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Travel questions

C

Cicero A

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1. Far as domestic, I believe you can have 2 batteries up to 160wh and unlimited if they are 98wh and under and all must be carry ons. Does this mean that I can have say 2 155wh batteries and 4 98wh batteries in my carry on?

Far as international. I know many of you fly with gear. What is the paperwork needed to enter and exit other countries without paying high fees? I've heard some people had to leave their gear for weeks and/or pay thousands without the proper paper work. Mind you, at this time I am not traveling for Pro shoots and would mostly have everything in a carry on Backpack and maybe a few items like tripod or something with my checked luggage.

Do you get the forms, or has most people had plenty success without them. I've heard of two forms. Carnet, and the 4457 form. Which is best to get and is it reallly a necessities or is that a chance that i probably should not take?
 
Regarding international travel with your gear, it's really a question of how much risk you are willing to take. First, you shouldn't need any special docs if you are not travelling for commercial purposes. If you are traveling for commercial purposes you have two options to clear customs (legally): an ATA Carnet, if accepted in that country, or whatever temporary import scheme is used in that country. The CF4455 and CF4457 are only applicable when returning to the US. They are US customs forms and not recognized overseas. They will establish that the items are American Goods Returned so you don't have to pay duty when returning to the US. Whether to use a carnet or a TIB (temporary import bond) can be a little complex. It is difficult to know in advance what customs in a foreign country will require or charge for a TIB. Usually they want a cash deposit. And the TIB is only good for one country. So if you are going to more than one carnet country or making more than one trip to a carnet country it makes sense to get a carnet. For one trip to one carnet country I would look at the cost of the carnet, value of the equipment and whether you can afford delays in customs clearance, if, by chance, your gear gets confiscated. There is a cost calculator online for getting an estimate of carnet costs.
 
Leslie August said:
Regarding international travel with your gear, it's really a question of how much risk you are willing to take. First, you shouldn't need any special docs if you are not travelling for commercial purposes. If you are traveling for commercial purposes you have two options to clear customs (legally): an ATA Carnet, if accepted in that country, or whatever temporary import scheme is used in that country. The CF4455 and CF4457 are only applicable when returning to the US. They are US customs forms and not recognized overseas. They will establish that the items are American Goods Returned so you don't have to pay duty when returning to the US. Whether to use a carnet or a TIB (temporary import bond) can be a little complex. It is difficult to know in advance what customs in a foreign country will require or charge for a TIB. Usually they want a cash deposit. And the TIB is only good for one country. So if you are going to more than one carnet country or making more than one trip to a carnet country it makes sense to get a carnet. For one trip to one carnet country I would look at the cost of the carnet, value of the equipment and whether you can afford delays in customs clearance, if, by chance, your gear gets confiscated. There is a cost calculator online for getting an estimate of carnet costs.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the in depth informative reply. Any idea on what they usually look for to know if you're traveling for commercial purposes vs just traveling with your gear? I'd literally be taking a backpack and maybe checking one piece of luggage when travelong. I've just heard horror stories of people having to pay thousands to get their gear back. Would really rather not go on vacation and end up having to put down a $500 deposit or have my gear confiscated and pay a bunch of money to get it back.
 
Always best to get a Carnet for your gear to avoid all potential customs issues. It's really a life-saver to avoid all the hassle of having to potentially pay a butt-load of tax.

Also, you can take up to (3) 160wh batteries (one must be docked not the camera) and an unlimited amount of batteries 100wh and under. Always carry on batteries unless you want to get hit with a major fine and have them confiscated.
 
I've done quite a bit of international travel and never played by the rules, only twice I've had problems. Once the gear was seized by customs and had to pick it up 3 weeks later in departure and the other was a 4 hour argument with customs explaining I wasn't there on work.. (hard to argue with 100k worth of gear haha)

My advice is if packing light, camera in a bag and a some gear in a suitcase you'll never have a problem. Pack like your a tourist on a holiday.. however several pelican cases, tripod bags and the words "filmmaker" on your customs form is a bad idea.

Regarding batteries I swear not one customs or airlines personal have a clue. I've have my bag pulled apart 100 times and never have my 190W batteries not got through, but be prepared to lose one in the bin haha. Just carry on all batteries as leaving in your suitcase can hold up a flight (sorry NZ to Sydney last year)
 
Nup,
Owen is wrong and playing with fire. I literally had security at Sydney take my batteries into another room and test them. I am guessing it was some way of reading watt hours. There was a time when some sneaky people were replacing the stickers on their larger capacity batteries, as 96wh to get them through. You risk a big amount of trouble including fraud charges with potential jail time.
Believe me, im not one of those people who subscribe to the theories that camera batteries took down a commercial flight so I think the precautions are a little overboard but dont risk trying to be sly. Not only will you get caught out that one time and pay heavily but it makes it even harder for the rest of us who do the right thing because they can easily tighten up their restrictions even more.
Lipos on the otherhand are scary!
 
You are right Owen. Im sure a producer would love to deal with gear being seized.
Great that you want to travel with batteries that are above the specified legal limits and risk serious consequences. I dont imagine the plane is going to fall out of the sky but trust me on this, you will get caught out that one time (as i said, my batteries were tested!) and you will lose your batteries and thats another headache for a producer especially if going somewhere that does not have v-locks easily available.
Also when some people cowboy it and get caught it often causes security to tighten up even more making things harder for professionals doing the right thing.
 
Owen Rennie said:
I'm not wrong, these are my experiences, playing with fire haha yeah that's fair to say..
Click to expand...

Concerning batteries
1) you have been lucky. I hope you will get caught soon and learn the hard way.
2) what you do is just irresponsible. Not only do you put your own life to risk but the lives of all other passengers on the same aircraft.

PLEASE, don't try to be super hero and play by the rules. There are good batteries out there with very fast re-charging time.
Sorry if I am being harsh. But when I hear this, it drives me nuts.

Analogy: with all those stupid wannabe pro drone operators who don't play by the rules until something happens. Then the government will come with more restricted regulations making the life of aerial professionals harder. Not even talking about the drone operator who got caught.
 
quick question while we are on the travel subject. it is said to be up to 2 batteries between 101-160wh(which Im guessing is 3 in total as the way its worded, it seems as though one can also be attached to camera and the two are just spares)

but it also says "with airline approval" anyone ever had issues with this with a certain airline, being that it is not fine print and the law of the land
Lithium ion batteries
(a.k.a.: rechargeable lithium, lithium polymer, LIPO, secondary lithium). Passengers may carry all
consumer-
sized lithium ion batteries (up to 100 watt hours per battery). This size covers AA, AAA, cell phone, PDA, camera,
camcorder, handheld game, tablet, portable drill, and standard laptop computer batteries. The watt hours (Wh) rating is marked
on newer lithium ion batteries and is explained in #3 below. External chargers are also considered to be a battery.
With airline approval, devices can contain larger lithium ion batteries (101
-160 watt hours per battery), but spares of this size are
limited to two batteries in carry-on baggage only.
This size covers the large
st aftermarket extended-life laptop batteries and
most lithium ion batteries for professional-grade audio/visual equipment.
Click to expand...
 
Here in Australia us ACS members have access to a special letter from Qantas which kind of legitimizes our status as profession camera people and an allowance for carrying batteries. There are still rules and I am pretty sure you dont NEED the letter.
I still tape my terminals, and ziplock bag each battery just so there can be no questions. We usually try to hand the batteries out among the film crew so everyone has 3x or whatever in their carry-on.
As I was saying a couple of times earlier, I dont believe a standard v-lock battery is , likely to catch fire and bring down a plane but my batteries were once taken off me, taken to a room where they 'tested' them. I am assuming they were being sure they were under the limit for watt hours. People have been known to swap labels on batteries to sneak on 230 watt hour batteries as 96wh ones and that kind of fraud, when it comes to airline safety and rules would mean jail time im sure.
Owen, im not trying to be a dickhead and my initial response to you was a warning to do the right thing for your own sake (fines, jail) as well as your producer and the job you are working on but if you start to sound all cocky about it, thats just silly. Im not a school prefect goodie goodie but airline fraud or breaking the rules carrys super hectic penalties and not only is your life going to be affected if you get caught but my life as well as they make it even harder than it already is for us to do our jobs. Much easier to just do things the right way, the responsible professional way.
 
Yeah thanks guys I've obviously been way too relaxed about it over the years but your right. I recently bought global media pros that break into 2 x 90w for travel anyway

Thanks
 
What is clear and probably goes without saying is that there is no way to predict which country or which customs inspector will be the one that is overly zealous or be trying to pull off a shake down. I think everyone knows the countries where the shake down is most likely to happen and either get a carnet or hire a fixer or both. If you are legitimately traveling as a tourist with camera gear then you shouldn't have trouble getting equipment through customs. The US customs form for items taken abroad for personal use is the CF4457: http://www.atacarnet.com/cbp-form-4457. For commercial purposes, although some of you may have gotten through foreign customs without a carnet or without paying duty/tax in the past, my professional experience is that there is increased scrutiny due to enforcement of labor protection laws, privacy laws (data collection), and security in general. Again, how much risk do you want to take and can you afford the time and money if you get stopped while traveling for commercial purposes? You can always contact a Carnet Specialist prior to traveling and ask them about what they advise in a specific situation. I know that our Carnet Specialists work with film / video producers daily in the US and UK sorting out these issues. The other benefit of a carnet is that if you have a problem with customs the US ATA Carnet service provider that issued the carnet and the carnet guaranteeing association of the country you are visiting have a vested interest in helping you.
 
I'm agree with that "Always best to get a Carnet for your gear to avoid all potential customs issues." Be sure to have a great trip plan before you go out for traveling.
 
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