Grex Photography Conference

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Grex Photography Item 38: Airport x-rays
Entered by mcpoz on Sat Jun 15 02:00:44 UTC 1996:

I just had some photos developed and printed.  They were "ok" but not great.
They suffered from a slight overall gray cast which blunted the colors and
the sharpness.  

This was a miniature camera and Kodak ultra 400 film.  I have been carrying
this in my brief case and traveling quite a bit.  I would guess this roll had
somewhere around 12 trips through the airport x-ray machine.

I have concluded that the x-rays probably caused this, but I don't know for
sure.  In the past I always handed the camera around the x-ray belt, but have
become lazy in this respect.  

Does anyone have any experience, data, etc which would tell what kind of x-ray
exposure will affect various speed films enough to be seen in the print?

3 responses total.

#1 of 3 by rickyb on Sat Jun 15 21:37:23 1996:

X-rays will create a photo response on any film.  Similar factors as with
light will decide how much.  Intensity and speed of the x-ray (kV, mS), as
well as the time of exposure.  since this is cummulative (like double
exposures) if the same film went through the x-ray several times I think you
hit the nail on the head.

I never had a problem with this in the past.  But it had been years since I
had a camera or film pass through an x-ray machine.  More recenlty, now using
high speed film and flying to California, I decided not to take any chances
and bought one of those leaded bags to seal my film in.  If you don't misuse
them they can last for quite awhile.  There are also two types.  One for
regular film and one for high speed film.  the difference is in the ammount
of lead they contain (and ammount of x-ray they can block).  I used the
cheaper (regular) one and had no noticable effects on my film.

#2 of 3 by eprom on Thu Dec 23 05:43:55 2004:

I just went though LaGuardia with my film and camera. I decided to leave 
my medium format back loaded with Ilford Pan F (ISO 50) and Kodachrome 64 
in the bag, thinking it would be quicker.

Well they pull my bag off the line after it went though once, dig though
the bag and pull out some gear the was obstructing the view of the x-rays
and pass the bag though again. So from here on out, I plan to just have 
the entire bag and film hand checked.

#3 of 3 by gull on Thu Dec 23 15:19:04 2004:

I think ISO 50 film is unlikely to have enough of a response to X-rays
to be problematic.  But having it hand-checked is certainly safer.

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