photography advise needed in S.F
 

WE will be arriving in the States and have 6 weeks travelling between Sn Francisco, Vegas, Yellowstone , Vancouver and back to S.F. we usually carry our films in hand luggage but was wondering what the x-ray machines now do to it. We only have 35m camera. Other option is to get them developed when we are in Vegas and San Francisco. Can you give us an idea on the cost of developing and do they do them in an hour.

I've gone digital by now but, from what I understand, you should keep all your film, exposed or fresh, in your carry-on since the x-ray machines for checked bags is much stronger than that for carry-on. If you check your film in your luggage you can be assured that the film will be ruined.
Sorry I can't help with the cost but 1 hour developing is commonly available at just about every drug store or wallyworld.

You can ask for hand checking. The last time I traveled by air (last fall), it was still required by personnel if asked. They usually don't give me any grief about it. If you are not very particular about who processes your film, then I wouldn't think you should have any trouble finding someone to do it quickly in those locations. I wish I could help you with specific labs. A good resource is www.photo.net. If you come up with a list of labs in one of the locations, you can go to this site, click on "Community," "Your Opinions...," and "Processing Laboratories" to see if users have rated it.

You will be safe putting 400 speed or slower through the security X-ray about 7 times (effects are cumulative). You can ask for hand inspection. They gave me no grief in NYC but they did at LAX (but they still complied with hand inspection). If possible, I would try to get it developed locally. I usually bring it to a real lab (not 1 hour minilab) and just have them develop the film, not make any prints, so you'd save the expensive part which is the printing. The development should cost around $8 and like Dan said, photo.net is a good source to find a local lab. There are 2 reputable places in Vegas, the names escape me but they are on photo.net somewhere. I'm sure there are many in SF.

Security personnel will hand-check all film 800-speed and faster. Just ask! For slower film (including any in your camera) can be safely put through the xray that screens hand-carried items. Do NOT put any film (regardless of speed) in checked luggage.

To make it easier to get hand inspection, try throwing a roll of 800, or better, 1000 or above in with the bunch and tell them you are carrying high speed film.

If you just want basic, good quality prints made from your film, any large discount store (like Wal-Mart or K-Mart) can do them in an hour for about .30 a picture or less.

I travelled with 50 speed and they still hand inspected. If they give you grief, tell them that you "push process" your film and ask them to check their guidelines (which advises hand inspection of pushed film). They'll have no idea what pushing film means and they'll probably give in. I had 40 rolls and they went through each one individually. We had a pretty good conversation at JFK:

TSA person: What kind of camera is that?
Me: Underwater
TSA: What's there to take pictures of underwater?
Me: Ummm, fish?
TSA: You ever seen one a dem Nemo fish?
Me: What's a "Nemo fish"?
TSA: It's a movie.
Me: I've never seen a Nemo fish movie.