Airport/Airplane and Camcorders

[Robert Kirkpatrick]

Hi. I'm gonna be going to L.A. in a week, and on my return trip, I'll have me a brand-new Panasonic GS400. However, when I leave L.A., I'm debating either taking it on as a carry-on or shipping it back home to Arkansas.

I've heard horror stories about taking a camera onboard, with chemical sniffers and the fear that it may be a bomb. There's no way I'll put it in as luggage (I've had too much lost luggage in the past to trust that route.) I don't want them to confiscate my brand new camera. Is this something I should be afraid of, or am I just overreacting?

Thanks.

[Cliff Hepburn]

Your overreacting.
You do need to take it out of the case and run it in a separate bin for the xray machines in many airports, though.

[Dylan Couper]

It's fine. Canon XL1's look like small rocket launchers and I've never had anyone say boo about it. With the chemical swab test they don't even ask you to turn them on anymore (most of the time).

Just carry it on with you, have a charged battery in case they do ask to see it work. You'll be fine, it's totaly safe.

[Rick Bravo]

An even better reason to carry it on with a fully charged battery and a tape inserted is...

...if anything and I mean anything should happen around you, and there you are, camera in-hand and no battery or tape...well, you can figure out the rest!

Have a safe trip.

RB

[George Ellis]

I travel with my VX2100 in a backpack. Take it out and put it in a laptop tray and everything is cool.

[Jeff Patnaude]

Just be carefull not to have a loaded "shotgun mic" with you.

Jeff P :>P

[George Ellis]

I have my shotgun in a fuzzy case. Actually, did get a search because of the mike. That nice 10" barrel along with the batteries make an interesting x-ray picture. :D

[Dylan Couper]

<<<-- Originally posted by Jeff Patnaude : Just be carefull not to have a loaded "shotgun mic" with you.

Jeff P :>P -->>>

(although laughing, Dylan throws a rotten tomato at Jeff)


I don't even pull my camera out of the bag, I just slide the whole bag through the X-Ray machine.

[Jeff Patnaude]

I was joking, but I actually had problems in the past with this.
Shooting fishing shows in Canada, I almost got a cavity search after they read "shotgun mic" on the gear list.

yikes.

Jeff P :>)

[Boyd Ostroff]

Hey, you guys are laughing but...

Airport scare, evacuation caused by microphone

GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) — The suspicious pipe-shaped device that set off a security alarm at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and prompted the evacuation of part of an American Airlines terminal Thursday turned out to be a vintage microphone, the Transportation Security Administration said.

http://usatoday.printthis.clickabili...partnerID=1664

[Jesse Bekas]

"I almost got a cavity search after they read "shotgun mic" on the gear list."

I think I'll make sure to call my shotgun a unidirectional mic from now on! ;)

[Robert Kirkpatrick]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I guess I'll "risk" it and take with me onbard, thus saving money on shipping. I was feeling a little paranoid, since $1,000+ for the camera is a huge amount of money for me. Thanks again for the reassurance.

[Bill Pryor]

I always carry the camera with me. Sometimes they want you to turn it on, so make sure you have a charged battery. On the last two flights I was on, last month, they didn't even look in the bag--just X-rayed it and let it go on through. Another time a couple of years ago, they spent about 20 minutes with the chemical sniffer things, but I think that was just because the guard knew I was in a hurry and was trying to prove a point.

[Pete Bauer]

Hi Robert,

I basically agree with everyone that you don't need to worry about carrying on. Over the past two years I've carried my GL2 most everywhere I've gone and had no problems...including Russia and Kazakhstan. I've used both a Kata Panda and a plain ol' school-book-sized backpack.

One thing to watch out for, though, is what kind of aircraft you'll be flying on. If it isn't on your ticket, you can check with the airline to find out about the aircraft type used for a particular route/flight.

If you'll be flying a small commuter (which includes some small jets) with the under-sized overhead bins and no-leg-room 3/4 sized seats, you'll probably want to make sure that the camera is in a very SMALL bag. On those small planes, you'll get separated at the jetway from a larger carry-on bag...probably a low risk situation, really...but that exceeds my personal threshold of keeping the camera within my own control/possession. I'm guessing you'd feel the same.

Have a great trip!

[Jesse Bekas]

Kazakhstan is a real place!