travel hard case recommendations?

[ErikCaso]

hello. i need to get a hard case to hold some gear while flying around. specifically it will need to hold about 3 bodies and half dozen lenses or so. price is a big issue here, as i only have *around* $100 to spend.

does anyone have any recommendation for cases and vendors to look at? any help is much appreciated.

[GaryMcNeilly]

With the kind of money you have invested in equipment, don't skimp on cases. You need the equipment to work when you get to your job. I use pelican cases when I travel, they are beat up on the outside but they've always protected the stuff inside.

http://www.all-pelican-cases-4-less.com/index.html

[Brian_Hamfeldt]

I second the recommendation of not to skimp. No need to spend only $100 to protect $20,000.

I too use Pelicans to tote my gear - 3 bodies, 7 lenses, batteries and chargers for all. I use a 1650 (PnP foam) with lid organizer. I have all my gear in it and can trust anybody else handling it because of the foam inside protecting all that glass. It has a nice flip out handle that makes it easy to roll around, padlock slots which you can use even with airlines - as long as they check it through security first. It will probably cost you an extra $25 to take it along - but again, its worth it to know that it will work on the other end of the trip!

I found that B&H seemed to have the best price after shipping.

Good luck...
Brian.

[Yance_Marti]

I bought a well-used Pelican case a few years ago on Ebay. Even used they stand up very well, if you want to save a few bucks get a used one.

[Robert_Millard]

I had an assignment in Belgum a couple of years ago and had to do just what you are doing now. My solution was to but a $30.00 footlocker from Target and line it with some foam. I cut up a couple of foam exercise mats and used spray adheasive to glue the foam to all of the interior of the foot locker. It turns out that the footlocker is exactly the maximum size of check-on lugage. I kept my cameras in my Temba 795 case which has a lot of foam in it. This Temba case and all my other gear, tripod, monopod, film, chargers, etc. went into the padded footlocker. When I got to Belgum my gear was fine. I just took it out of the footlocker and went to work.

Robert Millard

[JackBingham]

First I would adjust your budget upwards by about a factor of 3 or 4. You are protecting your most valuable stuff here. Second I would go with a soft outer case with a hard core. That way most of the shock will be adsorbed by the outer padding and not be transmitted to the stuff inside. Third I would plan on carrying this stuff on the plane. Now that they are allowed to search everything and cases cannot be locked, your cameras will be at risk. I would look at a Lightware rolling case. It's painless to get around with and it just fits in the overhead. It is well padded on the outside and has a bomb proof inner shell, then surrounded on the inside by another layer of padding. I have had my strobes in Lightware cases for about 15 years and I fly alot. I am just now beginning to replace them with new cases, and I have never had any equipment damaged. The moral here is don't skimp on cases. Good ones will pay for themselves over and over again.