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Maybe a stupid question, as I have put my Nikon 35mm film
cameras through the airport xray machines (without the film!)
without damaging the camera's electronics, but what about
digicams? Will the xrays erase the flash memory? (Think
about eproms, they erase with UV light, xrays have more
electron volts of energy here.)
Anybody have any experience here?

only if they jump on them

Arty

"Ken Scharf" <> wrote in message
news:KkuWc.13297$.. .
> Maybe a stupid question, as I have put my Nikon 35mm film
> cameras through the airport xray machines (without the film!)
> without damaging the camera's electronics, but what about
> digicams? Will the xrays erase the flash memory? (Think
> about eproms, they erase with UV light, xrays have more
> electron volts of energy here.)
> Anybody have any experience here?

On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 18:35:29 -0400, Ken Scharf
<> wrote:

>Maybe a stupid question, as I have put my Nikon 35mm film
>cameras through the airport xray machines (without the film!)
>without damaging the camera's electronics, but what about
>digicams? Will the xrays erase the flash memory? (Think
>about eproms, they erase with UV light, xrays have more
>electron volts of energy here.)
>Anybody have any experience here?

X-ray machines at the security check points will not harm digital
cameras.
Comparing X-rays to UV light is dodgy at best; comparable energy
levels do not indicate comparable effects on particular devices
because they are of different wavelengths, and thus effect things
differently.
BTW, trhis has been discussed many times; Google is your friend.

Bill Funk
Change "g" to "a"

"Big Bill" <> wrote in message news:...
....
> >digicams? Will the xrays erase the flash memory? (Think
> >about eproms, they erase with UV light, xrays have more
> >electron volts of energy here.)
> >Anybody have any experience here?
....



Remember that UV erasable EPROMs have a window in the top of
the chip to facilitate the erasure. No modern FLASH device UV
erasable. After all, all FLASH devices are EEPROMs (Electrically
Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory).


--
Dan (Woj...) dmaster at lucent dot com
----------------------------------
"Creature comfort goals
They only numb my soul and make it hard for me to see
My thoughts all seem to stray, to places far away
I need a change of scenery"

Dan Wojciechowski wrote:
> "Big Bill" <> wrote in message news:...
> ...
>
>>>digicams? Will the xrays erase the flash memory? (Think
>>>about eproms, they erase with UV light, xrays have more
>>>electron volts of energy here.)
>>>Anybody have any experience here?
>
> ...
>
>
>
> Remember that UV erasable EPROMs have a window in the top of
> the chip to facilitate the erasure. No modern FLASH device UV
> erasable. After all, all FLASH devices are EEPROMs (Electrically
> Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory).
>
>
All erasable memories use stored charge. In UV devices exposing
the chip to UV allows the charge to leak off by exciting one of
the layers with additional energy (via photons). Flash memory removes
the charge by electrical means. My fear is that
xray photons can do the same thing, and they don't need no quartz
window! The exposure level is different, it takes about 20 minutes
of UV to erase a memory chip, and the camera would be exposed to
Xrays for only a few seconds. However there is Plank's constant
here. Also realize that the cameras firmware is stored in flash
so not only would the photos be in danger (if there is any) but
it could destroy the camera!
Since no one has come forward with a story of a destroyed camera
(and enough of you must travel by plane) I would guess that
the odds of this actually happening are rather low.
(A little knowledge of physics and electronics can be dangerous
to a paranoid mind).

"Ken Scharf" <> wrote in message
news:AHvXc.28133$.. .
> Dan Wojciechowski wrote:
>> "Big Bill" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>> ...
>>
>>>>digicams? Will the xrays erase the flash memory? (Think
>>>>about eproms, they erase with UV light, xrays have more
>>>>electron volts of energy here.)
>>>>Anybody have any experience here?
>>
>> ...
>>
>>
>>
>> Remember that UV erasable EPROMs have a window in the top of
>> the chip to facilitate the erasure. No modern FLASH device UV
>> erasable. After all, all FLASH devices are EEPROMs (Electrically
>> Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory).
>>
>>
> All erasable memories use stored charge. In UV devices exposing
> the chip to UV allows the charge to leak off by exciting one of
> the layers with additional energy (via photons). Flash memory removes
> the charge by electrical means. My fear is that
> xray photons can do the same thing, and they don't need no quartz
> window!

FYI .. I came back from vacation with my CF cards in my wallet .. passed
through the X-r detection tunnel without a "scratch" ...

On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 16:09:09 -0500, "Dan Wojciechowski"
<> wrote:

>"Big Bill" <> wrote in message news:...
>...
>> >digicams? Will the xrays erase the flash memory? (Think
>> >about eproms, they erase with UV light, xrays have more
>> >electron volts of energy here.)
>> >Anybody have any experience here?
>...
>
>
>
>Remember that UV erasable EPROMs have a window in the top of
>the chip to facilitate the erasure. No modern FLASH device UV
>erasable. After all, all FLASH devices are EEPROMs (Electrically
>Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory).

Please be more careful in your attributions; I didn't write what you
say I did.
I have enough problems with what I actually say.

Bill Funk
Change "g" to "a"

"Big Bill" <> wrote in message news:...
....
> Please be more careful in your attributions; I didn't write what you
> say I did.
> I have enough problems with what I actually say.
>
> Bill Funk
> Change "g" to "a"


Whoops, sorry about that Bill. I was a little fast and loose with the old
cuttin' and pastin'.


--
Dan (Woj...) dmaster at lucent dot com
----------------------------------
"Creature comfort goals
They only numb my soul and make it hard for me to see
My thoughts all seem to stray, to places far away
I need a change of scenery"