[LargeFormat] A new departure

[Brock Nanson]

The thing to remember is that exposure to x-rays is cumulative... So if you
carry film with your hand luggage and the number of scans between purchase
and process is kept to a minimum, unless you are using fast film and/or they
are using the super-scanners, you should be OK.

I was very concerned about this in the past.  Now I use the lead bags and
don't bother asking for the hand inspection.  Sure, they might pump up the
power to see into the bag, but hopefully the shielding will be of some use.
Don't forget, almost every tourist carries a camera, and most don't ever
consider the x-ray risks.  Stories of damaged film certainly exist but I
suspect that, like bear attacks, the risk is lower than you would expect.

I also used to keep the film refrigerated wherever possible during a trip.
I've become less anal about that too...  It takes a prolonged high
temperature to do damage you can see, so unless colour rendition is an
absolute must for product photography for instance, you won't be able to see
the difference in the red sunset or the subtle change in the green of the
trees.

I do what I can to protect the film, but I want to enjoy my holiday too!
And I do now that I relax more about these things!  The super-scanners are
well known and I'd bet you can find out which airports use them from the
Internet.  They would worry me, but the regular ones don't so much anymore.

I think I've successfully shifted the thread from 'film shipped from a
supplier' to 'film on a holiday'...  We've been so good about snipping
lately I'm no longer sure how this started ;-)

Brock

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin M. Bell" <newsgroups@cameracollectors.com>
To: <largeformat@f32.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 7:40 PM
Subject: RE: [LargeFormat] A new departure


| At 07:47 PM 3/7/2002, you wrote:
| >Personally, I would buy the film in Hong Kong (subject to how long you
| >are staying). FedEx isn't going to zap it, Hong Kong customs might if
| >they select that shipment to inspect.
| >
| >Regards Dave
|
| That is a good point.  When we originally planned on flying directly into
| the mainland, I planned on shipping the film - my ability to locate Ilford
| FP4+ in NanNing is in question.  When we decided a brief stay in Hong Kong
| would be nice it never dawned on me to buy film in Hong Kong.  I've never
| been accused of mastering the obvious.