Airport / Security X-RAY Scanners

Bidz

Bidz

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Liam
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Hello.

Will having a camera scanned by security ruin the film, or is this a myth?

Thanks

Liam
 
Well the view is:- No one has complained about hand luggage scanners, but MAYBE the scanner for your luggage going in the hold MIGHT effect films in a small way. But I would guess if you were going on a world tour to umpteen countries the film would eventually suffer.
 
Modern airport scanners don't emit enough radiation to ruin your film.

I've taken film through them loads of times with no ill effects.

I worked at Manchester airport for quite a long time, and have passed god knows how many bits of kit including loads of film through and none of it glows in the dark.
 
The general consensus thats come up from previous threads on this is that hand luggage scanners are fine and will do no noticeable damage to film even when scanned multiple times. But hold luggage scanners are powerful enough to fog film so it should not be placed in hold luggage. Although supposedly you can request a hand search for 'high speed professional film", 9 times out of 10 they will say no.

In the past it may have been fine to put film in hold luggage, but with the increased security these days, the scanners power has increased greatly and are no longer safe. Also don't use a lead lined bag because these days all the operator will do is increase the power to see through it, exposing the film to even more x-ray radiation.
 
I don't know who starts all these increased security rumours lol, power hasn't been cranked up at all, it would be pointless as the machines are set at manufacture so as to display the optimum result.

Too many aviation security experts that have never had anything to do with aviation security.

The xray operator actually has no control over the power the machine omits, they can lighten the screen image and separate metals and organics but not raise the power at all, the reason you shouldn't put them in a lead lined bag is because dense metal just shows up as a dark mass on an xray screen, meaning it cant be seen through, so the operator would either request a hand search and/or for the items within to be screened again.

I worked as an operator on one at Birmingham Airport main terminals passenger search area and saw the results of kodaks testing for myself as they did a series of tests using one of our machines and gave us all the technical data relating to the effects on various films passed through any number of times, some of them dozens, and findings were negligable to the naked eye, and any discrepancies were so random that it could be down to faulty films to start with.
So unless you're planning a round the world trip, stopping at every airport in the world dont worry about your film it'll be perfectly safe.
 
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Heres a link to Kodak's advice on airport x ray scanners on film (about half way down the document):

http://motion.kodak.com/motion/uploadedFiles/US_plugins_acrobat_en_motion_newsletters_filmEss_12_Storage_and_Handling.pdf

It is for motion picture film but it also says about still film and the advice is pretty much the same as I remember reading on one of their tech publications for still film which I can't find at the moment.

EDIT:

Found it:

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/products/techInfo/e30/e30Contents.shtml

And another one:

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/cis98/cis98.pdf

All of them say basically the same thing though.
 
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Well, with respect to whoever's written that (obviously someone with no knowledge of the workings of an airport xray machine), the advice is wrong, an airport xray operator can not increase the power of the xray machine, only the screen image it displays. And the power in either the passenger screening, or hold baggage screening proccesses has not increased at all, they work well enough, i could even guess the make and model of a laptop just by seeing it's xray image, that was another myth, laptops were supposedly damaged too.

And by the way, your 2 lower links are for kodak easyshare's website.
 
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Their links to PDF's which open fine on my computer, don't know why they won't on yours, look up "kodak tech pub CIS-98 X-Ray Fog" on google, its the fist thing and "kodak e-30 Storage and Care of KODAK Photographic Materials".
 
I've not ever personally had a problem with hand luggage scanners doing any damage to my film after taking it being scanned about 5 times athough it was a maximum of ISO 400. Airport websites usually say that up to 800 ISO is fine even if scanned up to 7 or 8 times and on Stansted's it says that in tests by the British Photographers' Liaison Committee it took up to 32 scans before there was any noticeable damage to ISO 800 and above film.

They do however say to only put film in hand luggage and not in the hold.
 
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