[Nowhere Matt]

I recently went through the airports of Kansas City, New York City, Atlanta, Barcelona and Cinncinati carrying my camera gear in a carry on bag and was never even asked to open it before or after it was viewed with x-ray. I know I have once before however.
A woman in front of me was carrying a LowePro AW 100 and AW 300 and I was toting my AW 200.
You should have no real issues with carrying on your gear. And you cannot pass up getting images like these (or much better)






Hey, it's a photography message board. We must post images.

[FullertonImages]

Matt, that first image is great. I'm 6'7, so I always get aisle seat. But then I'm always pissed because I want to take photos out the window. But I would be more pissed if I was crammed in the window seat... Haha.

[TomK]

When traveling with non-rechargeable Lithium batteries (AA), you MUST have them in the cabin baggage - NOT in the checked bags. Also if carried as spares they must be unopened or otherwise protected from shorts.
In the near future I am told that there will also be a limit on how many of these you can board with.

[emisor73]

HI
I fly a lot and I always carry my gear, the only place in the world I´ve had a problem was in The U.S. (Chicago & Denver) but because of the tripod, they wanted to dismember it in pieces which I refused, it took me 2 hours while they "check" my tripod other thatn that no problem just say "it´s my camera" and that´s it. If you´r planning to take a big tripod think twice.
Good luck

[geauxpez]

I too have flown a good bit with a camera bag -- always as a carry-on. I even flew into D.C the day after the infamous underwear bomber did his deed and wasn't intensly searched. I just put my bag on the conveyor & let 'em scan it. I also carry a lens pen for lens cleaning instead of liquid.

[opiet70]

I checked my FA 50 1.4 once. It was broken even though I had it in some serious protection. Don't check anything and, if needed, buy a new bag for carryon. you won't regret it.

[MRRiley]

And you cannot pass up getting images like these (or much better)

For some reason the windows on the commercial planes I fly on are always too scratched and hazed to be able to see thru clearly, much less shoot thru. So I carry onboard so the gear gets where I am going, not for in-flight photos (generally).

---

Last edited by MRRiley; 11-17-2010 at 10:29 AM.

[Ahab]

I travel extensively and in the past 7 years have not been asked to open my carry on camera bag which in addition to the extra lenses, batterys and camera, has chargers and cords and CF cards.

[Ratmagiclady]

TSA may want you to open the bag and even wand it for "residue" but it is generally painless and quick. Might not want to carry one of the old takumars that are midly radioactive though... LOL

Ooh, you may have saved me some hassle down the road, there. I've got one of those old Canon 35/2s with thorium glass in it, and never considered that angle. (Kind of neat, these, actually. Concave front element.) It's a heavy, heavy lens, for its size, though, and part of why I have some Pentax film bodies is to lighten the load when I travel. I've been known to make last-minute decisions to suck it up and carry a little heavy, though, if I'm ever tagging along with my sweetie somewhere.

I don't know about these new TSA screenings, anyway: I'm so often on the verge of an anxiety attack till I'm on board my last transfer that I really just don't need to risk old damage getting triggered. (Flying, I love. Getting stuck away from home, invariably without money for a Plan B....That can be an exhausting amount of stress for me if equanimity fails. . I'm still up in the air about some holiday plans about it, actually, as much as I'd love to get out of town for a while. )


I never seem to get a clear window, either. But I've never had any particular problems with photo things, (except for one case where they refused to hand-check film I had intended to push, a courtesy I'd gotten a bit accustomed to,) Actually, I've encountered a surprising number of photo enthusiasts in those TSA uniforms, I guess they see a lot of cameras, but mostly I've met friendly people, as long as they aren't all stressed out. I can't imagine more won't be just that, given the position they've just been put in, though.

Gotta love small-town airports, though, that way. You can be nearly on a first name basis in a few years. 'Hey, it's the camera lady,!' 'Oh, that's an old one,' 'Yeah, I got this from Mike,' over at the gallery, '

[Cannikin]

Back in June, I brought my K-x and 5 lenses in a decent sized bag onto a plane (Alaska Airlines). The only thing they asked me at security was if it was a video camera (if so, I would have to take it and any tapes out). I said no, and that was the end of that. Just ran it through the x-ray.

On the plane, as soon as they said it was OK to use electronics, I pulled out the camera and basically shot non-stop the entire flight until we had to turn them off again for landing. Got some awesome shots of the Cascade Volcanoes. No one stopped or asked me anything the entire flight (though I was afraid at times that the loud shutter of the K-x would wake the people sleeping around me).

[cardinal43]

Don't let them touch your junk!

Do you mean junk, or "junk"? With the new pat down stuff going on, it could mean either.

[SpecialK]

I missed two PIF's (photos in flight) on a recent vacation. First was when turning south to follow the Potomac River outside Washington DC. It was the whole Mall at almost-golden hour. The other was the reverse when taking off and immediately banking over the Pentagon. I did get a couple cloud shots each way...

[MRRiley]

The only thing they asked me at security was if it was a video camera (if so, I would have to take it and any tapes out). I said no, and that was the end of that. Just ran it through the x-ray.

This brings up an interesting question... Are cameras like the K-7 and K-5 "video" cameras? They don't use tapes of course but they do shoot video.

[FullertonImages]

This brings up an interesting question... Are cameras like the K-7 and K-5 "video" cameras? They don't use tapes of course but they do shoot video.

I would say that they aren't. Especially in the respect that they were asking. I think they were asking because and video cameras that record to tapes, the xray can blitz the tapes. But digital solid state media is ok for xrays. I don't think they wanted to pay special attention to video cameras from a security point of view. If the K-7 is a video camera, then so is my iphone.

[MRRiley]

Just means they may need to reword their question... because someone somewhere is gonna answer, YES....