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  #1  
Old 5th November 2020, 07:59 AM
danielb danielb is offline
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Default Safe to buy Film from Overseas? (post office xrays checks)

Here in Israel, film is very expensive (retail). I want to buy some film in bulk format from B&H. I do have a bulk film loader and a bunch of old refillable canisters. Including DHL delivery, the total cost is almost half. My fear is "can the film be damaged with all these 'rays' checks" ? I guess the same question goes for any film purchased on e-bay.
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Old 5th November 2020, 09:51 AM
John King John King is online now
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I do believe that B&W film will not really be affected but a slight risk may be there with colour. I simply do not know exactly and I don't think anyone else on this forum will have a better idea.

I wonder if you were to ask the sender their opinion, they will have a better idea than the 'man in the street.' Or better still write directly to the manufacturer and see what they say. They must send masses of the stuff abroad and there doesn't seem to be any problems when they send it.

You could ask the people sending it to mark the package with what it is exactly and for a hand search only in a dark room. If you buy bulk it will be in a sealed metal can but it will also be in a light tight bag inside so a hand search could be possible without having to be X Rayed

It is a tricky one, If you don't get a decent answer the only way is to try with a say a pack of 10 cassettes and see what happens. If they get through OK, then it is probably of to risk a larger consignment. How about asking your Customs Officials for their opinion. I realise living where you do the situation is much different to that in UK.
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Old 5th November 2020, 10:58 AM
JOReynolds JOReynolds is offline
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Although the x-ray equipment has changed greatly in the last few decades, the sensitivity of silver halide exposed to very short wavelengths is governed by the laws of physical chemistry and so has not changed.
I used to manage a film processing laboratory and except for High-Speed Ektachrome film pushed to 400asa, we found that the effect of X-radiation is barely measurable. In the case of colour negative film, if there is a colour shift, it is corrected at the printing stage. From memory, in tests on 50 and 64 asa colour reversal film (daylight and tungsten Ektachrome) in the seventies, with the relatively high-power scanners of the period, Dmax came out slightly greenish. Loose 120 rolls and film in cassettes seemed hardly affected until measured with our Macbeth process-control densitometer (typically -0.2D). More noticeable were the 'shadows' cast by radio-opaque components in the camera body, which our tester found in dark blue skies and plain Colorama backrounds. This showed as ghostly shapes repeated along the length of the film.
So my advice to travellers is unchanged since the early seventies - don't leave film in the camera and try to get it inspected by hand. And I have read elsewhere that if you put the film in a lead-lined bag, the scanner operator will simply turn up the power until he/she can what's inside.
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Old 5th November 2020, 11:29 AM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Clearly there must be ways by which film when it is exported avoids Xrays otherwise the massive amount that say Ilford or Kodak ship to countries outside of the manufacturing base would all be damaged or have to risk damage.

Do B&H send individual packages by the same safe system is the key question. You'd imagine so otherwise I presume B&H or any other retailer who sends orders abroad would not do so and the B&H site would say this

If you want to be ultra cautious about it, Daniel, try and contact B&H and ask the question of them.

All we can do unless one of us has experience of ordering film from the U.S. is give our best guesses

Certainty always beats guesses

Mike
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Old 5th November 2020, 05:21 PM
danielb danielb is offline
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Thank you all. I already asked B&H and I am waiting for their answer. I will ask the Ilford factory, great suggestions!
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Old 5th November 2020, 05:49 PM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is offline
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I think if there are to be any problems it will be at the Israeli customs.

I can image Israeli customs might want to very carefully inspect all packages coming in to the country.

On the other hand if you were to buy from the USA - which is a friendly country - there is a chance that the film will not receive the same degree is interrogation.

I also think, there might be a random inspection - so some packages might get through fine and others will be fried by the X-Rays.

Remember, Customs officials are only concerned about keeping bad things out and are not in the least concerned about letting your stuff go through unimpeded.

The only real way of finding out is to take a risk, buy some film and see if it gets through unharmed.

If you really can get your film at a price which is 50% less than your current market prices, you can afford to have up to half of the film packages fried and still be ahead.

Good luck

Martin
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  #7  
Old 5th November 2020, 07:32 PM
danielb danielb is offline
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Default B&H answer

"Thank you for contacting the Sales Department at B&H Photo Video and Pro Audio. 800 ASA is safe to go through Xray machines and would not be damaged. We ship film all around the world, and I would say that it's perfectly fine to have the film shipped."
So I hope it's a good info for other forum friends.
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Old 5th November 2020, 07:57 PM
Nat Polton Nat Polton is offline
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As Mike pointed out, plenty of film is shipped around the world with no ill effects.
There may be subtle differences between postal checking of contents, and airport personal scanners.
The following link should take you to Kodaks advice notes.
Unfortunately they are not very encouraging for travellers.
https://www.kodak.com/global/en/serv.../tib5201.shtml
Cheers.
__________________
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  #9  
Old 5th November 2020, 09:30 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nat Polton View Post
.
The following link should take you to Kodaks advice notes.
Unfortunately they are not very encouraging for travellers.
https://www.kodak.com/global/en/serv.../tib5201.shtml
Cheers.
Nat, as our U.S. friends would say about "not very encouraging" "You Brits are masters of the understatement"

Mike
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  #10  
Old 6th November 2020, 10:27 AM
Lostlabours Lostlabours is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Aislabie View Post
I think if there are to be any problems it will be at the Israeli customs.
Martin
My wife worked on-board cruise ships as a tour guide for many years and the company had very tight security. All the security guards were Israeli, my cameras and films were scanned evey port when re-boarding so many times on a 10 day cruise.

The Post Offices and Customs (and the cruise ships0 use the typical airport carry on scanners, in fact they are also used for checked in luggage. Only suspicious luggage at airports and packages at customs gets diverted to be checked with X-ray machines.

There's some logic in this as operative can't work inside the area with the X-ray machines, so they are used as a last resort.

I've bought film from Norway and the US many times with no issues. I've had films scanned at least 16 times at airports shopping malls (Lima, Peru) on a trip to Chile and Peru with no issues.

Ian
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