Exactly why is it a bad idea to travel with your camera in the housing?

Camera in housing (s&s not Ike) but always carried on in roller case. o-rings out, back and port. So far no problemos.

Let's tally up the people who do pack the camera in the housing for travel: ALL respondants have an Al housing not an Ikelite like Marv800 has. That plexy shelf. How many people pack their camera in an Ikelite housing for travel?

Bob

Right on Bob! Have only traveled with Sea & Sea and Nauticam. Way to get the post back on track.....

Let's tally up the people who do pack the camera in the housing for travel: ALL respondants have an Al housing not an Ikelite like Marv800 has. That plexy shelf. How many people pack their camera in an Ikelite housing for travel?

Bob

you may not be able to do this anymore but what if you put the camera strap on the camera and sling it around your shoulder and take it on the plane cabin with you ,maybe the rules have changes just my 2 cents worth

put the camera and lens in housing and sling it over your shoulder on a strap - 1 cent worth

i won't check it my housing.....i always pack my camera and lens in my shoulder camera bag (BagMan) which's i will use it along my trip. Camera housing, strobe, dome and port are in my ThinkTank Roller backpack and carry on with me.

The problem IMHO is not traveling with the camera in a housing, but not knowing whether it may be subject to shock treatment whilst in the housing. I've carried cameras in housings as hand luggage and checked in and have so far had no problems, but having watched luggage thrown about by handlers and dropped off the trolley trains I'm not sure I would check in a camera inside a housing again. Air travel seems to be about minimising risk versus weight these days and it is certainly getting trickier to balance where to carry what so that it all arrives intact.

I never used to travel with a camera body in my housing. But with recent tightening of airline allowances I've now taken to trying to reduce travel volume as well as weight. So I now travel with a D300 in the Subal housing. No port or lens attached and I pack bubble wrap in to pad out any space. The housing is always in my Pelican 1510 case and comes with me in the cabin.

Like Paul I'd be very wary of letting it go like that hold-loaded.

I used to have 2 camera bodies. I traveled with one camera body in the housing and one camera body w/ a GP lens attached in a shoulder bag. I do this to save space. So, I guess I use both methods.

Now, I only have 1 camera body (canon 7-D) and I will travel with it in my shoulder bag and no camera in my housing (until I get a second camera body).

TomC

As I bang my head, day after day trying to figure out how to cram all my camera gear into a viable carryon for my trip to the Maldives in 10 days, I am starting to consider all possibilities.

 

If I put my camera body in the Ikelite housing for transport, it actually saves a substantial amount of much needed space. However, everything I read says that I'm not supposed to do that, but no one seems to explain why. I dont get it. The housing is purpose-made for the camera to go inside it, so whats so bad about putting it inside for transport? Its not like the camera is loosely jostling and bouncing around inside the housing. Certainly, i'm not going to be sealing the thing up airtight since the dome port won't be installed.

 

Any thoughts?

I traveled to Tonga with my camera in the housing. While in the Fiji Airport, I placed my wheeled carry on on the x-ray conveyor belt and got in line. To my amazement, the bags at the other end began to pile up as I watched in horror as only my bag backed up and spilled on the floor from a 4 foot drop. The guy just kept piling them up!

Just be careful ...

Yesterday I saw a Canon dSLR used in a custom built, stainless steel, short, tubular housing. This is attached (bolted onto) to a towed sled for deployment off a large research vessel. It is towed so it slides and bounces over the seabed and is given a substantial amount of vibration, knocks and impacts. I've revised my opinion of the punishment that such cameras are apparently able to withstand as it works fine and takes surprisingly good (scientific) photos of the seabed.