should be up to date and the x-ray machines film-safe. If I can just send it through the machines, then I can save space in the crowded carry on (laptop, research materials, cameras, lenses) by taking bulk tins and loading there.

craygc said:
I would suggest that you're worry about nothing. Back in 2004 when Ilford went into receivership and I was living in Beijing, I bought some 800 rolls of film (mostly HP5 & Delta 400, a little Delta 3200). I have hand carried and x-rayed (over 2 trips in a case) all that film from Beijing to Bangkok and later, Bangkok to Singapore the same way. Ive later had individual rolls of that batch pass up to 16 carry on x-ray screenings (some of that has been through multi provincial Chinese airports, which are actually quite modern) and none of it has presented any visible deterioration. BTW, all this film is stored in a dedicated freezer :D
Click to expand...
 
Yes, carry on x-rays from many airports on the same rolls (maybe 10-15 times) didn't harm my B&W and color film up to ISO400 included.

Cheers,

Juan
 
I just returned from shooting a couple of weddings in Europe. I brought along 600 rolls of 35mm (ISO 100, 400, 1600 and 3200) and 300 sheets of Fuji 3000 ISO instant film... I had all the film loose in a duffle bag due to the volume and was able to have it hand checked at Miami and Rome (it was scanned in Paris as they did not care about hand checking it). I never worry about the carry-on scan but if possible, I always ask for a hand check... The developed film came out great as always... When I am traveling with less film, I always put them in clear ziplock bags as I want to make it easy on the TSA folks to inspect the film if I ask for a hand inspection.

Cheers,
 
Interesting information, sorry to put a "stupid" question, but it is not clear for me. Is it correct, as I have understood, that film in the ziplock bags are without the plastic canister? As my "instinct" I would leave them in the canister for more protection (heat, umidity etc). Thanks for an anwser
robert
 
Right: without plastic canisters... I've never had humidity problems in any climate, but I've heard film rolls shouldn't be left in the fridge without plastic canisters... But I've done it for months inside the bag without problems either...

Cheers,

Juan
 
I don't think keeping 35mm film out of the canisters is much of a problem as they're made of metal so they're fairly protected. 120 film, on the other side, is only protected by paper so I'd rather not take it out of the protective foil.
 
craygc said:
I would suggest that you're worry about nothing. Back in 2004 when Ilford went into receivership and I was living in Beijing, I bought some 800 rolls of film (mostly HP5 & Delta 400, a little Delta 3200). I have hand carried and x-rayed (over 2 trips in a case) all that film from Beijing to Bangkok and later, Bangkok to Singapore the same way. Ive later had individual rolls of that batch pass up to 16 carry on x-ray screenings (some of that has been through multi provincial Chinese airports, which are actually quite modern) and none of it has presented any visible deterioration. BTW, all this film is stored in a dedicated freezer :D
Click to expand...

My experiences are the same as yours, some off my film has as many airmiles as I do and this includes multiple trips through third world country’s (West Africa) and none off it shows any ill effects from the X ray scanners.
 
I bulk load my own film, and carry alot of rolls with me, but not on airplanes. I put each bulk roll in a clear plastic cannister, and the ziplocs seperate the film, by type. I also carry an empty ziploc, for the exposed rolls, which I leave out of the plastic can. It's handy when you need to change out quickly and be organized.
 
Last edited:
wgerrard said:
FedEx may heed "Don't X-Ray" labels, but do the labels carry any weight with airport security authorities who operate their own scanning equipment?

It doesn't seem prudent for them to scan all passengers and all baggage and freight going on and off an aircraft, but to ignore the stuff shippers like FedEx and UPS fly around the world. The threat from a remotely detonated bomb shipped and tracked with one of those carriers seems apparent.
Click to expand...


Fed-Ex flies their own planes.
 
It's been around a year and a half that I have been shooting film and I've travelled quite a bit since then. At first I would ask to have a manual check on all film, but it was quite a hassle, so I started giving them only the iso1600 and up rolls, it is quicker and below that it won't really matter.

I've once mistakenly checked in my bag with everything in a flight from rome to athens, realised it only mid flight... as soon as I got to athens I finished an iso400 roll (highest iso i took) and developed it: no sign of xray marks at all. but i'm not willing to try that again. :)
 
wgerrard said:
Yes, but they don't operate their own airports. I've never been scanned on an airplane.

If I buy an airplane, can I fly boxes of semtex around the world with impunity?
Click to expand...

Don't know, I don't see why not. Airport security doesn't scan the planes themselves nor anything on the planes as you point out. Just reporting my preferred way of getting film to and fro safely in a thread about getting film to and fro safely. I have been told by several Fed-Ex employees whom I trust that the film would NEVER be scanned, and I've NEVER seen any evidence that it has been. I have seen damage from the regular check-on scans (after multiple scans)in both my own film and the films I see students run. I prefer not to have to worry about my film, and getting an oftentimes tedious and less than friendly hand inspection of films has always gotten folks behind me in line pissed off, which only adds to the annoyance of everyone involved.
 
ziplock bags to help airport is great. But after that I remove film from ziplock due to the hot climates in which I travel. Don't want to lock in the heat.
 
I stopped all these approaches for hand inspection and I just let them XRay it all. More damage is done by heat.

I carry insulated bags, like the ones you get at Sam's Club or COSTCO or Walmart for keeping frozen food cold. They can be folded and they are light. It allows me also to insulate from heat cameras with film in them.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom