Hard or Soft carrycase?

I'm wondering what everyone uses to carry all their equipment around in? I'm guessing it's going to be either a Pelican, or a Stormcase, or maybe a UK hardcase... I'm personally not too keen on paying excess baggage charges and tend not to carry to much unless it can be helped. Does anyone use a soft "backpack" style case?, maybe a Lowepro or similar?

I need something smallish and light so it can be taken on board as hand luggage but not too small I can't get an Olympus 5050, PT15 housing, strobe and chargers etc into...maybe a laptop at a push.

Any suggestions?

Hi Steve,

I use a large softish bag for all my nik stuff and land stuff - this never gets weighed as it looks like hand luggage, although it holds 27kg's!!

This is the TOR Vanguard and built like a BS House. I carry it onboard because insurance companies will not pay up if damaged in aircraft holds.

I gave up on Pelikans - too damn heavy and no room on live aboards.

What may be a good idea for your kit is one of the specialised laptop rucksacks... I got one in Singapore last month and it holds tonnes! The make is Targus and cost DF about £45.00 but it will last a lifetime!

Cheers, Bob

I used a Lowe Pro "Photo Trekker" backpack for two Nik V's, dual stobes, lenses, N90s body and lenses (land use), batteries and chargers, and misc. It has zipper pouches for o-rings, manuals, and other stuff. I carried it on the plane without any problems but it gets pretty heavy.

Unfortunately, after going to a housed camera, I had to check my camera stuff. Now I use a Pelican and insure the heck out of it through my homeowners. The "all risk rider" only has to cover the floodable pieces and the laptop. It is very inexpensive compared to DEPP and others and they pay you for your losses instead of reparing or replacing the items.

BTW, all your dive equipment is usually covered under your homeowners, even out of the country. I discovered this after several years of giving my money away to DEPP.

I had problems with getting an "all-risk rider" through my homeowner's insurance, so I went through DAN's new insurance program. They pay cash as well, and have coverage of the "everything, except..." sort.

thanks for all the advise guys.... I'm leaning towards a backback style I think (lighter, easier to carry plus I don't need a LOT of space) - I'll be making a trip down to the local photo shop in the near future I think to see what's on offer

the spending really needs to stop sometime soon.......

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but the spending NEVER stops.

shhhhh..... don't tell my wife that

I carry way too much stuff with me, though I'm thinking of paring it down. Since I have been taking both my digital rig *and* my film SLR rig along with me, I have to have two bags just for the cameras, strobes, housings and other stuff. At the moment, I carry all the cameras (one Olympus C-4040z and two Canon EOS A2s), SLR lenses (20-35mm, 100-400mm, 90mm macro and sometimes a 28-105mm), land flash, film and other odds and ends in a Promaster backpack. I check the housings and strobes and cords and arms, etc. in an Armor Stealth bag (medium) that I padded with "egg-crate" foam. My second checked bag is my dive bag. My clothes and wetsuits serve to pad eveything else. While I'm still much more satisfied shooting macro with my SLR, I don't think it is worth it to bring that housing along anymore. Playing with the digicam underwater is proving to be more than I can handle as it is on my dive trips. However, I still have to take the SLR body and lenses along for land use. I am pretty sure that if all my lenses were Nikon (vice Canon), I'd have switched to the S2 Pro by now. I thought od a D60 for underwater, bu I guess I'm just too stupid to use something other than TTL for macro!

Dome ports: how do you pack them?

I used to use pick & pluck foam, but my new Pelican case is larger and has padded dividers. Do you pack your dome ports in something, and then stick 'em into slots between padded dividers?

I'm also going to investigate the David Fleetham method of camera transport, which involves large coolers.

Rolling (2 wheels and handle) Igloo cooler. Use your T-shirts as dividers. Make sure to use a strap or two around the cooler to keep it closed.

This will DEFINITELY not work as carryon.

I've also heard of this referred to as the "Jim Church" pelican case...:-)

Cheers

James

I put a minimal rig in my soft backpack as a carryon. I have a wheeled dive bag with hard sides which I put more gear cushioned by my clothing and wet suit. Finally in a soft duffle I put in a smaller pelican case with more delicate gear. None of these cases look like a dive bag specifically. My 9" dome port has it's own pelican case, just barely big enough to hold it and form fitted foam cushioning. It goes in the case with the hard sides. This is the only dedicated padding I use. Everything else is padded with colthing and wetsuits. I have never had anything broken.

By seperating Items I can still function if one bag dosen't show up. Also I can keep both checked bags below 60 lbs wt. and below airline size limits. Only the carryon might be too heavy, but I have never had one challenged. I also carryon a small camera bag with my main camera and several lenses. The cases I use are light weight and add little to how much I am bringing:ph34r:

!00%!

Soft backpack.....thats the way to go. Take it with you as hand luggage. I have had too much stuff nicked/go missing from hold bags/cases.

I bought a nifty piece of kit from the UK 7dayshop.com. I managed to stuff all my camera/video/housing gear plus my laptop in it. Its also comfy on the shoulders.

LInk http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=777

My friend got one of those backpacks - £17.99 amazingly good value: Holds loadsastuff!