[roteague]

Just curious, why do you think that the lead bags are a waste of money?

Could be because they don't work. Lead bags are useless against luggage scanners, and may set off a signal for the hand-carried x-ray, requiring a hand-search. Why not just ask for a hand-search in the first place? FWIW, one of the advantages I see of a hand-search is that your camera equipment is being watched and handled by the security people, you need not worry about it being out of your sight.