--- Walter Holt <locnleave@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi Rand,
> I am unable to find a reliable source for my statement. It
> may be
> hearsay as I did a lot of google searching and everything I
> read said
> the cards can't be harmed by airport security . Kodak site
> says cards
> can't be harmed. Sandisk site says cards can't be harmed.
> Neither of
> these sites however differentiate between airport x-ray
> machines and
> the walk-through airport scanner. They speak of the
> checkpoint
> machines as though the xray and scanner is the same item or
> they say
> call the xray machine a scanner.
>
> I thought I had read my info on an ASMP advisory, but I could
> not find
> the advisory anywhere on ASMP's web site.
>
> Since I made my original post I see two other forum members
> also feel
> that scanners can harm memory cards.
>
> While on a Diamond Princess cruise to Alaska I had two 2
> gigabite
> Hitachi microdrive cards with me and I was careful to make
> certain my
> cards only went through the ships xray machines when returning
> to the
> ship each time I went on a land excursion. One time I
> preceded my wife
> through the xray and scanner checkpoint and I had already
> picked up my
> camera from the xray belt and put it around my neck. My wife
> who had
> not yet gone through the checkpoint asked me to come back to
> the
> gangway and help her with her packages. I started to walk
> back through
> the scanner portal as that was the only way I could return to
> where she
> was waiting in line. The ships security officer grabbed me
> and pointed
> at my camera and said "no camera, no camera, no camera" and he
> wouldn't
> allow me to walk through the scanner with my camera. He spoke
> little
> English but it was clear to me he was concerned with my
> digital camera
> passing through the scanner. I figured he had been instructed
> to not
> let cameras go through the scanner. I also assumed his
> information was
> the same as mine concerning digital memory cards and metal
> detecting
> scanners although I never really knew for sure why he he
> became so
> insistent.
>
> My above anecdote certainly is no proof.
>
> Maybe real life testing needs to be done with a sacrificial
> 16mb
> starter card, a determined photographer, and a friendly
> security guard
> who has control of a scanner.
> Is "friendly security guard" an oxymoron?
> Walter
X-ray scanners and metal detectors are two different things.
The kind of portal you walk through is a metal detector, a
device that generates a brief magnetic field. A metal object
will interfere with the field (as I understand it) and an alarm
rings when it does so. No x-rays are involved.
X-ray scanners (the device your carry-on bags go through) are
exactly what they sound like, enabling the technician to see
inside your bags.
I've never tried walking through the metal detector with a
memory card in my pocket. Cards do have metal parts, though
quite small so I don't know if a card would set off the
detector. As I said before, I doubt the field is strong enough
to damage any card but frankly I don't care to test it.
As for x-rays, I've seen no evidence that those will damage
cards. If anyone knows of any, please post the info. I'm sure we
are all very interested!
Richard
=====
Richard Martin specializes in Cityscape
and Waterscape stock photography.
E-mail: marphoto@xxxxxxxxx
Web: http://www.marphoto.com
Web: http://www.poetographycreations.com
