Venice, London, Greece, Rome - Film and lighting

[xxloverxx]

Going to Venice, London, Greece and Rome in summer…
A friend of mine told me he had no problems getting film through the airport at Venice.
But I haven't heard such good things about London.
I haven't heard anything at all about Greece and Rome.

So my question is: how easy is it to get film through airport security in London, Greece and Rome?

Any tips on how much time it would take for a hand inspection?
I know in HK International Airport it's a matter of minutes from start to finish, and in Japan you can stick all films up to 1600 through the scanner, but I doubt it's that fast anywhere else in the world.

I think I'll take:
Nikon FM - Ektar 100 or Reala 100
Kiev 4a - Tri-X 400, HP5+ 400 or FP4+ 125 (doubtful)
Nikon D50 - well, can't load anything in that, sadly. Must get the sensor cleaned though…

Another question: what lighting can I expect in all these places, not having been to any of them before?
I'm probably not going to carry a tripod around with me all day, so it'd be great if I could get some ideas on what the lighting would be like (to see if I can justify bringing anything slower than a 2.8…or even 1.8)

 

[kully]

For London it depends on which airport you use and how busy it is - normally a hand inspection is fine - although for your film speeds - I would just chuck it through the scanners, I've had HP5+ go through 8 scanners and I couldn't see any effect.

 

[Cron]

I speak for Greece where I had no problems with scanners on airports , my films were 50-400 slide films;
generally I think modern scanners as used in European airports will make no harm to films even when scanned more often;
I would take films with moderate contrast as many areas will be sun/shadow;
Greece, Rome and also Venice will have bright harsh light during the day

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

I pass 100 and 400 film through US and Europe airports' scanners with me with no problem: that's the cabin luggage scanners, never the stronger ones used far from us to take a look at what we check in... In my camera bag I put all my films inside a transparent zip lock bag without cardboard boxes and without plastic containers, so the film strips can be seen...

I have never had any problem with those films, color or b&w, and never asked for hand inspection. Sometimes I've had 40 rolls inside the bag, with some of them already used: no one gave me any problem ever, and ALL films have always been perfect even after several airports' x-rays scans...

800, 1600 and 3200 films are another thing... I wouldn't travel with them.

Cheers,

Juan

 

[The Man From Benaki]

I second the low contrast films suggestion as greek summer sun can be very hard. I have never had any problem with passing films in most greek airports so that shouldnt be a problem.

 

[Sparrow]

It’s worth considering xp2 for Greece and Italy, the sun on white marble can cause very high contrast and xp2 seems to hang on to highlight detail better than most

 

[wgerrard]

From personal experience, your 100 and 400 film will be safe going through the carrryon scanners at Heathrow and Gatwick. I've never asked for hand inspection at either airport. Expect long lines.

Bear in mind that if there is a security flap, UK airports are likely to enforce a single carryon rule very strictly. Make sure your film is in that single bag.

 

[xxloverxx]

Thanks for all the great advice!
Any ideas for low contrast true B&W films (not C41)?
It's going to be shot with either a Series E 50 1.4 or 36-72 3.5 on the Nikon FM
Or a silver Jupiter 8 from the late 60s (Contax mount)