From: Sam Wells (email suppressed)
Date: Wed Jan 18 2006 - 10:51:50 PST
Not all hand baggage screeners know what motion picture film is and why
the difference...
So far the only zap I've gotten - at Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) airport
had no effect I can see on 7245 & 7246 (250).
...they, in any case do not understand the frame differential aspect of
motion picture film, and none of the screeners seem to realize than
x-ray fogging is *cumulative*
(of course your film is being slowly fogged sitting on the shelf
too....)
> BTW, I know we're talking primarily about magnetic media here, but
> what they say to you at the x-ray machine about it being safe up to
> 800 ASA is only true for still film. All motion picture film is
> considered "special" under their guidelines and must be hand searched
> if you request it. I've had different amounts of luck with getting my
> movie film zapped. Some S-8 kodachrome (not to wax too awfully
> melancholic... but it was three rolls of kodachrome of the where the
> Monarch butterflies migrate to in Mexico, c'est la vie) did not do too
> well (fogged and some flashes resembling light leak) while some 16mm
> ektachrome didn't come out worse for the wear.
I suggested to Kodak to make EI 3200 labels for all their motion
picture cans & boxes ;-) No response yet.....
> Peter Hutton recently showed some footage from Indonesia that he
> claimed was not only x-rayed but run and re-run through many
> international x-ray machines before he could finally get it developed.
> And it looked like the gorgeous kind of film you'd expect from Peter
> Hutton. So who can say?
Maybe this is his secret, baggage x-ray flashing; do it enough times
and it starts being even across and along the film ? ;-)
(what stock was it - I'm being nosy ;-)
-Sam
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