Just found out my 20 year old film canisters might be fogged from airport scans

I was going through my dad's old camera bag last night and found a bunch of rolls of Tri-X from like 2004. Figured they'd still be fine since they were in a lead bag. But then I looked closer at the bag and it's one of those old generic ones from a camera store in Portland, not a real lead lined one. I read online that the TSA scanners can actually fog film through those cheap bags after multiple passes. Has anyone else had this happen with old stored film that went through airports?

2 comments

2 Comments

richard_hall3d ago

Always heard those lead bags were only good against the older X-ray machines, the new CT scanners can punch right through them anyway. At 20 years old, that Tri-X is probably fogged from age alone, so I'd just shoot a quick test roll and see what happens.

the_james9d ago

Yeah I actually read somewhere that those generic bags are basically just for show. The lead lining in the real ones is what matters, and a lot of those cheap bags from back in the day weren't even tested for anything. I remember a buddy of mine had a roll of Portra that went through an airport scanner like 3 times on a trip and it came out all washed out and weird. With film that old already fogged from age anyway, the scanner probably just made it worse. I'd just shoot a test roll first to see what you get before you rely on any of it for something important.