XRAY: What is the truth? Does it affect the films?

wgerrard said:
Stewart, have you asked anyone if the machine can or cannot see inside the bag? I'm not doubting your experience, but I'm not happy with the notion that security staff allow bags with unknown contents onto aircraft.
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no I didn’t want to push my luck and draw there attention to it … my only explanation is that they think the contents are light sensitive.
And yes I was surprised too, I started doing it like that simply to get a hand inspection



PS I remember some years back seeing my bag go through a scanner and I could clearly see the black cassette through a camera body it was in.
 
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OK, here's the skinny on this subject. I'm a Radiologic Technologist (fancy word for x-ray and CAT scan tech.) I work with x-rays every day. As a previous poster said, x-rays DO affect film - all film - as long as it is undeveloped. It does not matter if it has been exposed (pictures taken) or not. Lower ASA film is less sensitive, just as it is to visible light, but x-ray exposure, just like visible light exposure is cumulative, so the less you have it scanned, the better off you are. Even 50 ASA can be fogged if it is scanned enough times. Lead bags DO cut down on a lot of exposure. There are so many variables - what machine, how strong the beam is, how close the film is to the beam focal spot, what else you have in your bag (dense objects will cause secondary scatter of x-ray photons), how many times it is scanned. Several scans in a lead bag is always better than one scan without one. For checked bags, the machines use a higher dose because they have a larger area - and often a more dense suitcase to penetrate. By the way, metal detectors have no effect on film.
Hope this helps.
 
As was already stated, I would agree that the problem with your film is likely prolonged exposure to hot temperatures, not xrays. I had exactly the same results from film the endured wicked heat and humidity in Boston a few years ago — grainy with very low (washed-out) looking contrast.

Re: xrays. For years I just threw all my film in plastic bag and into a suitcase. Never once had a problem. But, on the advice of members here, I no longer do that. I bring my film with me and ask to have it hand checked. This has not yet been a problem. I keep some 1600 in each of my film cases so that when I say I'm carrying high-speed film it is the truth. No one has bothered to check however, they just take my word for it.
 
Here are a few relevant passages pulled from the TSA site:

"Never place undeveloped film in your checked baggage, our security equipment used for screening checked baggage will damage your undeveloped film. Place your film in your carry-on baggage or request a hand inspection. Please note that our carry-on security equipment might also damage certain film if the film passes through more than five times.

If your film cannot be cleared by X-ray inspection, or you desire to have it inspected by hand, you may be required to open the box, canister, or wrapper so our Security Officer can inspect it. We recommend leaving your film in the unopened manufacturer’s packaging."

"The X-ray machine that screens your carry-on baggage at the passenger security checkpoint will not affect undeveloped film under ASA/ISO 800."

"At the passenger security checkpoint, you should remove the following types of film from your carry-on baggage and ask for a hand inspection:

Film with an ASA/ISO 800 or higher
Highly sensitive X-ray, medical or scientific films
Film of any speed which is subjected to X-ray surveillance more than 5 times (the effect of X-ray screening is cumulative)
Film that is or will be underexposed
Film that you intend to 'push process'
Sheet, large format and motion picture film"

"We recommend that you do not place your film in lead-lined bags since the lead bag will have to be hand-inspected.

You may still consider bringing a lead-lined bag if you are traveling through airports in other countries as their policies may vary. "

That last snippet suggests that agents who do not open and inspect the contents of a lead-lined bag are negligent. Obviously, given the size of queues at many airports, TSA will discourage (as opposed to prohibit) anything that slows down the line.

I'd like to see reports from people carrying other kinds of film through airports: Medical x-rays; film crews, etc.
 
Like others, I have not experienced any x-ray damage to film in a carry-on bag in the past 20 years. That includes TMZ (EI 3200) that has undergone multiple trips through scanners. That said, these have all been state-of-the-art scanners in Western airports (US, Canada, Europe, Australia). I haven't been to Cuba, so I don't know what the scanners at their airports are like. But if they're the same vintage as their cars, you might have a problem.
 
On a recent trip to Buenos Aires, which involved 3 flights to get there and 2 flights to get home, I decided to take no chances with my film. I bought a role of Fuji Neopan 1600 solely to illustrate I was carrying high speed film. I asked for hand scanning at each airport before boarding. When TSA noticed that the rest of the rolls were 100 ISO, I told them I was going to push process the film. I was given hand scanning each time I requested it.

I recently read that someone actually marked each roll "Push Process" so there would be no argument when he asked for the film to be hand scanned. He actually had no intention of push processing the film.

Ellen
 
Two rolls of Portra 400 35mm show signs of x-ray induced fogging. There's a wavy streak along much of the film. At first i thought is might be an extreme drying water mark. The lab however have convinced me that it's likely an x-ray effect. The films were in hand luggage scanned at Edinburgh and Prague airports- ie just two times total.
 
Brought Neopan 400 and 1600 in the hand-luggage to and from Japan, no problems. (4 scans of hand-luggage in total).

Never put film in checked baggage.
 
I found that there's a lot of variability between the x-ray machines at various airports.

With years of experience traveling to major airports and putting 400 ISO film through multiple (up to 4 per trip), I've become complacent about the ill effects of the x-ray scans.

Recently, I was reminded not to be: most of my negatives from a trip to Brasil's hinterland showed broad wavy lines going through them. These were all c-41 400ISO rolls (mostly Portra and Gold). Similar damage was also found after a trip through Turkey that involved 6 hand-baggage x-ray scans. On that trip, I was not sure if the repeated exposure was too blame or the older x-ray machines encountered on the trip.
 
AZPhotog said:
sepiareverb --- thanks very much for that extremely informative link. Great visual reference for all of us to study and remember.
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Glad it is still up at Kodak, so much of their knowledge base seems to be vanishing.

I’ve seen films come back from Europe in checked baggage that were all maximum black, the wavy lines from carry on scans and “noisy” color films from carry on scans. When I taught many students took trips over breaks and so I got to see lots of variety. Some folks would not have damage, others would. In sorting out the situation they would not have been in the same line when getting checked through security. I believe there is lots of variability in the exposure - age of the machine, speed through the machine, rescans. And of course storage of exposed film also comes into play. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a scan would exacerbate damage from heat on exposed film.
 
This past summer I was glad to not have brought film through Dubai and Johannesburg. My bag went into the machine in Dubai, came back out, went back in, came back out, went back in and then was opened up and I had to take everything apart, open every lens. In Johannnesburg I got one extra scan as well. By comparison, in Tuliar Madagascar the entire inspection process was me opening the bag and having a teenager peer into it. No X-ray, nothing more than a peek. More inspiring of confidence than seeing the plane come in however, LOL.
 
Thank for that link. The lab have suggested that the film might have been X-ray fogged prior to me receiving it. They report that some traders buy grey market film from abroad at reduced cost.

These grey imports are not necessarily given the same TLC that official distributors achieve. The Portra 400 I used was bought via Amazon marketplace so it's possible that it was a grey import that reached the U.K. by air and was subject to x Ray passes of unknown quantity.
 
I’ve wondered about how those amazon from wherever films were treated. That’s a drag. Bad enough when it is film from around home, but stuff from a trip is worse.
 
I've traveled close to 1,000,000 miles by air in the past 20 years and almost always have a film camera or cameras with me. Never once have I had my film ruined by X-rays. I NEVER have my film hand checked. I just send it through the carry on scanners worry free. Completely worry free. I have had films X-rayed up to 12 separate times during trips without any visible degradation whatsoever. Multiple X-rays in places like India? No problem.

A complete and total non issue.
 
agreenspan said:
OK, here's the skinny on this subject. I'm a Radiologic Technologist (fancy word for x-ray and CAT scan tech.) I work with x-rays every day. As a previous poster said, x-rays DO affect film - all film - as long as it is undeveloped. It does not matter if it has been exposed (pictures taken) or not. Lower ASA film is less sensitive, just as it is to visible light, but x-ray exposure, just like visible light exposure is cumulative, so the less you have it scanned, the better off you are. Even 50 ASA can be fogged if it is scanned enough times. Lead bags DO cut down on a lot of exposure. There are so many variables - what machine, how strong the beam is, how close the film is to the beam focal spot, what else you have in your bag (dense objects will cause secondary scatter of x-ray photons), how many times it is scanned. Several scans in a lead bag is always better than one scan without one. For checked bags, the machines use a higher dose because they have a larger area - and often a more dense suitcase to penetrate. By the way, metal detectors have no effect on film.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

I have had ISO400 film scanned at least 12 times in a single trip with no visible effect at all.
 
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