Bill, Great information!
Thanks, Bruce Monday, February 3, 2003, 12:00:58 PM, you wrote: BL> Bruce wrote: BL> An interesting angle for me is that the 120 roll film is spooled on BL> plastic cores so theoretically I could walk through the metal detector BL> with them on my person. Has anyone tried this? It seems that all the BL> Kodak film comes in plastic outer wrapper (sealed), but the Fuji and BL> Agfa use something more like a metal film of some type. I'm guessing BL> that would make a difference. Does anyone have any experience with BL> this? BL> .......................... BL> Bruce, I have tested 120 at San Francisco airport and found that Fuji and BL> Agfa film wrappers set off the metal detector when carried in my pockets. I BL> don't remember if Kodak did. Then the guards spend five minutes trying to BL> figure out what 120 film is. It gets x-rayed anyway while all your BL> carrry-on gets searched. BL> Because I carry 800 and 400 ISO 120/220 sometimes I take them out of the BL> foil packages and carry them in my baggy travel pants and shirts pockets BL> through the metal detector. Then I put them in my carry-on shoulder bag. BL> I also buy 100 ft rolls of Velvia and Provia and load them on PLASTIC BL> cassettes available from B&H for fifty cents. These plastic casettes are BL> reusable for a long time and also do not trigger the metal detector if in BL> your pockets. BL> I travel in North Face nylon clothes that have no metal fasteners and I BL> use an all synthetic web money belt and wear non-metallic sneakers. My BL> watch and pen go in the carry-on bag. I look pretty lumpy when I am in the BL> line! BL> I really do this ritual for the off chance that a carry on x-ray is running BL> out of specs and might toast my film. I started doing this when I made an BL> around the world trip in 1999. I carried a lot of film, too much to put in BL> my pockets but I reserved a limited number of rolls for the special BL> treatment. I shipped a load of exposed film home from Asia by a friend - BL> courrier. I traveled on to Europe and went through at least 22 airport BL> carry-on scanners altogether. Some of these scanners were in low-tech third BL> world ccountries. BL> I paid attention to what film was in my pockets, what film went to India, BL> and what film went all around the world. I shot some comparison rolls at BL> home and sent it all off for processing. I used 120/220 Fuji Reala, Agfa BL> Optima 400, Agfa APX 100 and Kodak Tri-X, 35mm Provia II, APX 100,Agfa RSX BL> II 100, Kodak Gold 100 and a bunch of no-name b&w 100 Indian film. BL> None of the film showed any x-ray damage. BL> However, we know that current checked baggage scanners are fatal to film. I BL> still carry the 800 and 400 film in my pockets. BL> Bill Lawlor
