Unprocessed film crossing the Can/US border

Post by **tinhorn** » Wed May 23, 2007 1:06 pm

I'm just about to send a roll of R8 to Dwaynes for processing and I'm wondering about the possibility of customs officials opening the can (tiny 25' roll) and exposing the film.

Any advice on ensuring this doesn't happen?

Thanks.

Post by aj » Wed May 23, 2007 1:32 pm

There are so many tons of mail going in and out daily. These are hardly checked. If at all. It is an imaginery problem. But possibly USA is trickter on Canada mail as they may fear things coming from the north

Mail is standard NOT x-ray-ed and I assume the gamma ray exposure against bacteria has been abanded too.

Only mail coming from certain countries are scanned using sniffer dogs.

It is an eternal topic so search the forum a bit.

YouTube · Post by **Andreas Wideroe** » Wed May 23, 2007 2:33 pm

I've sent about 50 films to Dwaynes from Norway the past 12 months and haven't had any problems with x-ray. The films have been sent with registerred Air Mail.

/Andreas

Post by **Angus** » Thu May 24, 2007 7:41 am

If in doubt, Kodak's website has some labels you can print out and stick to your package...they say something like "Kodak Motion Picture Film - Do Not X- Ray"....presumably anyone with the intelligence of a gnat would not open the can either.

Post by **Blue Audio Visual** » Thu May 24, 2007 9:52 am

2.5" Do not X-Ray label

3.5" Do not X-Ray label

Post by **Blin** » Thu May 24, 2007 1:40 pm

This brings my back to a story I first told when I originally signed onto this board. When I lived in Canada, I used to travel to the US once in a while as a camera assistant. One of my fellow assistants was coming back from Florida to Toronto on a flight and carried a box of exposed film with him (and a change bag for inspection). The US customs inspector stopped him. The conversation went like this:

"what's in the box"?

"Film"

"What kind of film"?

"Motion Picture film"

"What KIND of motion picture film"?

"35mm film"

(Pause)

"Don't give me that metric crap! What's that in inches?!"

Post by **Patrick** » Thu May 24, 2007 2:07 pm

I'll never forget coming back to Australia from my trip to Canada. When I arrived in Sydney International Airport, the very first question I was asked (at Customs) was: "Do you speak English?"

Post by **tinhorn** » Fri May 25, 2007 1:11 am

thanks for the replies.
the film is in Dwayne's hands.
or those of a border guard....