[Leica] Traveling abroad with film

[freakscene at weirdness.com (Marty Deveney)]

Hi Forrest,

>I'm de-lurking to ask about people's experiences with X-rays and film, I'll 
>be traveling to Italy and Greece at the end of the month, and I don't want 
>to end up with fogged film, I'll be using a variety of films (Plus-X, 
>Tri-X, 
>Ektachrome, and some c-41) any recommendations?

I've travelled through many airports in the last 10 years with film, 
including Kodak TMZ (P3200) and never had any problems.  I carried film 
including Neopan 1600 through Fiumicino Airport in Rome three times in 
September and October this year and the negs look fine.  LuGger Jeffrey 
Smith had some film cooked somewhere domestically (in the USA) and I have 
heard from others who have had similar experiences.  Your highest risk may 
be right at home - I haven't travelled with film in the USA.

Always carry your film on the plane with you; if you put it in your checked 
luggage a CTX5000 or similar dual-beam scanner (now used at almost every 
airport bigger than a grass strip anywhere in the world) will reliably fog 
your film.

At Pulkovo Airport in St Petersburg, Russia, the security personnel were 
happy to hand-inspect my film when they saw much of it was Neopan 1600.  In 
Adelaide, South Australia, where I live, the security people will not 
hand-inspect.  I don't bother trying to ask anymore.

Bear in mind, though, that if the operator has a modern scanner at their 
disposal and they turn the machine up enough, it can fog film.  I usually 
put it through and let them know what it is - if you're in a place where you 
don't speak the language, gesturing if it's okay to the staff as you put 
your huge ziplock bag of film into the little plastic tray is usually 
sufficient.

Good luck,

Marty

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Most people can only judge of things by the experiences of ordinary life, 
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