Pelican Case Users

Hello All,

For those of you who use a Pelican case to "CHECK" your luggage (Rig), what model case do you use?

I have weighed (no pun intended) the options of a soft case (Think Tank) vs. Hard Case (Pelican) and carryon vs. check and I am going to check my luggage in a hard case. Now I just need to decide which model number Pelican case I shall order.

For those of you who use a Pelican case, which model do you use? Would you recommend it? Wish you had done it differently?

Thanks for all your comments thus far, I love this site!

-Hank

Hi Hank

As I think I've said before, I've been using a Pelican 1510 for 15+ years. Although I always roll it into the cabin, I know if push came to shove, I could check it and the contents should be fine.

The 1510 is, I believe, the largest dimension wise that can be cabin carried. Let's not get into the weight!

For me it holds my housing, a macro port, two Inon strobes, clamps, focus light and charger, bit and bobs. Rest goes with my dive gear, hold loaded.

One vote for the 1510!

I used to have a 1610. It worked exceptionally well (those things are bulletproof and then some) but was extremely heavy - I think 10 kg when empty. I used the foam insert but would switch to the padded inserts as they are more flexible and take up less interior space, allowing more gear inside.

However I now use a backpack since my gear is very compact (m4/3 system for macro, so no huge ports and small strobes) and I don't mind packing the arms and Stix floats in with the dive gear.

I also use the 1510 as carry on. It fits by D7000/Aquatica system, flat port, extension tube, two Ike 161s, two arms, three lenses (105, 60, 10-17) viewfinder, diopter, one Ike charger, one Nikpn charger... 42# all together!

I only check my large dome and another ike charger, and my focus lite etc.

I went hard case since I figure sooner or later, I"ll have to check it. Although the case appears smaller than 3/4 of the carry on I see now.

Stoo makes a good point on the apparent size of the 1510. They don't look "big".

Like troporobo, I use the adjustable divider set and a lid liner. Really flexible.

Oh yeah, the lid liner is indispensable with Pelican cases. What a fantastic way to organize filters, cables, spare parts, chargers, etc. I wish backpacks would adopt this arrangement.

I went with a SKB 2918 series with the cubed foam. I plucked foam so that everything except large dome, arms/clamps and such have a spot. There's no way you will carry this on, and it'll weigh over 50lbs when full (closer to 70). It has survived many trips, the gear always arrives safe and ready to go, and it doubles as a good place to store everything between dive trips although someone doesn't love that I keep it in the dining room. We don't eat in there, so it's fair game right?

http://www.skbcases.com/industrial/products/prod-detail.php?id=568#.Vv56xqQrJaQ

Hello All,

 

For those of you who use a Pelican case to "CHECK" your luggage (Rig), what model case do you use?

 

I have weighed (no pun intended) the options of a soft case (Think Tank) vs. Hard Case (Pelican) and carryon vs. check and I am going to check my luggage in a hard case. Now I just need to decide which model number Pelican case I shall order.

 

For those of you who use a Pelican case, which model do you use? Would you recommend it? Wish you had done it differently?

 

Thanks for all your comments thus far, I love this site!

 

-Hank

I've just seen a review in dpreview.com of the new, lighter Pelican cases. I thought this might be of wider interest.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/pelican-air-1535-rolling-hard-case-and-trekpak-dividers

It saves 1.5 kgs (from 5.4 to 3.9kgs) over the earlier 1510 model which, maybe, isn't a huge amount but then every little helps.

I doubt I'll be trading in my much-travelled and much-loved 1510 case but if you are in the market for this type of case, I can recommend the size as being ideal for getting a case into a plane cabin.

I don't know the model number on this Pelican case. Yes, it's a Pelican. It's capable of carrying my housing, camera body, three lenses, two dome ports, a flat port, three port extensions, strobe arms, two strobes, four strobe battery packs and miscellaneous cleaning & maintenance items.

It's carry-on size and fits in the overhead storage bin.

-Tinman

One thing I have noticed especially over this side of the world (Australia/Asia) that the carry-on limit is 7kg and is strictly enforced more so recently. So take that into consideration when buying something like a 1510 pelican for carry-on. Nice case but you can't put anything in it.

When I have alot of baggage allowance or going somewhere remote and want my gear to get there in one piece I use a Pelican 1620. Its big and heavy and adds about 10-11kg of weight just in the case alone but its bullet proof.

More so these days I fly budget airlines like Air Asia, Virgin Australia, and Jetstar. Typically you can get up to 40kg of check in and 7kg of carry on. I pack my ports/domes and housing and camera in a padded cooler bag with items bubble wrapped for extra protection and put everything else in a well packed dive bag.

Cheers Mark

I use a 1510 for my Olympus E-M1, Nauticam housing, strobes, ports etc, and carry everything on with me. While it is HEAVY, I can fit virtually everything except the camera and lenses, which I put in a small backpack that I carry on as well. I like knowing that my hands are on ALL of my photography equipment at all times. So far, I have not traveled to locations where my carry on luggage is weighed (which seems incredibly unfair to me, as I only weigh 160# and should be able to carry on more than some of my fellow passengers! ).

The 1510 fits virtually all US airline requirements for overhead bin space. It nice having the confidence that comes along with that knowledge when a pushy gate agents tries to strongarm you into checking the case.

Does anyone place their camera inside their housing for transport? I read several articles (and I believe Martin Edge agrees in his book) that recommend against this. It seems to me that it is a bunch of wasted space that is (obviously) a perfect fit for the camera. If latched into the housing properly, what harm could really come of this? I make sure to travel without my O-rings in place, so a vacuum could not be generated inside of the housing.

Would be curious to hear how many of you travel with the camera inside the housing vs outside?

David

Hi David

I've done both over the years - travelled with a camera in or not in the housing. I've never had a problem but, by preference, tend not to leave a camera in the housing.

I read somewhere years ago that the issue was one of shock. If the case containing the housing with a camera mounted inside comes to a rapid and abrupt stop - say it falls off something and hits the ground with velocity and impact - the shock will transmit through case to the housing on to the camera sitting on the mounting and it could sheer some of the fittings. It sort of makes sense to me but then I'm no engineer. I'm sure there are others who will read this that are......

But I do usually fill my housing with things like spare o-rings, tubes of silicone etc - things that are not heavy that might cause "shock" damage.

I leave my camera in the housing inside in the case. There is a port "plug" in it (which has a whole in it, so no risk of a vacuum). I carry a second body in a backpack with my dive computers etc.

Regarding the camera being "shocked" if the case is dropped, I really can't see that being an issue. The Pelicans are really tough as are the housings. I suspect the plane could fly into the side of a mountain and the only "thing" to survive would be my camera! Seriously though, some Dufus once knocked my entire system off of an elevated bridge on a boat. The thing (Camera, 2 strobes, 8" dome) hit the carpeted deck about 6' below and the only thing the happened in the dome shade came off. It was easily reattached. This is not to say that I recommend doing this, but I think these things are tougher than we think.

I seem to recall a thread on here a year or so ago about the truly "stupidest" things that we've had happen to our systems. I mentioned by "bridge drop" but I think our beloved Vis'art mentioned that he put his system on the roof of his car and then drove away. I seem to recall that the resultant tumble down the trunk of his car onto the road resulted in some damage, but more to the strobes and arms, and the car itself, than it did to the camera and housing.

 

 

 

I seem to recall a thread on here a year or so ago about the truly "stupidest" things that we've had happen to our systems. I mentioned by "bridge drop" but I think our beloved Vis'art mentioned that he put his system on the roof of his car and then drove away. I seem to recall that the resultant tumble down the trunk of his car onto the road resulted in some damage, but more to the strobes and arms, and the car itself, than it did to the camera and housing.

I bet Vis'art's pride was a tad dented too, eh?

Admittedly i have only travelled once with my rig with phillipine airlines, but i had to save money and weight so i just bought some padded partitioned camera/lense storage 'things' off ebay for about $50ausd and put them in my carry on backpack.

I have a canon 7D, nauticam housing, 2 ys-d1 strobes with arms, sola light, 100mm macro lens, 10-17mm tokina lens, and ports for both. All up i still had 11kg and the bag was max 1kg. But because it was carry on size and was just a bag, no questions were asked. I think this is a good tactic, but i guess if they wanted to weigh your bag you might have issues....

I read somewhere years ago that the issue was one of shock. If the case containing the housing with a camera mounted inside comes to a rapid and abrupt stop - say it falls off something and hits the ground with velocity and impact - the shock will transmit through case to the housing on to the camera sitting on the mounting and it could sheer some of the fittings. It sort of makes sense to me but then I'm no engineer. I'm sure there are others who will read this that are......

 

I travel with my D7000 inside an Aquatica housing inside a Pelican 1510. If that camera is damaged in that configuration, it's likely only because the pilot has driven us into the side of a mountain.

As an aside, some muppet once kicked my full rig off of the flybridge on a boat. It dropped about 7' and hit a carpetted wooden deck. I figured I was done, but all that happened was that the shade came flying off of my dome. Popped it back on and no problems at all...

Consider Pelican ProGear Elite Luggage BA22

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