We went to New Orleans for a brief vacation last week; I wanted to shoot film, as New Orleans practically demands it, but I didn't want to deal with the hassle of bringing film with me on the plane. Ilford/Harman have tested the new CT scanners, which were in place at both airports I went through, and determined they are not safe for any film no matter what the ISO (even Pan-F or the super-low ISO 1.6 film from Film Photography Project would be affected), and all it would take would be one unwilling TSA agent to ruin my images. I checked the main store that sells film in New Orleans and they said they'd been out of stock for months and strongly encouraged me to bring my own film.
So I shot digital, mostly with my phone although I also had a Sony with some vintage LTM lenses. But when I got home I remembered that I could print any of my photos on my Polaroid Instant Lab printer, so in a roundabout way I got my wish of New Orleans on film, even though the original was shot on my phone. :-)
I saw a lot of other photographers there, including one guy with a Rolleiflex. Maybe next time I'll take my chances and go for it.
Haha! Last summer we were out for a walk and saw an amazing rainbow. I only had B&W film in my camera but couldn't stop myself from shooting a couple of photos anyway, which were total duds.
bjhurley wrote:
We went to New Orleans for a brief vacation last week; I wanted to shoot film, as New Orleans practically demands it, but I didn't want to deal with the hassle of bringing film with me on the plane. Ilford/Harman have tested the new CT scanners, which were in place at both airports I went through, and determined they are not safe for any film no matter what the ISO (even Pan-F or the super-low ISO 1.6 film from Film Photography Project would be affected), and all it would take would be one unwilling TSA agent to ruin my images. I checked the main store that sells film in New Orleans and they said they'd been out of stock for months and strongly encouraged me to bring my own film.
So I shot digital, mostly with my phone although I also had a Sony with some vintage LTM lenses. But when I got home I remembered that I could print any of my photos on my Polaroid Instant Lab printer, so in a roundabout way I got my wish of New Orleans on film, even though the original was shot on my phone. :-)
I saw a lot of other photographers there, including one guy with a Rolleiflex. Maybe next time I'll take my chances and go for it.
Thanks for posting. I’ve wondered if it’s something I need to consider for future travels. Another option is to mail yourself the film to the hotel and mail back the exposed film to your lab before you leave that city. Should only add $6-7 total of postage if domestic.
lifeandmylens wrote:
I’ve wondered if it’s something I need to consider for future travels. Another option is to mail yourself the film to the hotel and mail back the exposed film to your lab before you leave that city. Should only add $6-7 total of postage if domestic.
Based on what I've read, your odds are very good for getting your film hand-checked if you're traveling in the United States. I was coming in from Canada and couldn't find any info on how willing the security folks are at our airports for doing hand-checks, so it seemed more risky to me. In Europe it's not a sure thing and in Asia reportedly even less so. So I'd say it's more risky traveling overseas than within North America. Not all airports have the new scanners, so the risk really depends on which airports you're going through.
Mailing seems like a good option, unless security scans of mail pose any risk to film; I haven't heard anything to suggest that it's an issue and given that you can buy film online and have it shipped to you (or mail film to a lab in another state or even another country).
bjhurley wrote:
.. I checked the main store that sells film in New Orleans and they said they'd been out of stock for months and strongly encouraged me to bring my own film.
That's really strange - they must not be ordering it as all the stores I have seen locally are brimming with film, the five or six mail order stores have it in stock. Pretty much everyone has it - the covid shortages are a thing of the past.
