X-Ray Damage to Film

Posted on 5/6/1998 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (0)

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X-RAY DAMAGE TO FILM


May 6, 1998

Photographers who travel need to start hand carrying all their film - both processed and

unprocessed -- so it can be hand inspected at the gate according to the FAA.

They are WARNING that new X-Ray machines, the CTX 5000 and the CTX 5500, manufactured by In

Vision Technologies, are being used to examine checked bag at airports around the world. So

far there is no indication that this equipment is being used to inspect hand carried luggage

at the gates.

Part of the security is not to disclose which airports and which airlines are using this

equipment so potential bombers will have to assume that it is in use everywhere.

This system is the first baggage inspection system to use computer tomography (CT) to screen

airline passenger's checked baggage to detect explosives.

What makes this system unique is that it rotates the x-ray source and detector array around

an object to create cross sectional images of a luggage. With up to 500 views per slice, it

can accurately measure the physical characteristics of each object, regardless of its shape

or location within the luggage. The CTX 5500 can screen up to 400 bags per hour.

By using dual energy x-ray systems it can determine the atomic number of materials

encountered during the scan. It yields more data of higher quality and makes it possible

independently analyze each object in a luggage.

According to a Photographic and Imaging Manufacturers Association (PIMA) report, it is no

longer safe to place unprocessed film in checked baggage.

The PIMA conducted four experiments with the CTX 5000SP. Two of the four experiments showed

serious damage to the film including a 1cm wide line of high density on all emulsion speeds

tested (100, 200, 400, 800, 1000) and unacceptable degrees of film fog.

Recently, a crew working for British director David Attenborough found there film fogged

after returning from filming birds in Papua New Guinea and the CTX-5000 was suspected,

although there had been no definite confirmation.

The only way to be sure your film does not pass through one of these machines is to keep it

with you at all times and insist that it be hand inspected.


Copyright © 1998 Jim Pickerell. The above article may not be copied, reproduced, excerpted or distributed in any manner without written permission from the author. All requests should be submitted to Selling Stock at 10319 Westlake Drive, Suite 162, Bethesda, MD 20817, phone 301-461-7627, e-mail: wvz@fpcubgbf.pbz

Jim Pickerell is founder of www.selling-stock.com, an online newsletter that publishes daily. He is also available for personal telephone consultations on pricing and other matters related to stock photography. He occasionally acts as an expert witness on matters related to stock photography. For his current curriculum vitae go to: http://www.jimpickerell.com/Curriculum-Vitae.aspx.  

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