Helloand Thank you very much on your update. By the way, the two times I had fogged film was crossing into the USA by car from Canada. They x-rayed all my photo equipemen including film. I didn't know that because the car was being omspected. When I was in China in 2005, I flew from Quindao to Beijing and back and all film was hand inspected, at my request. Same for Air Korea from Seoul to Los Angles and AA to Montreal. The one funny this was the airport at Quindao going to Beijing. They confiscated a can of compressed air that I carried with my camera gear, and the dust in Beijing in November. Wheh i left the counter, the customs officer wsa sprying compressed air on his hand and getting a kick out of it. dangerous stuff, air... I always hand carry film and what lenses I can remove, to protect the glass, also filters. Wrap camera bodies in T-shirts. I'll be shooting 80% 120 Tri-x and 6-10 rolls of Fuji Provia 100.
Its only twelve days, so I'll just make sure to bring more than enough.Actually, I do have a question, it's a far shot.... How can I get to the Gobi Desert and Outer Mongolia?
Thanks again. Regards, Bogdan On 21/08/2013 8:41 AM, Hi Sun Wong wrote:
Bogdan,Don't worry about x-raying films. I am still using films. 120, 135(X-Pan format) and 4x5 for my trips to the West of China, every other year usually. I carry films up to 400ASA, color and black & white. I do not see any problem with x-raying films going to numerous flights I took for the trips in the past. The prints made from the x-rayed films were exhibited in galleries, shows and museums many times and no one told me I had fogged films.Don't expect custom agents to hand inspecting in China. They know what and why you asked for hand inspections, but they all say it is film safe, it is printed on the machine with big letters, right. They don't care as well. I don't know why your films were fogged, were your trips in China? Back when Kodachrome was available, I routinely passed Kodachrome through the x-ray machine with no fogging. My most recent rip was flying HK-ChengDou-Beijing-Urumuqi-Dunhuang-Beijing-HK, total of 6 airports, I had 70 or 80 rolls of 120 and 135 films with me. That was not a truly photographic trips. I went to Lop Nor, camping along the way, so no 4x5. Driving 10 hours a day, so no time to do real photography. I do not have any problem with film fogging at all. But I hand carried my films, no check in. Check in films is NO NO.Many films are available in Shanghai and Beijing, even 8x10 TMAX, But you don't want to have to go to the specialty shops/shopping centres just to buy films. They are usually out of the ways, in cheaper non-central areas. There are many people shooting film in China. It is fashionable to shoot films these days.I live in Shanghai, I am from Hong Kong. I buy films in Shanghai, Hong Kong and occasionally in Tokyo. Tokyo has the best collections, Hong Kong has the least. I am not sure about Beijing. I guess it is about the same as Shanghai.Enjoy the trip and let me know if you have more questions. Cheers HisunOn Aug 21, 2013, at 7:14 PM, Bogdan <bkarasek@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:bkarasek@xxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:Hi Eric,Thanks for the suggestion regarding bringing my own film for the duration of the trip. Too much time would be wasted looking for film. My one worry is that that my film gets x-rayed and fogged. Hopefully, customs agents will oblige by hand inspecting if I request it, but I am at their mercy. If they decide tox-ray it, then I am screwed. The last two times, all my film was fogged.If I run into some 120 Shanghai 100asa, I'll buy it. As you point out, I'll have better things to do than searching for film. Thanks for your input; much appreciated. Regards, Bogdan On 8/21/2013 2:04 AM, Eric Nelson wrote:I'd buy everything before you go.Films are hard to come by over here in Thailand from what I've seen. Camera stores, other than some a special area in Chinatown, are _all_ geared towards digital. You'd have to search for, then find the store, then check out whether it's out of date etc during a short 12 day trip, all the while trying to get through the language barrier unless you are fluent. Believe me trying to talk tech in another language is near impossible. I've got a "decent" amount of the basics of Thai, but that still leaves me completely unprepared to talk shop. Completely.You will have better things to do.If you stumble across some odd film and it's real cheap, it might be fun stuff to play with and experiment with. But for the serious shooting, byo and be fairly certain of it's quality and characteristics. Back in early 2000's I saw some Kodak E6 120 in Macau and it was out of date and expensive.------------------------------------------------------------------------__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 8710 (20130821) __________The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com <http://www.eset.com/>============================================================================================================= To unsubscribe from this list, go to www.freelists.org <//www.freelists.org> and logon to your account (the same e-mail address and password you set-up when you subscribed,) and unsubscribe from there.
