therwol Loc: USA

I believe this issue has been brought up before, but I don't recall seeing any examples of x-ray damaged film. Well, here you go.

My son in-law was assigned to work in Dubai for two months last year and took a film camera (Nikon FA) along with 10 rolls of Ilford HP5 film with him. On his time off, he took side trips to Oman and Jordan. Between the US airport (San Francisco) and the overseas airports, he figures that some of his film was x-ray'd as many as six times. It was transported in a lead-lined bag, but in Oman, security insisted he take the film out of the bag and x-ray'd it without any protection. The film was also x-ray'd at the hotel in Jordan.

When he got home, he used a lab near San Francisco to develop and scan his negatives. He has never had a problem with this lab in the past. He does go into a darkroom and print from the negatives. Here are some examples of what he got back. This is really disappointing. He took some fantastic portraits of my daughter that are completely ruined beyond the point where "burning" can salvage the pictures.

The first three pictures are from one roll, and the next three are from another. By the way, these are low-res scans for reference, so don't look for a lot of detail in the pictures if you're so inclined. You get to pixels rather quickly.

Any thoughts?

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jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Oh, Man! It's the X-ray monster. That's why so many people use digital cameras. There's good an bad points to airport security: ruined film or a bomb on the plane.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

It would be very simple to open up a film canister and fill it with explosive material. Six or eight of them could be enough to blow a hole in an aircraft. I guess there is a simple lesson from this story...

ygelman Loc: new -- North of Poughkeepsie!

The damaged images are reminders of the trip, even as they are. So they're still valuable, and the damage is another point of remembrance.

That said, here is my advice to perhaps prevent it from happening again. Mail the canisters home before subjecting them to x-ray security. I've done that from Israel (from when I was still allowed to enter without full body search) with digital chips; I would guess the same is true for film.

-yoram

Djedi

What a shame.
However, knowing airport security today, I probably wouldn't even think of taking ONLY a film camera on a Middle Eastern trip. If at all.

CHOLLY Loc: THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE!

The mistake was in putting the film in checked baggage. ALWAYS CARY FILM ON IF YOU CAN'T INDEPENDENTLY SHIP IT HOME.

Baggage scanners for carry on luggage use lower energy xrays and MUCH lower doses to check for banned items. ZERO chance of exposing or over exposing your photographic film.

Even newer checked baggage scanners don't expose your film. But there is some older equipment in use that MAY cause a problem.

So if you have film and can't mail it home, carry it on, and let security do a hand search.

therwol Loc: USA

He did carry the film on the plane in the protective bag, but security in Oman insisted on putting the film through the x-ray machine outside of the bag. He did come back with some digital pictures taken on his iPhone. The thing is that he LOVES darkroom work and underestimated the risk to the film. I'm sure he'll take a real digital camera if he ever goes over there again.

therwol Loc: USA

I do understand that. This post was to warn naive film users that the outcome of a trip to this area of the world that involves photographs might not be to their liking. As for mailing the film home, I suppose the outcome couldn't have been any worse than this. I'd be surprised if it wouldn't be x-ray'd as well, and with temps near 120 in the summer there, I would hope that the film's journey wouldn't involve sitting in a non-air conditioned room somewhere.

therwol Loc: USA

Can someone do me a favor? Tell me where you saw this topic. I put it in the main discussion category at around 2 AM PDT this morning. I don't see it listed in any current or future topics, and there have been very few responses. (Doesn't hurt my feelings. I'm just wondering where it went.)

CHOLLY Loc: THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE!

Do you know how HARD it is to expose photographic film with xrays?

Radiographic film is specially made for use with xrays, and even it isn't exposed by the xrays themselves, but INSTEAD by the light generated when those xrays cause intensifying screens to fluoresce. The light created when xrays strike intensifying screens is what exposes the film... NOT the xrays themselves.

The energies used and exposures given by standard baggage scanners physically and chemically CAN NOT EXPOSE standard photographic film.

1000 speed? Even super fast film is RARELY if ever exposed by xrays.

That's physics. And chemistry.

therwol Loc: USA

Then what's going on here? Seriously. I'm 100% sure that the camera has no light leak. I had every bit of foam, including the door seals, replaced two years ago. Damage in processing? Film being pinched by rollers going through a machine? The pattern is different on different rolls. One has a band of exposure on the bottom of the negatives, and another has vertical bands all over the place, some narrow, some diffuse and wide. You don't think that a roll of ISO 400 film exposed 6 times could be fogged by radiation? And who knows what kind of machines they're using in the Middle East or in a hotel in Jordan? Maybe they're the kind used to inspect welds on submarines. (Surely not, but they may not be what we're using over here.)

Finally, in the early days of x-rays, they didn't use intensifying screens, or low dose radiation that they strive for now. They just exposed film, (and everyone else in the room at the same time.) I can't come up with a good explanation for these ruined negatives except x-ray exposure.

therwol Loc: USA

Read this and look at the fogged pictures, some of which bear a striking resemblance to mine, and tell me that the ones I posted were not fogged by x-rays. I can question my son in-law regarding whether he only carried the film on the planes versus placing them in checked luggage. Also, this article by Kodak recommends hand inspection if there will be more than 5 exposures. He counted six, and in one airport, the film cassettes were x-ray'd bare, outside of his lead lined travel bag. And who knows what kind of machine was used at the hotel in Jordan?

I personally don't use film any longer. I posted this to advise caution to anyone who does and travels with it. I think that it was a reasonable thing to do. Back in the old days when I did use film and traveled, I'd buy film at my destination and have it processed before coming home. You can still find film and processing in Western Europe. I've seen film sold in tourist spots in the UK as recently as a year ago. My son in-law says that you can't buy film in the Middle East unless you special order it, and processing is non-existent.

https://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/tib/tib5201.shtml

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

Unfortunately the best way to avoid this problem is to get the exposed film developed before flying. That way the film can no longer be X-ray exposed anymore. Most security will not require such extreme searches, but all security has the right to require such a search. I really feel sorry for your son-in-laws' lost since there is no recovery.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

You may want to do a search on Amazon or EBay for X-Ray proof film canisters.

romanticf16 Loc: Commerce Twp, MI

If you read the post security made him remove the film from the lead bags and x rayed it RAW! There was no option to do anything else.