Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

TSA camera damage - WARNING!

I travel with gear on a weekly basis. I never carry-on cameras. There is a much greater chance of it being damaged in the overhead compartment than by checking. You have to make your cases idiot-proof. If the TSA can find a way to damage an item, they will.

Most important: Insure your gear. At some point in your career, you will suffer a loss. Insurance, while expensive, will save you. I require all of my clients to provide coverage as well.

I also second drop shipping. Fed Ex ground is a steal.
 
I'm a member of the carry-on only club... I pack the absolute essentials to do a shoot if everything else is lost or stolen along the way.

I flew to France with an approved carry-on size case packed with the Red, a Cooke 18-100 lens, 6 complete Wireless audio systems, 1 battery & 1 hard drive. Everything was wrapped in towels to make it all fit & snug and weighed in at 60lbs. Used a mini collapsable hand cart through the airports.

Inconvenient yes, but when you figure it could be the difference of loosing a big shoot and all the future income of that client, then I look at it as insuring $100K plus worth of income.

Once had a friend that was on a ground crew for a US airline and he would tell me all kinds of crazy stories. Two ground crews once showed up to unload a flight from Columbia and got in a fist fight on the tarmac over who was taking that flight... Both crews wanted to go through the bags and look for blow that people would try to bring into the country. Both crews were fired.

Raise your hand if you miss the pre-911 days when you could show up at the curb with 9 heavy cases and throw the boys $50 and everything flew without weighing or additional baggage fees.
 
I'm in the carry-on club although I must say that it annoys me to have to worry about enough room for my $50,000 worth of gear because business people travel with oversized rollers and take up all the overhead space with... underwear.
I agree with interstellar that being nice and making it easy for the TSA to repack is a good thing. One of my pet peeves is that they rip off the gaffer's tape that I put on the latches and lid of the case and replace it with that gummy plastic tape that takes 700 hours to remove completely. I even include a note in each case, as below. I would have attached it but somehow it's too large for the forum???
I also agree with gsheff as well. the airline baggage handlers are even more inept than the TSA. I've had the drenched gear treatment several times as well.
Cheers,
Harry


Dear TSA Personnel,

Thank you for taking care while handling the enclosed professional equipment.

We would ask for your assistance by refraining from using your clear plastic tape on this case’s latches and lid, as it is very time-consuming to remove.

Rather, we ask that you reuse the cloth Gaffer’s Tape that was originally used on the latches and lid. If you’ve already thrown this away, there is a spare piece around the bottom of the case.

Thank you again for your care and consideration.

Harry Clark

Shrunken Head Films
 
harryclark said:
I'm in the carry-on club although I must say that it annoys me to have to worry about enough room for my $50,000 worth of gear because business people travel with oversized rollers and take up all the overhead space with... underwear.
Click to expand...

This has gotten much worse recently, since many airlines have started charging for checked bags!!
 
I will also say that of course some TSA people "get it" and are in fact very nice (and even smart!) and it's unfair to generalize, if fun.
Here is one of those "your luggage has been inspected" notes that a screener wrote on. It was in my Cooke 20-100 case (lens now gone; see my "more stolen gear" post) Obviously he had some idea of the value.
Pretty funny. I tacked it up on my corkboard...
Cheers,
Harry
 
mcgeedigital said:
Yes, because when Obama takes office in January he will disband the TSA.
Click to expand...

No, he will do exactly what the rest of the terrorists have been trying to do all along: destroy the United States.

:ninja:
 
Wow Jim, that really sucks, thanks for giving the heads up.
 
Suede said:
The trickle down effect in full force: Vote Republican... broken gear. When fear and greed run a country, this will happen daily.

Nick.
Click to expand...

When the legislation to create the TSA was in Congress, it was the Democrats that insisted the TSA employees be unionized federal workers (therefore likely to vote for those same Congressmen that just created their jobs).

In other words, they have to do something really heinous to get fired.

From Wikipidea:

Failure of TSA screeners to detect fake bombs brought through security by undercover TSA agents, with detection levels much lower than private security agents on the same tests. In the most recent tests, conducted in 2006, security screeners at LAX failed to identify 75% of fake bombs, while Chicago O'Hare screeners missed 60% of the bomb components. Private screeners in San Francisco missed only 20% of the prospective bomb parts.[14]
Invasive screening procedures, mistreatment of passengers and sexual harassment by TSA officers[15][16][17][18]​

Nothing in this country is as simple as just vote Democrat or Republican and all problems are solved. Because they are really almost like two rival factions of the same political party.
 
luki said:
What I have a problem with is incompetence.
Click to expand...

I do as well. And while many of the security people that check bgs and such, are not complete and total idiots, some exist and ruin things for many people. However the incompetence of the national security apparatus extends far above the minimum wage security guard/bag checker level, and that's what frustrates me.

It is the incompetence of those that enact policy that inconveniences millions of travelers in the name of safety and security, while massive security holes are allowed to exist, and continue to be exploited. Its the false sense of security, that if you have to take off your shoes to check for explosives and can't take a pair of scissors on the plane, but weapons or explosives could already be on the plane thanks to a poorly paid cleaning person that put a package under a seat for $100, or our coastal boarders which are wide open landing zones for drugs, weapons and people to come through.
 
Everything said so far makes total sence until the plane you or your loved one is on explodes ... The ultimate inconvenience!


DogDay
 
Except that terrorist attacks on airlines for all intents and purposes do not happen.

There have been, as I understand it, no attacks on American planes except 9/11 (I await correction, but even if there were fifty other cases, my point holds).

So, that would be 4 plane attacks (not carried out with bombs or guns, according to the official story). 4, out of millions of flights.

I would say that that is a negligible risk. Compare that to, say, smoking, with odds of 1 in 2 of dying prematurely.

I'm not saying there should be no airport screening, because surely airport security has gone a long way to discouraging attacks (if not actually preventing them).

I just think people (the public and policymakers) should keep this matter in perspective. The risk of terrorism is negligible.
 
J Clark said:
The TSA inspectors are low paid employees, many with little more than a GED or high-school diploma, so go above their heads immediately if you face any issues.
Click to expand...

As much as I hate the TSA, what does their education level being GED or High-school diploma have to do with how they do their job? I would think the problems lies within their infrastructural training, not their educational level.

Anyway, why not just ship your camera to your destination rather than trying to fly with it? It got delivered to you in one piece when you bought it, so the same would probably be true shipping it elsewhere. Just a thought.
 
When its you or your loved one you will be singing another tune ... One of the reasons the statistic are as they are is that many measures are taken to nip attempts in the bud ... And this does give results.

Yes more competance less waste, but never ever give the enemy the benifit of the doubt ... You read right, I said "The Enemy"

As long as there are People=Terrorists willing to blow themselves up along with innocent strangers for whatever reason, no matter how justified in their eyes, these and MORE measures must be taken to insure safety, and yes its a royal pain in the ass, but thats the world we live in ... Get over it.


DogDay
 
J Clark,

I feel for you man! I am a pilot with NetJets, and I have to fly commercial all the time. There is no doubt that the TSA is a major pain to go through. Here is the funny thing- when the training department at NetJets wants me to shoot something for them instead of me flying a week out on the road, I will bring a bunch of gear with me. Not the RED, but a panasonic P2 and some still photography gear. The RED would be overkill for the training department.

They will always search my stuff. There is simply nothing you can do. The only advice I can give you is to kill them with kindness. Smile and be as friendly as you can. They usually respond fairly well and they can be understanding. All I can say, is that it is your only hope in a case like this. We are helpless. I would laugh and joke and tell them what happened in the past and beg for them to be very careful with your gear.

Good luck out there!
 
harryclark said:
I'm in the carry-on club although I must say that it annoys me to have to worry about enough room for my $50,000 worth of gear because business people travel with oversized rollers and take up all the overhead space with... underwear.
Click to expand...

Me too! That's why when I sit down in my seat and there is somebody's bag in my overhead spot I loudly ask as I'm pulling out the bag "who's bag is this?" then I set it in the isle as I put my bag in my spot!
 
dogday said:
As long as there are People=Terrorists willing to blow themselves up along with innocent strangers for whatever reason, no matter how justified in their eyes, these and MORE measures must be taken to insure safety, and yes its a royal pain in the ass, but thats the world we live in ... Get over it.
Click to expand...

Not to get off subject here, but if someone wants to get on a plane with an explosive, TSA is not going to stop them, it will just change their coarse of action. What's to say that someone doesn't swallow some plastic explosives, and his friend gets on with the small radio detonator (What's this? oh, its my remote flash for my camera, oh, ok)... there you go. Unstoppable unless they bring in body x-ray.

Another thing, I flew the other day, and I saw the damndest thing, as I was being told I could not bring a bottle of water through security. Another couple was having thier carry on looked at and there was a bigger bottle of EYE wash, and they let it go through.

So whoever wants to bring your own water on the plane, just fill up a contact lens cleaner bottle with water, and there you go.
 
Nothing personal, just curious...Have you been eating plastic explosives or is that the "Scent of Marzipan" ???


DogDay
 
I bought a nice hard case from A&J so I wouldn't have to be part of the "carry on club." That club sucks. I had to lug around my camera from one side of the Las vegas airport to the other going through another security checkpoint on the way and then had to do a bunch of handheld right afterward. Obviously I don't want my stuff to be damaged, but I also don't want to be damaged by carrying 60 pounds of gear around an airport trying to get to my gate on time. When i worked with film cameras they were always checked or shipped airport cargo. Actually I was at LAX carrying my red and i watched a skycap wheel in a red in a hard case, I think it was Evin's by the blue case, and I was extremely jealous. I'm not going to live in fear of my camera being lost or damaged, that's not what i bought it for. Call me reckless but some shoots are stressful enough I don't need the flights to be that way as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top