# Digital cameras and airport X-Rays **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 19, 2001, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cameras-and-airport-x-rays/94192 "2001-11-19T13:44:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cameras-and-airport-x-rays/94192/1 "2001-11-19T13:44:11Z")
Is there any concern with allowing your digital camera/memory cards to be run through the X-Ray machine at the airport? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cameras-and-airport-x-rays/94192/2 "2001-11-19T14:44:44Z")
According to the link below, nope. [http://www.nikon-euro.com/nikoneuro\_en/faq/general/en/FAQ\_gen\_en\_24.htm](http://www.nikon-euro.com/nikoneuro_en/faq/general/en/FAQ_gen_en_24.htm) ---
**Author:** ![MattyG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@MattyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MattyG)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cameras-and-airport-x-rays/94192/3 "2001-11-20T00:04:24Z")
I agree there’s no problem in sending the actual digital camera through the x-ray machine, but I would be wary of sending the memory cards (be they smartmedia, compact flash…) though. The reason for this, is that (perhaps) the x-ray radiation could flip a bit in the memory. Might just change the color of a pixel slightly, but might also screw up the header of a jpg (or whatever) file. Again, probably won’t happen, but it’s always a possibility. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cameras-and-airport-x-rays/94192/4 "2001-11-20T01:41:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MattyG \* > \*\*the x-ray radiation could flip a bit in the memory. \*\* Theoretically, yes. But I think it’s mostly a problem on RAM, not flash memory. If flash memory was vulnerable to X-rays, you’d think laptop manufacturers would warn you about it. (Most computers store the BIOS on flash memory - if you damage it the computer will not boot up.) If you really are worried about it, they’ll probably let you bypass the X-ray machine, but I think the risk of dropping and breaking the camera while doing it is higher. ---
**Author:** ![Moonshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Moonshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonshine)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cameras-and-airport-x-rays/94192/5 "2001-11-20T12:07:30Z")
I’ve done it a few times and there have never been any adverse effects. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cameras-and-airport-x-rays/94192/6 "2001-11-20T16:20:02Z")
I did once & it wiped the memory. You do have to put the camera through the xray machine, i saw a sign saying as such, laptops too. But I would give the memory card to one of the guards to hand check. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cameras-and-airport-x-rays/94192/7 "2001-11-20T16:36:07Z")
If RAM is more susceptible to a flipped bit than flash, I’ve passed my laptop through airport x-rays countless times, while in the “suspend” state where the memory is left active. Never had a problem. And I agree that it would be much more difficult for an x-ray to move charges out of an insulator, so changing flash would be even less likely. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cameras-and-airport-x-rays/94192/8 "2001-11-20T16:39:20Z")
I’ve sent my DC through airport X-Ray machines many times, with no problems. **handy** , yours is the first report I’ve seen of a problem, and I suspect that something other than the x-ray machine was the problem. I’ll ask on [http://www.dcresource.com](http://www.dcresource.com) and see if anyone has heard of any memory failures from x-ray machines.