Cameras, SD Cards and Airport Seurity

[mark-mvs]

 This may be a stupid question but I've got a "first time" situation coming up so I thought I'd ask. I'm shooting a wedding on the other side of the country later this year and so I will have to travel with my equipment by plane for the first time. Is there any danger of my camera (the HMC-150) or my SDHC cards being damaged (or erased) by running them through the carrying on baggage x-ray machine? This seems safer than having the cards in my pocket for the "wanding" because I believe the wand they use is magnetic so I figure it could damage some of the data on the SDHC cards. On the other hand, I'm hoping that the x-ray machine won't damage the cards or the camera because, while the camera will be in an ATA Flight Approved case, I want to carry it onto the plane with me!

Thoughts?
Mark

[DavidPartington]

I've travelled dozens and dozens of times with cards and never lost anything.

[mark-mvs]

Thanks for your reply David. Where were your cards? Were they:
a) in your pockets as you walked through the body scanner?
b) in your carry-on bags as they went through the x-ray machine?
or
c) in your checked baggage that was stowed in the belly of the plane?

thanks
Mark

[DavidPartington]

B) Carry on that went through X-Ray.

[mark-mvs]

Thanks for the fast response, David! That'll make me sleep better. 

Also I'm assuming that the carry-on baggage x-ray machine couldn't hurt my camera (the HMC-150) in any way, right?

Mark

[DavidPartington]

Correct.   

What most people don't realise is that X-Ray is used a lot in the electronics assembly industry to inspect hidden solder joints under BGA chips (amongst others), so running electronics through X-Ray is common.

[HankCastello]

Back when we shot with real film, we had a bit more reason to be concerned about xrays, yet even then it didn't hurt anything.