Art and Photography

Flying with a Digital SLR Camera?

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  • Apr 28th, 2010 12:26 am
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Oct 26, 2007
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Toronto
N1Hawk wrote: Thanks for all the info, I have a lowerpro bag for my camera, Should I take my memory card out of the camera before it goes through the scanner as it might affect the memory card?
Modern x-ray machines will not damage a memory card or any photos stored on the memory card.
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Feb 27, 2005
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N1Hawk wrote: Thanks for all the info, I have a lowerpro bag for my camera, Should I take my memory card out of the camera before it goes through the scanner as it might affect the memory card?
I always leave my memory in the camera since Xrays only affect film. (not digital) Plus there's less chance of misplacing it.
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Oct 3, 2007
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I am with Matt on this one -- I just got off a plane carrying a laptop, 5d, 40d (gripped), 70-200mm, 24-70mm, 50mm, and a 430 EXII...just carried it on a Porter flight and it fit under the seat in front of me.
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Oct 19, 2003
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I've taken the plane to Milan, London and FL with my Camera gear and have never once been questioned by customs about it. I have brought as many as 5 lenses with me with 2 flashes and everything went through fine. I always have my camera bag (Slingshot 200 to 300 to Kata 3n1 30) and another carry on. Most of the time I just put the bag in the compartment above.
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Mar 1, 2004
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Pickering
I usually have a DSLR, 5 lenses, GPS, P&S camera, and associated products (loupe, remote ect). I do have the filled out card with stamp. Nobody has asked to see it. The most examination I get is going into the US and the most thorough examination I had was an agent who liked electronic toys and was interested in what each lens did (he eventually got told by the other agents to quit screwing around and get back to work).

I would never check my camera and leave my sunglasses in the camera bag with my gear. I leave it under the seat in front of me for the trip and have never received a second look. On my way back from the US, they never open the bag or seem to care much about it.
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Feb 16, 2006
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Vancouver
I just flew Vancouver to Phoenix and back and carried my DSLR, 50-500mm, and 24-70, spare battery plus cleaning accessories (no fluids) in a LowePro Flipside 300. Not a sideways glance at it other than putting it through the xray scanner like all the carry-on baggage.

Canada Customs didn't ask to look in any of our carry-on's coming back. I declared the battery I bought down there and that was good enough for them. I don't think I fit their profile for "smuggler" traveling with my wife and kids 14 and 9, and having cleared customs many times before, sometimes painstakingly declaring business related samples received at trade shows and corporate literature from training courses.
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Oct 26, 2007
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I have flown many times to the Philippines (through Hong Kong) with varying amounts of camera gear in a carry-on bag and I have never been stopped or questioned by any customs officer (Canadian or abroad). The most that has ever happened was during one trip when my 70-200 lens was swabbed by an officer (I guess thinking that it was a bomb) on the way out from Pearson. They don't even ask that you turn on you camera to ensure that it is real. I've never filled out a declaration card either.
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May 25, 2009
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Just did a trip to Hong Kong and back a couple months back, tossed all my gear (body, grip, 2 lenses, flashes, batteries and cards) into my one Kata bag and took it as a carry-on. No issues at all, they don't ask you to take it out of the bag for the scanner like they do for laptops.

Customs did not question my camera equipment when I came back, although I did register my stuff with CBSA at Pearson before I left... it takes 5minutes and is always a good idea just in case. I didn't bring any reciepts though so got a bit of a lecture from the customs lady but she stamped the card anyway after :)

Never check in electronics or anything remotely fragile... we've had laptops and even point and shoots get destroyed before in our check-in luggage.
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Oct 26, 2003
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Nepean
I had no problems taking my dslr on the plane. Though the tripod took some convincing but still manage to get it on the plane as carry-on.
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Aug 17, 2008
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Ajax, Ontario
Thanks for all the help, Seems I can take 1 Personal Bag and 1 Carry-On bag as I've read a bunch of info about flights.

N1Hawk
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Aug 12, 2008
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flew a few times with my dslr and lenses.. had them in my camera bag as carry-on. no problem. security didn't even blink when it passed through the xray.
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Aug 17, 2008
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ok thanks everyone
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Apr 29, 2007
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One more thing to add.

I've never had a problem with bringing SLRs/lenses on the plane, but there are two things that always get searched:

One is my backup hard-drive, which inevitably gets special screening by the trace explosive detection machine. (Something about wires, a metal chassis and a large battery seems to always make them suspicious.) The second is the usual tangle of wires -- USB cables, chargers, CF card readers, flash cords, etc. They'll normally take a look at that too, for some reason.

I've learned to check-in the wires, but still feel wary about checking in the hdd.

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