Travel with film or ship it via FedEx?

Michael_Hintlian · #1 02-21-2003, 12:37 PM

For years I have traveled internationally with lots of film and only had trouble with getting xrayed a few times. Its all different now. I will be going to Africa to shoot next month and I'm looking at the ways available to get my film back and forth with the minimum (or no) x-raying. Has anyone used FedEx for this? Any other ideas?

Thanks

MH

to see work: http://www.hintlian.com

#2 02-23-2003, 12:02 AM

I recently flew NY-London-Paris-London-NY shooting the fashion shows and have since vowed to shoot digital over 35mm film instead of going through the trouble of handchecking film these days.
Having said that, i managed to get it checked everywhere, but then also made sure that i processed all the film before my return leg, and fedexed the remainnder of the unshot back to nyc, from Paris.
I can't begin to tell you the time and energy spent racing back and forth to the lab, fedex etc...post the last shoot and prior to travelling.
Have always travelled on big shoots with large/medium format film and rarely had a problem, though fedexing is definately the way to go nowadays...just make sure you keep good documentation on where and when you purchased the film, as you will get requests from customs to produce them every now and then...happy travels!

DavidBlumenfeld · #3 02-23-2003, 04:53 AM

Not sure if FedEx X-Rays. Call them to find out, I guess. I think it varies from airport to airport. A few weeks ago I tried to get a hand check flying from NY to Israel via Paris...JFK was no problem...In Paris they called the security who said I have 2 choices (1)put my film through x-ray (2) leave it there...No compromising with them these days. Best to route through handcheck friendly airports if you want to carry on--Perhaps if you know your itinerary -- post it here and see other's experiences...