HARD TRAVEL CASE

[rachel_stephens1]

Hi!

 

I am starting to do some travel and need to buy a hard case for my two strobe

heads, stands, two reflectors, reflector stand, snoot and barn doors and I have

no idea what to buy. What is the best choice for airline flight travel?

 

Thanks!

 

Rachel Stephens

www.rachelstephensphotography.com

[nathan_stiles]

Do a search for Pelican and Lightware and you can find previous discussions on this.

[ellis_vener_photography]

Lightware, Lightware, Lightware.

[t_heuston]

I love Tenba Air Cases. Pelicans are great, but on the heavy side. I've never used Lightware.

[mark_schafer1]

I use Tenba, every rental outfit in NY or LA ships their stuff in these cases. I still have a large

Lightware case, the weels came appart and after only 5 years of light use i had to pay 20% of

the price to get it fixed. Tenba has a lifetime gurantee. Otherwise i like Pelican, cheap cases,

relatively heavy and if you don't have dust or moisture issues i would stick with Tenba.

Otherwise consider regular rolling luggage, cheaper, doesn't look special and stick the

flashheads in a padded pouch.

cheers

M

[ellis_vener_photography]

"every rental outfit in NY or LA ships their stuff in these cases. "

 

Part of the likely reason is that they got very good deals on it from the distributor

[paul h]

Have a look at Underwater Kinetics http://www.uwkinetics.com/home.php

Their cases are similar to Pelican but lighter plastic, tougher than Pelican, they are taken to the Oil Fields here in Alberta, Canada, so they get banged about a lot. I visited their showroom recently and was impressed by the quality and range, you can get different 'foams/ padding' for the inside.

 

They also carry a line of cases made in Italy which are also very good too.

 

Both brands are cheaper than Pelican, I priced one at $200.00 Canadian and the equivalent Pelican was just over $300.00 Canadian. Well worth looking at.

 

Paul

[paul h]

Forgot to mention, unfortunately they don't make or carry anything suitable for stands. Long and thin, you know.

 

Paul

[primeimages]

I'd go with the Pelican hard case if my equipment will be checked-in.

 

http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/780

[matthew_shaw]

I fly a lot & it's a constant battle between protecting my gear & weight. At the moment, lights, stands & tripod go in to a hard shell suitcase (biggest wheeled Samsonite in my case- it's a monster that can crush a small child if ever it falls over...). Heads are in a soft Lightware case and stands just fit if I take out the centre pole. Cameras & laptop go wiht me in a Lowe Pro Omni- a soft case which fits into dust proof hard outercase.

 

On location, I take out the soft camera case & use the hard shell for the reflectors, cables, gels etc. The heads & stands have their soft cases and my cameras are in their soft case.

 

I do get stopped at security though- that x-ray of the flash heads with coils of cable does it every time...

 

Matthew

 

www.matthewshaw.co.uk

[tobiasfeltus]

go over to Calumet: they have their own Pelican cases, with their logo on them, and they

appear to be cheaper for the same bullet/bomb/water/greasy-finger proof cases.

 

t

[mark_schafer1]

As for Tenba cases and the Rental comunity, if a Rental place buys a set of flashes (say 20-40

packs, 60 heads some other random stuff), i expect the dealler to throw in a couple of cases.

But for the most time people keep replacing a couple of packs a year and have to replace

cases every couple of years, maybe they get a discount for the quantities, but still, if i rent

anywhere in NY or LA everything comes in Tenba cases. Why, they want their stuff back in

one piece, i don't want to go on about miles flown with unlocked cases but they work. A

photographer friend of mine, whom i used to work for, flies with about 20 cases photo and

10 cases digital equipment (all in Tenba) on a weekly bases and rarely something is broken

or missing. best Mark