How to pad carryon gear for housing, strobes and camera in bag

[Ben Prusinski]

I want to pad the inside of my carryon luggage bag so that my underwater housing, viewfinder and strobes do not move around and break. Is there a product that I can insert into a carryon bag to do this? Thanks!

 

[a_squeakycat]

Hi, I've got a plastic box which will drop into either my backpack or a roller bag. My first trip using this packing method is coming up in about 2 weeks so I'm hoping this will work. I plan on putting my housing, port and strobe in the box using t-shirts, socks, swimsuit, etc.. to separate each piece just so they won't bump into each other and cause scratches. google reallyusefulbox, I got mine at a local Staples but other office supply stores should have them or something similar. The box will keep everything together and give some structure to it all. my setup is a Nauticam NEX-7 housing w/the flat port for the 18-55 kit lens and a sea & sea YS-27 strobe. I've got the 8.1 liter size box. It looks like there will also be enough room for zoom gear and dive computer as well

 

[Ben Prusinski]

I just checked and camera shops sell padded Velcro divider inserts that may work and cheaper option than to spend $300 on a roller camera bag.

 

[a_squeakycat]

Yes, I forgot to mention Pelican and others that make hard cases do sell padded dividers as an alternative to the cubed foam stuff. the roller bag I have is not a photo roller bag it's just a plain old roller I got on sale at Academy Sports for about $20. And my backpack is also not a photo backpack just a regualar backpack that is large enough to hold the plastic box. It is a quandry on what to get to protect one's investment in camera gear, been there, done that :blinking:

Happy shopping !

 

[Larry C]

Socks and underwear make great padding for your camera gear in a standard carry-on case. I never check camera gear or let it out of my sight, except in the overhead compartment.

 

[JamesK]

I usually get some bubble wrap and wrap everything. Then I place it In the bag between clothes like stated above.

 

[Ben Prusinski]

Great tips guys! I will buy some dividers at the local camera shop and use padding to protect my gear in the carryon.

 

[muzikbiz22]

Socks and underwear make great padding for your camera gear in a standard carry-on case. I never check camera gear or let it out of my sight, except in the overhead compartment.

Larry C has said this before on another similar thread , and I'm going to " +1" him again. + 1 for socks, undies AND "raise you" some T-Shirts thrown in for good measure. Housing, dome, lens, etc., in an inexpensive carry on and all the "above listed padding" gets me to my destination every time.

 

[Kilili]

First, put the camera in the housing, then, some kind of cover for the port. The housing itself doesn't need much protection. Strobes are pretty sturdy, but diffusers break easily so they need o be protected. As mentioned, clothing makes for cheap padding, as you already have it. I use a semi-rigid roll-on, and precious little of the content is dedicated to padding. Not a cheap setup, more like $20k of gear. It isn't like the gorillas are going to handle it, or you're going to toss it 30 ft.

 

[diversteve]

Pelican Replacement Foam
Hard & Watertight Case Accessories | B&H Photo Video

You can also buy Pelican replacement foam. Some of the larger sizes aren't cheap.
For reference a model 1500 is about the biggest case you can carry on IIRC.

I sometimes see it on eBay also.