Best way to travel on a plane with camera gear/ can the be x-rayed.

Jimmy Moss

Jimmy Moss

Well-known member
Just wondering what was the best way to travel on planes with camera gear. I'm taking an HVX up north and was wondering how airport handled it. I would prefer to take it carry on but I was afraid they might x ray it. Any issues with that?
 
I bundle up my HVX baby in a Pelican 1510, which is the perfect carry on size. I've had no issues with the carry on or airport security or anything.

Just make sure you remove the batteries from the camera. You might also want to remove any tapes with recorded footage if you use any. I don't know whether the airport security equipment would affect them.
 
I've passed tapes, cameras, and film through the x-rays before, they aren't strong enough to do any damage. Most of the time I am pulled off to the side and they do a residue test on my gear, but other than that, I've never had and problems.
 
I typically transfer my HVX from my Storm Case to the KATA 207 backpack for air travel. Putting it on my back makes it easy to carry and I usually find it useful once I get on location as well. It holds plenty of batteries, P2 cards, Firestore and other necessities.
Jim
 
Awsome, I figured going through airport security with a pelican case with a bunch of electronics in it would look suspect :thumbup: and they would probalby swat team me on the spot. haha.

I just bought a pelican just for this purpose, glad to know the x ray wont hurt it. Would hate to have it fry a CCD or a p2 card or something.
 
Jimmy Moss said:
Awsome, I figured going through airport security with a pelican case with a bunch of electronics in it would look suspect :thumbup: and they would probalby swat team me on the spot. haha.
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That's hilarious because I used to think the same thing. My coworkers used to tell me my case looked like a bomb. Probably we'd all seen too much 24...

But I'll say only a couple of times have they even pulled me aside for a closer look. Many times I've breezed through security without a second glance. Never a problem with x-rays either.
 
I've been pulled over more times for my laptop and my silly little point and shoot camera than I have with my HVX-Pelican combo. It's no big deal. Just don't say the word "bomb" while going through, and everything will be fine. :)
 
i second the kata hb207. flew over 5000 miles with it this year, not thats a lot, maybe 5 trips? but usually for the screening they ask me to take out my camera and laptop. and sometimes the lenses que up something and they usually end up searching my bag. but no biggie.
 
I have a Kata MC-61 to store my HVX, laptop and additional equipment but I never used it on air travels yet. Does anybody travels with a Kata MC-61?
 
Guys, do I have to say that, imagine me going to the plane, with my HVX, batteries, Rod Support, Cavision shoulder mount that looks like anti air craft RPG missile, my Sgpro that looks like electron Boombastic canon, the flip module that looks like a futursitic M16 accesories, the follow focus "bomb timer", my director view finder which is perfect for Ultra high tech snipping purpose..... and my syrian passport :crybaby:
I think I should start by shaving any forgotten bear or mostache, pin myself with Mc Cain go go go Pins "no offense", and start praying not to miss the next plane.
Sorry could not resist to imagine this scenario
Great day to all of you
 
The pelican 1510 is good as long as you don't have any leg of the journey on a regional jet. Then they seperate you from you precious cargo at the door of the plane, most of the time they mix it with the regular luggage and it ends up on the conveyor belt!
The second time i took the same regional jet, i tried to keep the hvx on my knees, the stewardess could not accept it so i had to wrap it up in my jacket and keep it between my feets for takeoff and landing.
To avoid that i bought a 82mm lense cap, i get the built in lense cover out in my checkin luggage and i can fit the hvx in a very small shoulder bag.

As for security they could not care less about the pelican case. They sometime ask to power up the cam.
 
chadi said:
Guys, do I have to say that, imagine me going to the plane, with my HVX, batteries, Rod Support, Cavision shoulder mount that looks like anti air craft RPG missile, my Sgpro that looks like electron Boombastic canon, the flip module that looks like a futursitic M16 accesories, the follow focus "bomb timer", my director view finder which is perfect for Ultra high tech snipping purpose..... and my syrian passport :crybaby:
I think I should start by shaving any forgotten bear or mostache, pin myself with Mc Cain go go go Pins "no offense", and start praying not to miss the next plane.
Sorry could not resist to imagine this scenario
Great day to all of you
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That's precious. Props for the scenario, dude. Made me laugh out loud for real. :D
 
I was pulled aside in Sanfran because I forgot to take off the 9 volt battery attached to the outside of my M2... you can guess what happened next and the explaining I had to do.
 
Explain what's the purpose of a 35mm adaptor..... I think they will not give a flying **** for the Bokeh effetc.
Good luck
Sorry for going out of the track
 
I don't know, I'm less worried about the X-rays than I am about cosmic radiation. I've had a few dead pixels show up on my still camera, and while I'm not necessarily saying they were caused by cosmic rays (vs. whatever else can kill a pixel on a CCD), it's a possibility. While still a rarity, cosmic rays are much more likely to affect CCDs during an airplane flight as compared to staying on the ground.
 
chadi said:
Explain what's the purpose of a 35mm adaptor..... I think they will not give a flying **** for the Bokeh effetc.
Good luck
Sorry for going out of the track
Click to expand...

well, imagine seeing a little black box with a homemade battery adapter on the outside and a lot of wires and a little motor inside, it looks like it could be a bomb. So, they pulled me off to the side and began to question me.

anyways, back on track.

I really don't think you have anything to worry about. Airport security x-ray machines aren't powerful enough to damage any electronics. If you can send a computer through them, then a video camera is no different.
 
Jimmy Moss said:
Just wondering what was the best way to travel on planes with camera gear. I'm taking an HVX up north and was wondering how airport handled it. I would prefer to take it carry on but I was afraid they might x ray it. Any issues with that?
Click to expand...

I have never had an issue with my camera being scanned and its pretty well travelled.
 
It is so hard to answer this question, as a citizen of what so called a 3rd world, I did not experience any un usual happening, most of the time, you can solve these issues by showing some uncle Sam dollars in a decent way, but I do insist that you really don't do such a move without being 100% sure that this is the solution, something hard to explain its manual to people who comes from Europe or USA. Try to isolate the problem if it really exists, explain the reason of such equipements franckly, tell them you wanna show the world how beautiful is this land and how great it desreves to be filmed.
A visit to the embassy of that country before leaving, and asking a couple question is always welcomed and recommended.
Know that in any country in the world, you may need authorisations to film, having such paper can be a good way to prevent any Uncle Sam dollar lost.
Tell me what country you mean, and I can try to give some hints.
I shot in Damascus - Dubai - Malaysia - Thailand and I had zero problem.
I wish I can provide a manual, but even in Europe you can encounter some problems.
Once we had to shoot in italy, we had to pay for the local "Mafia" to protect us and our cameras, no offense for any italian I hope.
Best regards
 
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