Carry-on Cameras?

[grassland]

When traveling by air I always carry-on the camera with a full battery and a tape, that way if my other gears is delayed at least I can shoot while I'm waiting for the rest of the package to arrive.

Do the new airline security rules mean no more camera carry-on? Do we now have to pack the camera as luggage?

[Jeeps are for Kids]

Grassland I am wondering the same thing, if so that means more weight to haul around the airports. I won't be flying again for a week or so, so hopefully this will blow over a bit by then. If not I have located a Sony hard case for my camera to fit snuggly in the cargo hold with.

Happy travels'

[Baltimore Shooter]

Absoultely NO WAY will I put my camera in as checked baggage. If they wanted me to do that, I would refuse to do the shoot. It's just not worth the risk of an expensive repair or worse...a stolen camera.

The camera goes with me or I don't go. But then, I own my camera, I don't work for a network. So all the repair costs come back to me. Now if I was staff with a network or production company and they were assuming the risk, then I'd do what they want.

Warren

[McQueen]

I thought it was liquids they were banning(shampoo,water,gel etc.), not electronics? Anyone have the official line?

[Buck]

In the UK they just banned laptops, iPods, magazine and books on flights. Do you think they'll let you bring a camera on? Hahahahaha

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Notebooks_iPods_banned_on_UK_flights/0,2000061744,39266176,00.htm

[Baltimore Shooter]

Banning magazines??? I guess they think paper cuts can kill.

Warren

[McQueen]

Here's the line from TSA.gov site as of yesterday. Laptops, cell phones and other electronic items

Question
Media have also reported that laptops, cell phones and electronic items are no longer allowed. Is that true?


Answer
No. TSA continues to allow laptop computers, cell phones and other electronic items.



Some politicians want to stop ALL carryon!!!

[Sharp Shooter]

... magazine and books on flights.

I've heard of books that have bombed but never a book that is a bomb!

Time to get my private pilots license. :cool:
S.S.

[HamCam]

Next they will ban everything but your birthday suit. Wonder what that'll look like?

[Sharp Shooter]

Next they will ban everything but your birthday suit. Wonder what that'll look like?

Book me on the Playboy Bunny charter please!! :D

S.S.

[tvwcyj]

Well.. i guess I don't need to start my own thread for this.... i am going to be flying in a couple weeks... I have no clue where to start about how to get my camera on the plane.. I do not want to put it in baggage... I have heard plenty of horror stories about that... please give me ideas or things that have worked for you all in the past.... What should I put in baggage what should take with me...

I want to take the camera,battery,tape..... maybe a microphone if I can fit it in something.

thanks

[MOShooter]

If you don't want your camera to disappear, carry it on. I also try to keep an RE50 stick mic in my carry on, just in case. I haven't had any problems with any of that, but expect to wait a few extra minutes while the TSA guys go through your stuff. You also might have to demonstrate for them that the gear is what you say it is, and does what you say it does. My Azden wireless definately raised a few eyebrows. I took it off the camera before screening, and the dual antennas and XLR splitter hanging from it didn't look too promising when they x-rayed my carry-on.

[grassland]

One possibility is to fedex or otherwise overnight ship your camera to the shooting location. Narturally, the client pays the additional shipping charges. This would be pretty ackward for multi-day, multi-location shoots when traveling by air, but it may come to this for some shoots.

[McQueen]

Unless your camera contains shampoo,water,gel etc....I think you can still carry it on a domestic. If flying international,that may be another ballgame. British Airways stopped all carryon. I would contact the airline and TSA to be sure.It can all change in hours.

[Widescreen]

Sadly we live in a world now where no one is to be trusted according to some of our politicians and world leaders.

Unfortunately in light of recent events, I think it inevitable that all carry on luggage will be banned. I hardly see the point of refusing shampoo when it can just as easily be set as an accelerant in the cargo hold; however that’s how silly things get.

If you wanted to stop planes blowing up, then don’t put people on them! It’s ridiculous. What it does mean for us if we travel is to allow plenty of time for check in. Check with the airline prior to departure, perhaps a few days before to check on levels of security and what has to be packed where.

If they go to the point of banning still cameras, laptops and phones, I hardly think Betacams and camera batteries will be excluded. It makes for it to be harder but it means we just have to change the way we do things.

Pain in the butt really.

[Run&Gun]

And if you do ship your camera, remember to remove the lens from the camera body and put some type of padding between the lens and body.

[Spacey]

This is probably off topic, but in the movie "Navy Seals" (I think), the Charlie Sheen character had to blow something up.

What was the trigger? A Lectro receiver. No kidding. "LECTRO" on the box, taped to a chunk of "C4."

WIn the few times I've travelled more than reasonable driving / road-trip distance, it's been easier to rent from the nearest metropolis.

[PhrozenPhoto]

Well.. i guess I don't need to start my own thread for this.... i am going to be flying in a couple weeks... I have no clue where to start about how to get my camera on the plane.. I do not want to put it in baggage... I have heard plenty of horror stories about that... please give me ideas or things that have worked for you all in the past.... What should I put in baggage what should take with me...

I want to take the camera,battery,tape..... maybe a microphone if I can fit it in something.

thanks

I've done it two ways, the shop I'm at now I have a soft sided Porta Brace bag that the camera goes in and it all fits in the overhead bin no problem. (the model name escapes me at the moment but it is the soft sided case of theirs) Porta Brace is not cheap though I will warn you if you don't have them now I don't know if your shop will buy one before you travel. I've also carried it on without the Porta Brace for the last shop I worked at. I had camera, tape, and both ends of the wireless mic (It was a lectro cube that I had a mount for a stick mic on my camera for) I figured 1. If the rest of the gear didn't make it I could still work and 2. By having battery and both ends of the wireless you could effectivly demonstrate any questions security might have. When I didn't have the bag I just grabbed as many pillows as I could and protected the lens especially. The biggest problem you'll probably have is other morons trying to stuff their crap in the bin. Also check at the gate with the agent, if you explain that you have the camera and that it fits fine, you'd just like a little extra time to get it in the bin properly most of them will let you board in the pre-board call. I know Southwest Airlines had it as policy all you had to do was ask, have your camera with you that the agent could see and they'd do it... don't know about other airlines. Northwest, as bad as they are at everything else customer service related, the gate agents have never hassled me if I ask to board early.

[NYC Street]

It's sad that we have to worry about these things but - the fact is - we do. And the U.S. system has always been to have the illusion of security (it's the lines and hassles that are the story) rather than actual security, which would be expensive and take time.

The Israelis long ago came up with a system that has never been beaten. They do serious background checks on every passenger BEFORE the passenger gets to the airport. They engage in racial profiling.

They hand inspect every bag, checked or carry on, on every international flight (They don't have much domestic air travel - and they may do it on those flights too.) Security people interview every passenger.

Yes, it takes an extra hour or more to check in. Yes, it works.

[Canonman]

It's sad that we have to worry about these things but - the fact is - we do. And the U.S. system has always been to have the illusion of security (it's the lines and hassles that are the story) rather than actual security, which would be expensive and take time.

The Israelis long ago came up with a system that has never been beaten. They do serious background checks on every passenger BEFORE the passenger gets to the airport. They engage in racial profiling.

They hand inspect every bag, checked or carry on, on every international flight (They don't have much domestic air travel - and they may do it on those flights too.) Security people interview every passenger.

Yes, it takes an extra hour or more to check in. Yes, it works.

They also had re-enforced cockpit doors prior to 9/11/01. I believe they have flares and chaff that can be deployed from their commerical airliners as well.

[Canonman]

I hardly see the point of refusing shampoo when it can just as easily be set as an accelerant in the cargo hold; however that’s how silly things get.

Because it would have to be combined with something else to become a bomb and that's difficult to do from inside if the other parts of the solution are in someone else's luggage. The terrorists in this case wanted to combine benign ingredients inside the cabin in real time to create an explosion.

The restrictions put in place a few days ago were in direct response to an imminent threat that the authorities weren't sure they had 100 percent containment of at the time.

I suspect we will see beverages allowed back in pretty soon. They'll just make you drink it in front of them to verify that you have a bottle of water rather than isopropol alcohol or some other clear solvent.

cm

[freedom]

I've been flying with my own cameras for over 20 years and never had a problem checking my camera. I never carry on a camera, I'm not a pack mule, I'm not schlepping that thing all over the airport. I know plenty of people who travel frequently with gear and never carry on their cameras. No reports of issues from them either.

[SandRat]

I've checked my camera for international flights with multiple changes and have never had a problem. It's a bit scary, but pick up a heavy duty case and you'll have no worries.

We have four or five cases where I work that I would check my camera in with no concern...separate the lens from the cam just to avoid any addtional torque on the bayonette mount. It's a heck of a lot safer than putting it in the overhead and avoids the risks of schlepping it through an overcrowded airport. Pelican cases rule!

freedom, schlepping is a great word.

[SimonW]

Well, I understand the reasons why all these restrictions are coming into force. But I think they are an overreaction and possibly only APPEAR effective to the general public.

The airlines need to remember one incident in particular. Lockerbie. That bomb was in the hold in a suitcase. I also have my doubts as to how effective the X-ray machines really are too (or rather the abilities of the people operating them).

[SimonW]

As soon as I finished that last post I found this;
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=399156

He has a point.

[queen of blue]

Hubby just flew from Myrtle Beach to Yuma, AZ with 2 stops. He's pretty disgusted. (Very strong intelligence military background.)

His take on it.... "Yeah, this will deter terrorists all right. For about a week until they can get into an airport to see what's going on."

No major screenings anywhere, and only had one guy open ONE pocket on his carryon backpak to peek in. There are many many pockets. The irony is - because of his job, he SHOULD have been stopped. He's carrying all kinds of paperwork with the words BOMB and AIRCRAFT on it about 700 times. In the backpack. yeah.

I'm following him in two days, only I fly through Dulles and LAX. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Dirge]

Looks like someone is manning the clue desk:

One possibility is to fedex or otherwise overnight ship your camera to the shooting location.

I ALWAYS ship the camera and gear. It’s the only way to fly (pun intended). Carrying everything thru the airport is for suckers. You can insure it, track it on the internet, it’ll be there for you at the hotel, you can pack stuff you can’t get away with on the plane, and I could go on and on.

I’ve also done a multi-camera shoot that way. Having everything show up to the hotel saved us from trying to cram big ass cases into the back of a Chevy Blazer.

OT—I know a lot of us had to do airport security stories this week. Is it just me, or do people pack the dumbest stuff? I saw bottles of peanut butter, a case of Slim Fast and six packs of sodas get yanked out of CHECKED luggage. Where the f are these people going in America where there isn’t a grocery store!?

[Baltimore Shooter]

BTW, what happens to all that shampoo, toothpaste, Slim Fast and other stuff that is confiscated at the airport? I hope they don't just throw it out. The should donate that stuff to local homeless shelters and uch places.

Warren

[svp]

Looks like its time for stations to start buying private jets.

[krazycamera]

There was an interesting point brought up earlier on this topic - the background check thing - we all have absolute oodles of accreditations right?

As a profession we are constantly sending in photos and details of ourselves before getting access to celebrities royals or sports grounds, this should be a good indicator to airline companies.

To stop anyone saying they are one of us, a simple check by the airline would probably turn up dozens of previous security checks.

That and the scorched retina look, when we all tense up at check in when the clerk says "you're gonna have to put that in the hold"
Don't think so sonny!

Staff or stringer, my camera travels with me.

I'm sure the check in chicks can see a seasoned camera warrior a mile away, what's wrong with allowing us to do our job? In the air or on the ground, News is 24-7 baby.

Should they give us an exemption - sure, its not like mr or mrs terrorist (or anyone else) will prize my camera from my grasp!
Will any stupid fool try to dismantle my camera to turn it into a bomb? No chance - we weild a weapon of mass communication on our shoulders!!
Even terrorists understand that simplicity


Now I know I've stirred the hornets nest! Lemme have it!

[Freddie Mercury]

Keep that screen name, krazy. It fits.

[Dirge]

BTW, what happens to all that shampoo, toothpaste, Slim Fast and other stuff that is confiscated at the airport?

The airports in PA are gracious enough to let you get it all back. IF you have the winning bid on Ebay.

Confiscated Airport Items Bring Cash
HARRISBURG, Pa., August 12, 2006

(CBS/AP) A man-sized artificial palm tree and a sausage grinder have shared space in a state government warehouse with piles of Swiss Army knives and chain saws — just a few of the things travelers have had to give up at airport security checkpoints.

Pennsylvania turns a small profit by disposing of these castoff items, which it accepts from security contractors at 12 airports in five states, by selling them to the highest bidders at the online auction site eBay.

And what about the abundance of liquids and gels discarded since the alleged British terror plot caused U.S. airports to prohibit them? Edward Myslewicz, a spokesman for the General Services Department told the Seattle Times that state officials are considering selling some of those items too.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport has perhaps the most charitable approach. Airport spokeswoman Lexie Van Haren told the Seattle Times it plans to give 11 boxes of surrendered items to the city's human-services department, which will distribute items to homeless shelters.

Airport officials are still finding their way with these new items. Up to now, most of the contraband merchandise has been knives, nail clippers and cuticle scissors that were forbidden as carry-on items following the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

But at the Pennsylvania collection center, there's also Wiffle Ball bats, frosting-encrusted wedding cake servers, sex toys and a couple of chain saws.

There's even a box full of blenders.

"There must be folks who like to mix up their own pina coladas when they get to Puerto Vallarta," said Ken Hess, head of the Pennsylvania General Services Department's surplus property program.

The program has brought in more than $307,000 since it began in June 2004, and overhead is low. Students from a truck-driving school pick up the merchandise, and it's sorted by state workers who can't do their normal duties because of injury or other reasons.

Ninety-eight percent of it will sell. Knives, auctioned by the lot, sell fastest. Ten pounds of assorted pocket knives, for example, recently attracted nine bids and sold for $42.

Some of the 2½ tons of miscellany that arrives every month consists of weapons, potential weapons and squirt guns.

However, the warehouse's current inventory also includes two sombreros, a plaque from a fishing contest in Cayuga Lake, N.Y., a jungle machete and about 100 sets of handcuffs, some fur-lined. At one point, the state had a sausage grinder, a man-sized artificial palm tree and a Christmas ornament decorated with the logo of hot dog purveyor Nathan's Famous.

There are all sorts of auto parts, kitchen implements, gardening tools, jewelry, sporting goods and batteries.

On one wall, sorters have set aside a few stranger items, including a single deer antler.

The Transportation Security Administration said 10 million prohibited items have been seized or voluntarily turned over this year nationwide.

"There are thousands of stories out there on why people either forget or just don't know the rules," said TSA spokesman Darrin Kayser.

Federal law gives states the right to get banned or discarded items from the TSA contractor responsible for removing them. Pennsylvania has agreed to accept items from airports in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Johnstown and Allentown; Kennedy, LaGuardia and two other airports in New York; Newark and Trenton in New Jersey; Nantucket in Massachusetts, and Cleveland.

Pennsylvania has modified its program to maximize profitability. Smaller lots bring in more cash, so it no longer offers bulk sales like the 500 small Swiss Army knives that went for a record $595.

It also tries to package items together as a marketing hook. Hockey sticks, pucks and a goalie's mask were bundled for sale around the time of the Stanley Cup playoffs; gardening tools are sold in the spring; exercise weights are auctioned in early January to capitalize on New Year's resolutions; and baseball bats are put up for bid just before the World Series.

Hess said a hunting-season kit that included a buck knife, rope, flashlight and an all-purpose Leatherman tool sold "like hot cakes" before the start of deer season.

Kentucky, one of at least three other states that sells airport surplus on eBay, brings in $3,000 a month and stocks state agencies with surrendered hand tools and other equipment.

[American lost in Canada]

I traveled this weekend and the person I traveled with had to give up lip balm. I looked at the Sony I had and the lip balm and I believe that the more threatening of the two is my Sony. Really, a person could put a lot of bad stuff inside a 400. Maybe the chapstick is restricted because they think it is lip BOMB?

The restrictions are stupid. I fully expected to hear after the announcement that pop and juice were restricted that Air Canada would announce that pop was no longer free on all flights. Air Canada sucks.

I can see this getting so bad that in the future the stations just hiring cameras in the cities that they send reporters to. Not that I love to travel, but the trip with the Oilers in the Stanley Cup this year was a lot of fun.

Oh well, we will see what comes. Harper will do whatever he can to be more like Bush so I can only imagine what is next. No belts or hats allowed on planes or better yet, no shoes at all. Shoe stores will be setting up at all the airports to sell you shoes.

[McColl]

I know Southwest Airlines had it as policy all you had to do was ask, have your camera with you that the agent could see and they'd do it... don't know about other airlines.

Southwest's policy is a good one, and it's available on their website: http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/cameras.html

I always print it out and take it with me to the airport, in the event the ticket folks or the gate agent are unfamiliar with the policy.

[SandRat]

There's a couple of ways out of these tougher restrictions ... profiling (then the screams of racism and "big brother" will ring out) and/or by allowing the airlines to run deep background checks with the feds ("big brother" prostests again).

Cameras are harmless and surely no one would ever use one for a weapon??? Sorry, it's already happened.

http://www.sptimes.com/2002/09/09/news_pf/911/The_man_who_would_hav.shtml

The man who would have led Afghanistan

Ahmed Shah Massoud's assassination one year ago foreshadowed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

By SUSAN TAYLOR MARTIN, Times Senior Correspondent

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 9, 2002
Ahmed Shah Massoud's assassination one year ago foreshadowed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

PANJSHIR VALLEY, Afghanistan -- Exactly one year ago today, two suicide bombers posing as TV journalists murdered a man named Ahmed Shah Massoud.

Few Americans had heard of Massoud then, and few know much about him now. But what happened to Massoud on Sept. 9 would become one of the chilling mysteries of Sept. 11:

Did the death of one man in a remote part of Afghanistan foreshadow the attacks that killed more than 3,000 people in America just two days later?

In all likelihood, the answer is yes.

Massoud, 48, was the dashing commander of the Northern Alliance, the resistance group hoping to rid Afghanistan of its repressive Taliban rulers and the terrorist network they sheltered, Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida.

Al-Qaida is widely assumed to have planned the September hijackings -- attacks that could bring a massive retaliation by America, the terrorists knew. With Massoud out of the way, the Taliban and al-Qaida would be rid of their most effective opponent and be in a stronger position to resist the American onslaught.

But even now, much of what happened Sept. 9 remains unknown. One of Massoud's assassins has never been identified. Who ordered the killing is a mystery, too. And the death was not confirmed for several days, reducing chances that Western intelligence agents might have recognized it as a sign of something catastrophic about to happen.

"Afghanistan at that time was a base of international terrorists," says Faheem Dashty, an Afghan newspaper editor. "Al-Qaida, the Taliban, other terrorists, the Pakistan security services -- they were all working together and it was a plot to kill him.

"Beyond that I don't know."

Dashty was one of the last people to see Massoud alive. On Sept. 9, he was in the same room when the bomb exploded, severely burning Dashty and killing the man Afghans consider their national hero.

Called the "Lion of Panjshir," after the lush valley in which he was born, Massoud was a leader of unquestioned courage and aquiline good looks. A haunting National Geographic portrait of him -- his face both dreamy and resolute -- has become the iconic image of the modern freedom fighter.

Massoud rose to prominence battling the Soviet Union, which occupied Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. Unlike Soviet forces, who killed indiscriminately, Massoud was always aware of civilians:

"On several occasions, he ordered the Panjshir to be temporarily abandoned by its population so that he could undertake military operations against the Soviets, unhindered by humanitarian concerns," according to the International Center for Humanitarian Reporting, a non-profit journalism organization based in Geneva.

After the Soviets withdrew, Massoud served as Afghanistan's defense minister from 1992 until the Taliban seized power in 1996. Ousted from Kabul, he resumed his role as Afghanistan's most charismatic resistance leader.

In interviews last summer, just weeks before Sept. 11, Massoud made clear his disgust with the Taliban and his hopes for his country:

[Flaca Productions]

i've waited for the day when a crew or journalist in this country takes advantage of our proximity to do something evil.

i've met faheem dashty and done a couple sit downs in afghanistan with him. it was a terrifying experience that resulted in the murder of an important leader in afghanistan. Massouds picture is everywhere in that country. i was pleased to see that dashty wasn't wary (at least outwardly) of my camera. not sure i'd be so accomodating.