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Headed to Guangzhou, China on a tourist visa with an Epic

T

Thomas Sidney McCallum

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Hey all-
Headed to Guangzhou, China on a tourist visa with an Epic and a Scarlet.
A bit worried about the gear. Its insured and our policy extends internationally but I am more worried about customs.
The reason we are headed there on a tourist visa is because we cant get a journalism visa in time.
Wondering if anyone has any advice on traveling to mainland China with Red Gear.
I think my plan is to mark all these serials down with pictures and keep it as a PDF in case someone asks where we got it. Prove the origin and whatnot. Thanks!!

Best, Thom
 
Its going to be a gamble. I would strip out the epic and the scarlet, make it as DLSR as possible. If you get inquired and they find out you're a journalist without permit its going to be a very hard time at customs. What lenses are you taking? I would go Still lenses all the way or look into renting in CHina. In fact, I would actually look into renting an Epic in China then to take your own gear. You can search for local redusers like, Kio Chung, Tai Wah Lim or even Percy Fung from Digital Magic which are based in the region for different packages.
 
Not sure what the nature of the project, how long, budget, etc -- but there are Epics in China for rent and in the long run it might be worth it.

On the other hand, I think if you are low profile and you are the kind of guy who projects respect for other cultures and a certain humility and friendliness (which I'm assuming), my experience in China has been very positive and I don't have the language. I had no trouble with customs. This was almost five years ago now, so things may be different, but if anything I would think even better. China hosts millions of tourists per annum and is a pretty tourist friendly country. I dare say more so than the US.

A carnet is probably not a bad idea.

Good luck with your trip, project.
 
Matt Gottshalk said:
You may get boned in China, but you will DEFINTELY get boned coming back into the U.S. without a carnet.
Click to expand...

I hear ya Matt. We are definitely comping up the carnet and will have it just in case. Hopefully having a printed copy and PDF on our phones will do the trick. Carnet is a must.
 
Sergio Perez said:
Its going to be a gamble. I would strip out the epic and the scarlet, make it as DLSR as possible. If you get inquired and they find out you're a journalist without permit its going to be a very hard time at customs. What lenses are you taking? I would go Still lenses all the way or look into renting in CHina. In fact, I would actually look into renting an Epic in China then to take your own gear. You can search for local redusers like, Kio Chung, Tai Wah Lim or even Percy Fung from Digital Magic which are based in the region for different packages.
Click to expand...

Taking a gang of canon primes and some small zeiss glass. Im still debating the gamble. I just dont know what happens if we get our stuff confiscated, if it just disappears or what, especially since we just got our epic...
The nice thing is that we would be splitting the gear up into 2 different ThinkTank bags, one with me and one with my business partner. And breaking everything down sounds like the way to go. Even putting black tape over the logos
 
I am traveling to India with a Scarlet and 4 still lens's, I didn't think of getting a carnet, I'm just bringing a copy of my receipt from RED to prove that I bought it here in America, if they ask when I return. Would that be not enough?

Have people previously needed this for carrying Hasselblad , etc.?

If somebody actually did have trouble coming home to the US, could they please chime in?
Thanks
 
While I literally traveled the world around and back with not just one Epic Kit, but two plus lenses and gear, I never used the Carnet (authorized rubbery that what it should be called), so in total not one but two bags on board with me plus those below, I did have to smooth my way out a few times, once in NY and once in Dubai, both times with no issues, while once in Rome, I really had to argue my way out of it.


If you don't want to give FREE money to Carnet, the what you need to do is to have a LIST with all the pieces and components of your KIT, and list also the origin and VALUE, this will be as equally accepted world wide same as a Carnet, and better.


BUT... The only way that it works, is for you to get to the Airport earlier, as you'll need to physically get this LIST in to the Custom's office before departure, and upon arrival at location, you'll need to do the same, only doing this it validates it as if was a Carnet.
 
With carnets available for China (People's Republic) professional equipment is excluded, just check with your local chamber of commerce. No need to think about getting one.
The advice would be to strip down the cam to the bare necessities and hope for the best. If they decide that you are a journalist trying to get in without a proper visa, customs will be your smallest problem.
 
Hello Thomas!

To bring the professional camera gears into Mainland China is always big trouble,
if you bring only one and apply the form in the customer dept, you might accept to bring in,
but there always not reason if they don't accept you to bring in, then you need to keep your camera in the customer dept until you leave...
so, be ware first you must apply before you pass the immigration dept, other wise you might have big trouble,
the customer dept will going to confiscate your gears...

Cheers

Thomas Sidney McCallum said:
Hey all-
Headed to Guangzhou, China on a tourist visa with an Epic and a Scarlet.
A bit worried about the gear. Its insured and our policy extends internationally but I am more worried about customs.
The reason we are headed there on a tourist visa is because we cant get a journalism visa in time.
Wondering if anyone has any advice on traveling to mainland China with Red Gear.
I think my plan is to mark all these serials down with pictures and keep it as a PDF in case someone asks where we got it. Prove the origin and whatnot. Thanks!!

Best, Thom
Click to expand...
 
Well, I just brought my BT R1MX from Korea to China with no problems. But my habit is to never pack it like a professional rig in cases and such. I kept the camera body in a simple canvas bag with a foam pad on the bottom and the camera in an anti-static bag. The AC power and handles I sent ahead EMS. The mini station and mag went in my backpack, with my lenses and V-mount battery. I had no problems, the camera never left my hands. They asked me what it was and I told them. They didn't ask for a receipt. The only delay was my battery was 150whr, so they said I needed a permission slip from customs which took about ten minutes.

So, just break it down as simple as you can and take it as carry on. Good luck and enjoy China.
 
I've been to Guangzhou, China with my R1. However, I landed in Beijing and drove 5,000 miles across the country and one of the stops was Guangzhou. I've filmed in 40+ countries and I would say China was the least restrictive and problematic, which was totally against the preconception I had of the country. There were many times I had the camera out filming on the street right beside a police office and they never said anything. Getting the equipment through the airport will be the most challenging. I can tell you what I did, but this might not always work. Once you pick your belongings up from the luggage area, then you'll proceed to the exit. There was a security personnel standing near the exit that was telling select people to go to a different screening area. I happen to be one of those lucky travelers. They asked to scan our luggage through a large machine for customs. I proceeded to place my suit case and other items through the machine, but my friend and I kept the backpacks on our back and did not have them scanned. They didn't notice our backpacks. I was carrying the R1, lenses and accessories in 2 backpacks. I went to the other end and picked up my gear and exited the airport. If they would have seen the camera, I suspect we might have had to convince them we were not selling the items.

I would never travel to a foreign country without carrying a backpack for these reasons and others. I also suggest getting a media card in case you do get questioned. They just want to make sure you're not coming to sell the equipment, so you should also have receipts of the items and an itemized list. I also believe there is now a declaration form that you can bring with you that lists the items your carrying.

By the way, you'll be about a 1/2 day drive from the city of Fenghuang. It's probably one of the most filmic cities in China.
 
KETCH ROSSi said:
If you don't want to give FREE money to Carnet, the what you need to do is to have a LIST with all the pieces and components of your KIT, and list also the origin and VALUE, this will be as equally accepted world wide same as a Carnet, and better.


BUT... The only way that it works, is for you to get to the Airport earlier, as you'll need to physically get this LIST in to the Custom's office before departure, and upon arrival at location, you'll need to do the same, only doing this it validates it as if was a Carnet.
Click to expand...

Not true. This may have worked for you, but it sounds like you did get hassle, and if the customs officer in rome was a stickler for regulations, he/she could easily have impounded your kit. In the uk, you can travel, out and in, with a carnet or with a thing called a duplicate list, which is an official form which you download from govt website and then you attach your list of serial numbers and values to,it, which then allows you to re import the goods at the end of your trip. Not sure what other countries have in respect to this. You then have to worry about the country you are going to... They may have their own system for importing filming equipment (like Egypt..depending on what local fixer you use) or it may be a carnet. Over the 20 or so years I have been travelling the world for work, 90 % of trips outside of the EU have had a carnet. Now of course, it is not an expense for me as it has been covered by the broadcaster/production company. It is a hassle some times to get the right stamps on it, but it does work in most countries.

One trip that I did to Egypt a few years ago, the production company said that they had sorted all the documents for exporting a lot of kit from the uk to Egypt. Got to the airport, and found that they had sorted out the documents for egypt through the local egyptian fixer but not the UK duplicate list. I said that I was happy to travel without the right documents only if they would guarantee that they would sort it out while we were away. 4 weeks later, arrived at London Heathrow the day before X mas, with over 30 boxes. Customs of course saw us and asked us for our carnet or duplicate list. The production co had not sorted stuff out. They initially were going to impound the kit, and said that I would probably not get it back, as it was technically smuggling. Argued the case, and they eventually said that if I could pay the duty and vat, that we could proceed. Came to about £ 20,000 pounds. Had to call my bank to transfer money from various savings accounts as they would not allow me to put it on credit cards. The production company paid me the money back within 2 days, and they tried to get the money back from UK customs. Not sure that they ever did.

So, of course you can advise people that they can travel without a carnet, as you do, but you should say that it is at their own risk. 90 times out of 100, you will probably be ok with a small "disguised" kit, but there is no guarantee. If you are doing a paid gig, best to get a carnet or whatever it is that the country you are travelling to requires, and not have the worry and stress. If not, take a chance if you want, but to suggest that you can travel anywhere in the world with a home made equipment list and be 100% fine is bad advice.
 
Great said Steve! I actually still had my used Nikon 200mm lens in PL Mount, 3 Red SSD Module, pack of 128G SSD card and Card Reader,
all of items still hold by the customer in LoWu Mainland China customer, right now the only way I have to pay the money to fix the problem,
cause they said my Daddy didn't apply the import duty form, and in kind of the case you might never get back your gears, or find kind of special relationship to pay money to get back the gears....
 
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