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stubby43
stubby43 aka Phil is a 25.42 year old boy, has been a member since December 22, 2006, has scored 3,809 submissions, giving an average score of 2.65, helping 191 designs get printed.
I decided to make a fresh blog about it because we need to discuss how were going to solve this problem.

(for those that dont know, if a film is x-rayed at best it damaged the film and at worst destroys it).

I just got off the phone with the Royal mail help line and we've run into a bit of a problem.

For posting film to the USA the person says 99% of the time they x-ray whats coming into the country.

But on a slightly more postitive note Canada is alot less likely to be paranoid and the royal mail only x rays stuff if they think it needs doing.

The long and short of it is that were doing it at our own risk.

Personally I want the project to go forward but its just a case of figuring out how to get around it, first of all I think there should be only one international camera (now that we know the risk involved), the second thing is that the international camera will have to start in the USA and then leave the country.

Everyone involed who's outside of the USA needs to go check with their post office to find out the likelyhood of it being x-rayed.

canadianbeaver
canadianbeaver on Jun 08 '07 at 7:59am
What is this *film* of which you speak, friend?
foreignPorn
foreignPorn on Jun 08 '07 at 8:03am
Okay so we need different cameras for different countries.
stubby43
stubby43 on Jun 08 '07 at 8:04am
You know when you take a photo, well thats the thing the image is stored on.
foreignPorn
foreignPorn on Jun 08 '07 at 8:05am
hahaha...so we all know the USA is paranoid about whats coming in, so we just needa keep everything that is in the USA IN the USA from start to finish, which sucks, but at the same time, solves a problem.
deboraborialis
deboraborialis on Jun 08 '07 at 8:07am
You could have one camera for continent or country. That minimises the risk. Once all the photo's are put together at the end, it doesn't matter anyway.
stubby43
stubby43 on Jun 08 '07 at 8:10am
The problem is the USA makes up the majority of the project, at the end of the day this is the first time we've attempted something like this and we were bound to run into problems, personally I'd be interested to see if a camera could leave the states and go to other countries without getting destroyed.



We know going into the USA by post is a no goer but some people live close to the border and I'll be flying to Canada on the 23rd of august, then driving down to america so in theory if I have all the uk cameras I can just take them over.



It is possible to have the cameras internationally its just hit and miss if they'll get x-rayed.
rhythmdev9
rhythmdev9 on Jun 08 '07 at 8:55am
i think its worth a shot trying the beauty of this project is that if it fails there no HUGE loss... i say we have an international camera start it in the USA and the first trip out side the US is no to the UK but to say mexico or singapore, then it goes to the UK and ends there... that should allow it to circumvent any x-raying
emmy.withwings
emmy.withwings on Jun 08 '07 at 9:25am
oh darn, that sucks :( couldnt we just write a nice note on the package saying "um, please dont x-ray me or a whole bunch of t-shirt nerds will cry"?
ecky_ducky
ecky_ducky on Jun 08 '07 at 9:39am
Wait, didn't EFdisaster say that only film above a certain level was damaged by x-ray? Can we get film below that?



(I'd find the blog, but my internet is being shite, and this page has already taken 20 minutes to load).
tesco
   tesco on Jun 08 '07 at 9:43am
I got involved with something like this once. It was the dude who designed the TMNT threadless shirt. He sent me the camera, (which got to me half broken) I took 3 pics then sent it on. Never heard anything since. It's a shame about it getting x-rayed, there must be a way round it.
stubby43
stubby43 on Jun 08 '07 at 10:12am
I like rhythmdev's idea, but I think we should have one US camera so we know at the very least one reel of film wont be damaged.



Ecky Possibly but unlikely, in a disposable camera they'll just go for the cheapest and you cant really change the film in one. Noobits posted a link to kodak that explains what will happen to film if it gets x-rayed, on some of them it does have an interesting effect but I'd rather avoid it where possible.



Taking film through x-rays
rhythmdev9
rhythmdev9 on Jun 08 '07 at 11:13am
yeah i say we work our best to avoid the x-rays but don't let it get in the way of having international cameras and such...
stubby43
stubby43 on Jun 08 '07 at 12:31pm
Right now it looks like we can only work out routes that are less likely to get x-rayed, we cant elminate the risk completly which is a shame.



It does kind of add to the excitment though, we dont know if the films going to be fine or damaged.
ISABOA
   ISABOA on Jun 08 '07 at 12:32pm
how about a very large catapult
tesco
   tesco on Jun 08 '07 at 12:35pm
what about a dirt cheap digital camera? I'm talking £20's worth
rhythmdev9
rhythmdev9 on Jun 08 '07 at 12:36pm
yeah thats basically the idea tesco... so that if the xray does ruin its not the end of the world...
tesco
   tesco on Jun 08 '07 at 12:36pm
stubby43
stubby43 on Jun 08 '07 at 12:45pm
If someone looks for one in america we can get it for half that price, we could use that as a back up (going around at the same time as the disposable cameras).



I looked today and disposable camera's are expensive in the uk the cheapest I found was £6.
ISABOA
   ISABOA on Jun 08 '07 at 12:46pm
they make disposable digital cameras now
ecky_ducky
ecky_ducky on Jun 08 '07 at 8:06pm
The analog thing is really what makes the project awesome, though.



I think re: routes, I might do regional ones then, and go back to the drawing names out of a hat for one international one. This way everyone gets a regional go which they know will work (hopefully), and if the international one stuffs up, then those people will still have photos on the regional cameras.



Thoughts?
hanzabean
hanzabean on Jun 08 '07 at 8:11pm
That sounds good, ecky- and there's a chance that even if the international one gets x-rayed, they could still turn out and just be foggy. Sometimes that's cool.
Noobits
Noobits on Jun 08 '07 at 8:12pm
Good idea Sarah. Would doing a separate list for each separate region internationally work even better?
Stevethegreat
Stevethegreat on Jun 08 '07 at 8:12pm
It shouldn't really fog low speed film.
Noobits
Noobits on Jun 08 '07 at 8:14pm
that is to say Asia, Australia, England (and others I cant think of) do the buy a camera pass it on, then publish to the web without having to cross international borders?
Polyester Jones
Polyester Jones on Jun 08 '07 at 8:17pm
this blog is making me laugh riotously. i'm not involved at all (though I do think it's really cool), but stumbling upon a blog where a bunch of people are freaking out about getting x-rayed kind of made my day.



anyways i wish you all the best of luck

and as we canadians all know each other i can try and put a good word in for you with stephen harper and peter who runs the post service
midi-chlorinated
midi-chlorinated on Jun 08 '07 at 8:31pm
Ha, yeah it probably sounds pretty funny.
rhythmdev9
rhythmdev9 on Jun 08 '07 at 11:14pm
yeah ecky i like your idea... it ensure that evereyone gets to be part of something while not abondoning hope on the international ones...
Noobits
Noobits on Jun 09 '07 at 3:14am
thanks for the support polyester. =p you should sign up...........
peater
peater on Jun 09 '07 at 5:03am
there is a lot of materials that are impenetrable by UV radiation, such as the carbon coat you don when you get X-rayed. it may be worth checking out
minxorjinx
minxorjinx on Jun 09 '07 at 5:05am
why doesn't everyone just take a picture on the same day, and post it on the same day in the same blog.



who knows what kind of diseases peoples gots. i wouldn't wanna handle a camera everyone else has.
peater
peater on Jun 09 '07 at 5:13am
hahahaha, minxorjinx



there's something to be said of having something criss-cross the world, while collecting more and more pictures.



a possible solution is a polaroid camera, where each person takes a picture, and puts it in a sealed envelope they send along with the camera, to the next user. that way, you don't have to worry about exposure. But, as always, no peeking!



In case the film inside the camera does get shafted, the user can (if willing) buy new film. More importantly, they would know immediately, so they wouldn't waste a shot, and all the subsequent ones.
peater
peater on Jun 09 '07 at 5:14am
*nor all the subsequent ones
stubby43
stubby43 on Jun 09 '07 at 6:44am
Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I think its going to be a case of see how it pans out this time round and learn from experience.



On a lighter note I think we should all make an effort to keep the project interesting while were waiting to recieve the camera.



Personally I'm planning a few day trips (if I have time) so they'll be photos of me taking the photos and what we did that day.
foreignPorn
foreignPorn on Jun 09 '07 at 9:44pm
polaroids are HEAVY shipping would be god damn ridiculous.



Im planning on taking pics of days at ZAPPOS's vendor party, (in which the entire company calls out the next day from hangovers including the ceo)



and maybe some crazy vegas stuff.
hanzabean
hanzabean on Jun 09 '07 at 9:48pm
If you guys are thinking about film protective cases, I bought one when I went to Costa Rica, since it was international and I had like 30 rolls of film that I didn't want fucked up.

It would be stupid though, since it's basically a pouch lined with lead, and would just be a headache for shipping.



Depending on when this ends up getting started, I might be able to do something cool, but if I'm at home [that would mean I'm back in school] the coolness factor will be limited.
ecky_ducky
ecky_ducky on Jun 10 '07 at 4:52am
Polaroid film is damn fucking expensive. And heavy.
peater
peater on Jun 10 '07 at 5:08am
haha, yes, i was very much aware of the heft.



just spouting ideas here :)
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