Suitcase with photographic equipment

[ppina]

Good afternoon

I always travel with 2 suitcases. One with diving equipment and clothing and the other with the pelican with the waterproof box for the machine and domes.

I always traveled to Asia and nothing ever disappeared.

For Egypt it is the first time. Some reports of equipment disappearing? The machines go with me in my backpack

 

[jengineer61]

I did DIY for my trips. Samsonite plastic clam shell, 13 pounds tare wt. put the gear in plastic vaccuum bags. Put eh pickable foam around it then, set it aside. Take a small cardboard box line it. Put in some expanding foam, let it set. put in a separation layer and then the gear add more expanding foam for the set. take it apart and then you have semi crushable padding. Looks like regular tourist gear. downside was I did not have a water proof kit to store it in but my kit was video gear so the camera lived in water proof housing with moisture muncher. traveled with soft bag for diving while hard-shell suitcase left land side.

 

[Christian]

I’m in the middle of the process of changing to a new (mirrorless instead of dslr, Nauticam instead of Hugyfot, wet optics instead of huge domeport) photo rig. But in theory so far, going to be put to real world testing in a month or so:
Lightweight hardcase Samsonite with dive gear and clothes (not much) and some replaceable photo equipment like arm segments, clamps, checkable AA nimh:s, standard cables, chargers … 25-30 kgs depending on airline (s). Carry on pelican Air with camera, housing, lenses, strobes, cables, computers, small macro port, wet optic… 8-9 ish. Wet lens and a lens can be moved swiftly to fanny pack (personal item) and reduce weight on carry on by 1.5 kgs.

 

[RobPNW]

I'm looking at a Pelican Air 1615 as a possible check in gear case. Is that the one you have? Weighs 14 lbs with no foam. Thinking about loading it up and stuffing part of my soft clothes inventory around it for padding.

 

[Christian]

I'm looking at a Pelican Air 1615 as a possible check in gear case. Is that the one you have? Weighs 14 lbs with no foam. Thinking about loading it up and stuffing part of my soft clothes inventory around it for padding.

1485, will need to dissemble handles.

 

[TostitoBandito]

I'm looking at a Pelican Air 1615 as a possible check in gear case. Is that the one you have? Weighs 14 lbs with no foam. Thinking about loading it up and stuffing part of my soft clothes inventory around it for padding.

I use a Pelican 1620: 1620 Protector Case | Pelican

Had it for 20 years or so and it's been checked all over the world with zero issues or damage. It's well within checked bag size limits, and I can load it with all my underwater camera housings, ports, strobes, spare batteries, cables, and spare parts boxes and it's right around 47-48 lb. With the pluck-out foam I'd be ok putting basically anything fragile in there and it's gonna be fine. It's water tight and floats as a bonus.

Or, I've also seen people use them with no foam and just pile in dive gear like BCD's, fins, regs, wetsuits, etc... I think it's overkill for that stuff, but some people like to do that.

I've heard some people say to avoid pelican cases because it makes things look expensive and like targets to steal. I haven't experienced this, and I have insurance for all my high value stuff. I also feel like I'd rather have things be easy to pack and transport and very well protected than try to secret fragile/expensive gear away in sub-optimal conditions and just hope things work out. If someone wants to steal your stuff they're gonna steal your stuff no matter what it's in.

 

[RobPNW]

I use a Pelican 1620: 1620 Protector Case | Pelican

Had it for 20 years or so and it's been checked all over the world with zero issues or damage. It's well within checked bag size limits, and I can load it with all my underwater camera housings, ports, strobes, spare batteries, cables, and spare parts boxes and it's right around 47-48 lb. With the pluck-out foam I'd be ok putting basically anything fragile in there and it's gonna be fine. It's water tight and floats as a bonus.

Or, I've also seen people use them with no foam and just pile in dive gear like BCD's, fins, regs, wetsuits, etc... I think it's overkill for that stuff, but some people like to do that.

I've heard some people say to avoid pelican cases because it makes things look expensive and like targets to steal. I haven't experienced this, and I have insurance for all my high value stuff. I also feel like I'd rather have things be easy to pack and transport and very well protected than try to secret fragile/expensive gear away in sub-optimal conditions and just hope things work out. If someone wants to steal your stuff they're gonna steal your stuff no matter what it's in.

I would be one of those people basically using it for a variety of dive gear and not a bunch of camera stuff. My regular bag is fairly tough and it's taken a few beatings and showing it wear. So I will likely be getting something new anyway, just want it to last. I would likely add a couple of the TSA latches like these:

 

[TostitoBandito]

Oh nice, I didn't know those TSA latches were a thing, those are nifty. I just have a little TSA combination lock that I loop through the metal-lined corner holes which are designed for locks.

 

[Christian]

I use a Pelican 1620: 1620 Protector Case | Pelican

Had it for 20 years or so and it's been checked all over the world with zero issues or damage. It's well within checked bag size limits, and I can load it with all my underwater camera housings, ports, strobes, spare batteries, cables, and spare parts boxes and it's right around 47-48 lb. With the pluck-out foam I'd be ok putting basically anything fragile in there and it's gonna be fine. It's water tight and floats as a bonus.

Or, I've also seen people use them with no foam and just pile in dive gear like BCD's, fins, regs, wetsuits, etc... I think it's overkill for that stuff, but some people like to do that.

I've heard some people say to avoid pelican cases because it makes things look expensive and like targets to steal. I haven't experienced this, and I have insurance for all my high value stuff. I also feel like I'd rather have things be easy to pack and transport and very well protected than try to secret fragile/expensive gear away in sub-optimal conditions and just hope things work out. If someone wants to steal your stuff they're gonna steal your stuff no matter what it's in.

$10-15’ worth of equipment in a checked case. Have you asked if the airline will cover that much? I’ve had (and dive friends have too) checked luggage being delayed / temporary lost. Dive equipment can be rented and cost for rental equipment covered by insurance/airline, but not having your camera gear for 2-3-4-5 diving days when the lost case gets re-routed …complete trip if on a liveaboard… no please.

 

[TostitoBandito]

$10-15’ worth of equipment in a checked case. Have you asked if the airline will cover that much? I’ve had (and dive friends have too) checked luggage being delayed / temporary lost. Dive equipment can be rented and cost for rental equipment covered by insurance/airline, but not having your camera gear for 2-3-4-5 diving days when the lost case gets re-routed …complete trip if on a liveaboard… no please.

Of course the airline won't cover that much. I have my own insurance on it.

There is no physical way for me to carry on all my camera gear, housings, ports, and strobes safely and within carry-on weight allotments which are extremely restrictive for overseas travel especially (often like 15lb total). I already get harassed regularly for my backpack personal item with my camera body, lenses, and laptop because it's quite heavy, probably around 20 lb. My carry-on is typically a small roller bag with all my clothes, toiletries, medicine, and whatnot. Trying to cram 20+ lb of housings/strobes in there is a no-go even if I somehow had space in the bag for it all. But most importantly I want to be able to carefully pack all those items to avoid damage, and not be forced to move things around or improvise some last minute solution at the check-in counter when someone says I need to lose 10 pounds or move weight from here to there.

If any of my checked bags get lost, which they never have, I can still do the dive trip. If I need to rent SCUBA gear I can. I may not be able to take underwater pictures, fine. Likewise if I have to file an insurance claim. I'm good with that.