Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/08/09

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Subject: Re: [Leica]x-ray and film in foreign airports
From: apbc <apbc@public1.sta.net.cn>
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 98 11:47:54 +0800

Mervin S. Stewart wrote
>
>We recently returned from China with 50+ rolls of  exposed film.  W Much to 
my amazement a roll of 3200 TMax was in my M6 and went through =
>two
>scanners in the States, one in Narita and one in Beijing before I realize=
>d it
>was in the camera.  I was amazed to find no evidence of fogging when the =
>film
>was developed....a pleasant surprise.  I guess I was lucky!! =

I have lived in this part of the world for over a decade and whilst I did 
once get a suitcase full of film and paper destroyed by the old X-Ray 
machines at Hong Kong's old airport (Kai Tak) about ten years ago it has 
been problem free ever since. Europe and USA is another matter... One 
thing that US flyers tend to misunderstand IMHO is that the developing 
countries tend to have the newest X-Ray equipment and that it is IME far 
more likely you will have problems in Europe or the States with the older 
X-Rays. Most of the airports I use here in Asia are less than 10 years 
old and make JFK for example (not to mention some of the smaller cities' 
facilities) look prehistoric. (I used to work at JFK so I do know what I 
am talking about).

Contrary to what I have heard repeatedly uttered by others IMHO it is 
better to put film in checked in baggage than carry-on - but only if you 
KNOW that there is no further X-raying in baggage handling, which is 
usually easy to establish.

Another thing I have learnt from experience is that if you stick labels 
and write special requests on your Fedex packages asking for no X-Rays 
you are sure to get them X-Rayed: this only piques the interest of the 
security people.

Bests

Adrian

Adrian Bradshaw
Photojournalist
Shanghai, China