New TSA Scanners Will Wreck Your Undeveloped Film

3.8K

tsa image

^{Photo by American Airlines}

Airports in the United States are getting new CT scanners that are supposed to make the process of running through TSA really late for your flight a whole lot easier. But, these machines will also fry your undeveloped film.

Freestyle Photo Supplies, a Los Angeles-based photography business, pointed out one of the new machines at LAX to warn their followers about it.

View this post on Instagram

Traveling to #PhotoPlusExpo w/ #film? Watch out for these NEW machines at the airports. It's a CAT Scan and will absolutely destroy any film in a second. The equivalent of putting your film through the old scanners about a thousand times. Lead bags won't save you. The nice #TSA agents at #LAX had no problem with a handcheck and seemed to be informed that this is no joke.

A post shared by Freestyle Photo Supplies (@freestylephoto1) on Oct 18, 2019 at 8:43pm PDT

"Watch out for these new machines at the airports," the business wrote. "It's a CAT Scan and will absolutely destroy any film in a second. The equivalent of putting your film through the old scanners about a thousand times. Lead bags won't save you."

What these 3D X-ray scanners do is they show TSA exactly what is in your bag from a 360-degree angle. In accordance with American Airlines, 145 of these machines should currently be in use.

Editor's Tip: Want to create better portraits simply and easily? Use a reflector! Reflectors bounce light onto the subject and help fill in shadows for more even, more flattering light. You can buy reflectors in a 5-in-1 kit that has a gold reflector, which warms up the light and a silver reflector, which bounces the most light onto the subject, making it more intense. These kits also include a white reflector, which bounces very soft and subtle light onto the subject, a translucent diffuser, which softens light and minimizes shadows, and a black anti-reflector, which absorbs light and enhances shadows. Learn more about how to take the perfect portrait.

"The x-ray machines use to screen checked and carry-on baggage will not affect digital camera images, slides, photo compact discs, picture discs, or film that has already been processed," the TSA said. "There are a limited number of screening checkpoints that use x-ray equipment that may damage undeveloped film."

Being the person that I am, I always have TSA hand-inspect my film and this new technology just makes me believe more people should.