Traveling with the Camera

[WayneS]

I know this has been discussed in here before, but my question is a little different. As far as I read the literature, a spare battery must be carried in a carry on with you on the plane and sealed in a plastic bag. But, when you travel, do you use a softpack bag or hardcase for carrying your camera? I'd prefer my hard case just for the sake of protecting the camera, but don't know how it'd be viewed by security at the airport. Anyone run into any problems using a hard case?

 

[Socrates]

I know this has been discussed in here before, but my question is a little different. As far as I read the literature, a spare battery must be carried in a carry on with you on the plane and sealed in a plastic bag. But, when you travel, do you use a softpack bag or hardcase for carrying your camera? I'd prefer my hard case just for the sake of protecting the camera, but don't know how it'd be viewed by security at the airport. Anyone run into any problems using a hard case?

Depends on the mood of the TSA screener. My "favorite" occurrence involved my request to have my film hand-inspected, which is very specifically written into law. In fact, the law says that you can get anything you wish hand-inspected. The screener wouldn't even look at me but merely said, "Put it on the X-ray belt or you don't get on the plane." I asked for a supervisor and the screener dully repeated his statement. In the meantime, the line behind me was getting lengthy so I threw the film in the trash.

The real irony is that, at the time, I was employed as an instructor for TSA screeners!

 

[WayneS]

I'm more concerned they're going to decide my case can't go through. In that case, I'm traveling with a loose camera in my bag along with lenses, batteries, filters, etc..

 

[Jon0807]

I recently went to Hawaii and they asked me to remove the camera from the bag (soft bag) and place it in a separate bin, just like they do with laptops. I haven't used a hardcase but I would imagine that they'd at least search thru it if they had any type of suspicion.