Travel case for camera and strobe

[SimonJ]

Have recently added a Sea&Sea YS25 strobe and flexible arm to my Canon S400 and u/w housing. It seems to be that I should really now buy a travel case for the gear and was hoping for some advice.

Last time I went diving, I just had the camera and housing...so just wrapped it in a towel and put it in my carry on rucsack. With the strobe as well, this does not seem like a good option.

After talking to the nice people at Ocean Optics (London), I understand that it is good practise to keep a wet and dry bag for u/w photographic gear...i.e. the camera itself should be carried and stored seperately from the housing, strobe, arm, etc.

What are my options here ?? I don't want to have to spend too much money, but on the other hand I want to keep my gear safe.

Any thoughts on what my options are, or on carry/travel cases in general would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Simon

 

[frogfish]

Best option for protecting your gear would be a Pelican case...

 

[Dee]

If you are shipping you camera gear in checked luggage a Pelican™ case, and others of that type, are the best. Be sure not to ship your camera in the housing. There has been damage even in the Pelican™ cases.

If you are taking everything as carry-on, a backpack works well. I used to take my camera gear as carry-on in a Pelican™ case but found a backpack was much easier to handle, carry, and I had room for everything. There are several photography backpacks available and one of the brands I like is Lowepro. They have padded sections you can customize to your needs. This is now my favorite way of packing my camera gear.

 

[SimonJ]

Thanks for the reply Dee. Was wondering if a soft, but padded, case was better for flying, as it is easier hand luggage. The debate I still have then is how to carry the camera on and off the boat (I tend to boat dive). Do you take your Lowepro bag on the boat with you, or do you tend to shore dive ?

I guess the one advantage of a Peli case is that I can use it to travel with as well as on and off boats....thoughts ???

Simon

 

[ssra30]

I also got a Lowepro bag for transportation on the plane.
When I am at my dive location, if I stay on land, I assemble everything at night and hand carry the assembled camera/housing/strobe without the bag onto the boat.
I think it is a hazzle to try to assemble your camera in a boat especially if it is small as you are increasing the chance of missing little hair or grain on the o-ring when you are working in a small unsteady space and may be a little rush for time as well.
For a live aboard, I keep everything in a bag until I unpack everything in my room.

 

[Dee]

When boat diving, I never carry a camera case onboard. First, there's usually barely enough room for divers, and second, I don't want to get salt and sea spray inside my case.

Like ssra, I assemble my gear the night before when I have time to pay attention to what I'm doing! I have a large fake chamois cloth (Wal-Mart auto dept.) that I wet and wrap around by housing. This keeps it cool and protected until I get in the water. If there is a large camera tank onboard, I'll place my rig there to check for bubbles. But I never leave my rig in a rinse bucket, even by itself. If I have to, I'll hold my rig the whole time but there's usually space beside me on a bench.

PS....I use the Lowepro Trim Trekker