Is this gear safely packed?

One thing I did was go Pelicase - but go bright.

Went for the Paramedic Orange colour, if that gets stolen it’s gonna be very visible!

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I gather you guys are talking about packing the gear in a case like shown in the attached, is that right (and inside some sort of protection within the shown cases)?

Keep in mind, my tentative conclusion is that I am going to check housing, ports and bits and pieces and not even attempt to carry them on the plane, although I will continue to carry camera lenses, dive computer, perhaps the 45 degree viewfinder, etc. The idea would be that cases such as in the photos would be less likely to attract thieves.

Hard cases are useless the way luggage handling works all of them will break except military grade. I use soft shell and then the stuff inside is wrapped in padding. Unless things get caught in belts and rip there is no need for hard shells. The nauticam small bags for housing are great to enclose in checkin they have thick polystyrene almost creating a hard shell so packing a housing without camera is not an issue. More challenging are ports that do not come with cases. I think strobes and lights ports and lenses are better in carry on the rest of hardware can check in easily

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Hmmm. I am not sure I can see may way to packing thousands of dollars of gear in a soft-sided case knowing the extent to which checked bags are dropped, thrown, stacked and crushed. I would think a polycarbonate suitcase would be the way to go.

Hmmm. I am not sure I can see may way to packing thousands of dollars of gear in a soft-sided case knowing the extent to which checked bags are dropped, thrown, stacked and crushed. I would think a polycarbonate suitcase would be the way to go.

If you have padding inside it is not a problem majority of luggage hard shell is not impact resistant so it will crack. I have never had yet any item damaged so far and never used a hard shell

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Interesting topic - I believe I have the same Thinktank bag. And I even made a Facebook album about packing it on my last trip, in March. D850, Nauticam housing, dual YS-D1 strobes, Kraken focus light, etc. I use a bunch of bubble

wrap and a Neoprene hood to pad things, mostly. I also have a color check card in the outer pocket that provides a bit of protection.

First comment - I have to remove the upper two ball joints to make this fit. The D810 housing was even a bit worse as it is slightly taller. I use a ziplock bag to carry a small pliers to remove the ball joint and hold the removed joints, plus a second smaller ziplock to hold the 4 plastic washers at the bottom of the joints. I also carry a quarter or a small screwdriver to help mount the camera to its tray. I don't remove the lower two ball joints or the handles. I do tuck things in around the handles, like the vacuum pump and parts of strobe arms.

About half the space is taken up with a 230mm dome port, and the other half with the housing plus lots of bits.

This is supposed to be a link to my packing album. https://www.facebook.com/craig.johnson.9887117/media_set?set=a.10213978886493409&type=1

This is the bag I use

https://www.mares.com/shop/en-IC/diving/accessories/bags/cruise-backpack-roller.html

On the side fins on the back it has padding as it is a backpack on the bottom a hard plate with wheels and in the front two pockets you put clothes in

The only part that remains slightly exposed is the top a bit of soft items and you are good to do never had issues

I used the nauticam bag though that is heavy duty

https://www.nauticam.com/collections/mirrorless-housing-accessories/products/padded-travel-bag-for-mil-housings-w-handles

Also packed the wwl-1 in its bag always a last resort typically when I have less hand luggage

Hard shell cases weigh too much...

So I work in PNG (in a non-diving capacity, unfortunately) with commercial logistics by air and sea. Part of the issue with air cargo and luggage is that PNG very much treats the planes like a flying bus service. This means that if your domestic flight is making a stop, that stop may involve picking up extra passengers. The airline will load those passengers and if necessary they will unload the freight to do so. They will then attempt to load the freight on a later flight. However, there is limited to no secure cargo storage at most domestic airports so the gear just sits in a pile. The offloading will be fairly random - whatever is closest to the weight requirements that they need to remove, with no tracking by piece or scanning of tags.

Personally I carry everything needed to make (some) photos hand luggage on the way to the dive destination, and have insurance that covers losses from checked luggage on the way home. I carry my housing fully assembled with camera, lens and dome inside in a soft sided Osprey backpack that fits in the overhead on a 737 and ATR-42 or ATR-72. Strobes detached but packed underneath in the same bag. Only problems I have had in ten years is a hand search guy at KL who thought the bag was too heavy (airline didn't care) and an X-ray security guy at Sydney domestic who thought the housing was dangerous as a bludgeoning weapon. In both cases I was able to board with the camera.

Check the regs and the rest of the dive gear - at least you can hire that at your destination if you have to.

Oh yeah, and I've also used a plastic tub for checking in dive gear when travelling. They're a bugger to carry to or through an airport in your arms and you definitely need a trolley. Also no internal padding so fragile things need to be wrapped in soft things. But...only weighs 1.8kg with lid, easy to spot on the belt, very hard for baggage services to destroy, exactly the maximum luggage dimensions for most international airlines, handy for storing muddy gear on the boat/in your room depending on destination. My rEvo micro rode Oz to France and back a couple times, and my dive gear internationally and domestically repeatedly in one of these:

https://www.equip2go.com.au/68l-plastic-crate-stack-and-nest-645-x-413-x-397mm-ih078

+1 for the ThinkTank.

I use the international version for housing (D810) with the 1"balls attached facing forward. 2x YS-D1, 1x YS 90, SMC converters, viewfinder, batteries (packed in plastic boxes), tools and some battery chargers. Ports, Dome, arms etc go in the dive bag which is a Scubapro Atlas. I use bubblewrap, wetsuit and clothes for protection. ThinkTank and Atlas go as checked luggage. Cameras and lenses are in a Mindshift backpack that I carry on board.

Seeing what precious cargo you have there I would make sure to bring it on a plane in as a carry-on. My last trip I used heavily padded ice cooler bag I bough from Target, called Square Welded Cooler Grey - Embark. I carried it on a plane with me and also when I was transporting my underwater housing with camera before and after diving. It kept my gear impact free and cool while in the hot car. I loved this set-up. This set-up worked with my Ikelite/Sony a7riii set up + 1 Sea n See strobe. If I had 2 strobes, however, it would not fit into the bag. Here is the link to this bag: https://www.target.com/p/square-welded-cooler-grey-embark-153/-/A-53209674?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&fndsrc=tgtao&CPNG=PLA_Patio%2BGarden%2BShopping&adgroup=SC_Patio%2BGarden&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=c&location=9021715&ds_rl=1246978&ds_rl=1247068&ds_rl=1246978&gclid=CjwKCAjwuqfoBRAEEiwAZErCsmPxirqDY8VZ705q7lzzJbq-CUuDs1xhD6CYOPNzmvhIMfVIWWYsKxoCj74QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

So far my wife and me were using Lowepro camera rucksack plus camerabag each, for all gear including housing and domeports. Certainly safe, since we have the control how the bag is handled - no dropping or other shock as can occur with check-in lugagge. We always exceeded the weight limit for cabine lugagge, however, but no problems so far..

Instigated by Interceptor's post and after asking back at Nauticam's Ryan Canon, who confirmed that the bag is clearly intended to carry the housing in check-in lugagge, I just now ordered two Nauticam camera bags: https://www.nauticam.com/collections/mirrorless-housing-accessories/products/padded-travel-bag-for-mil-housings-w-handles

Next dive trip (2nd August) to Zakynthos, the two housings and one 140mm minidome (that also has such a bag, unfortunately the other domes (45 N85 planport and Zen DP170-N120) do not have such bags) will be in the check-in lugagge. I will report how it worked...

Wolfgang

I just want to update my post on the Nauticam camera bags and report on the first practical experience (https://www.nauticam.com/collections/mirrorless-housing-accessories/products/padded-travel-bag-for-mil-housings-w-handles)

My wife and me have been in Zakynthos with two camera housings (NA-EM5II and NA-EM1II) plus the Nauticam 140mm minidome (that comes with a case intended for check-in lugagge). All three cases were carefully packed in the center of our hard-shell suitcases (e.g.: enrolled in the BCD west; additionally they were internaly stuffed with T-shirts and pants). Not the least problem occured. It is just the weight that helps to keep the camera rucksacks for cabin lugagge within airline regulations (8kg in our case) and prevents overcrowding of them.

In the future we will always transport the housings and the 140mm minidome in our suitcases...

Wolfgang

As I mentioned no issue packing the nauticam housing bag

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On 6/9/2019 at 6:06 PM, DocTock said:

The question I ask myself when I pack carry-on vs checked is "what is the minimum I need for this trip"?

This usually leads me to put: camera, batteries, strobes, macro glass, WA glass, macro port in a ThinkTank backpack (no wheels!) and my housing, octo, dive computer, and a dive skin in a tiny roller. All this gets carried into the plane with me.

Everything else (including big dome, arms, snoot, clothes, fins, dive gear etc) goes in checked bags.

 

This way, if my checked bags never make it to whatever destination I'll be able to have a trip.

It'll be spare and I'll depend on the kindness of strangers for arms and charger space, and I'll need to rent all the dive stuff minus my octo, but I'll not have a total "loss".

This is exactly how I travel! 

Usually where I go I can rent scuba gear, but there is no replacement for my camera. 

I pack the d500+housing, 2x strobes, mini dome(or mini macro, depending on trip focus), two small arms, 4 clamps, camera charger, fiber optics, dive computer and my lenses. This way if it all goes south, I can still dive with a camera.

Not the perfect setup but better than wasting a trip.