Best camera bag/case for M8 that I can take onto airplane.

[eleskin]

This is the equipment that I would take with me:

2 M8's
28mm Elmarit m
35mm Summicron
40mm Nokton
50mm Summicron
50mm Noctilux
90mm Tele Elmarit
135 Elmarit with goggles
280 Telyt (Visoflex Lens)
Visoflex 2
Visoflex 3 with Prism
Visoflex focus mount for 135mm Elmarit
Charger for M8
4 M8 batteries
2 Card readers with cables.
10 memory cards, 4gig each.
Lens cleaning supplies
Manfroto monopod

I have a King Pelican case, but I fear that the Airlines will not let me take it into the passenger cabin due to its size.
My bet is for a softer bag alternative with compartments that is also rugged and offers excellent protection for my stuff.

What is the best quality for the money?

 

[eleskin]

One thing that came to my mind. I could get a smaller Pelican case that can fit on the overhead luggage compartment. I could have the lenses , cameras and stuff in individual cases so they do not touch each other inside the Pelican case. The Pelican, as far as I am aware, would give the most superior protection of anything I could buy. The softer cases inside the Pelican would be what I would use to transport my camera/Lens combinations, depending on the shooting situation.

Any thoughts?

 

[back alley]

what will you be shooting and where? i ask because it seems like so much gear to haul and is it worth it or needed?

you must be much younger than i or in better shape 😉

 

[HMFriedman]

what will you be shooting and where? i ask because it seems like so much gear to haul and is it worth it or needed?

you must be much younger than i or in better shape 😉

Take a look at the Paris and Italy portfolios by Craig Sterling. They were captured almost exclusively with one Holga (plus a back-up), a tripod and cable release. I met Craig and saw the work at his gallery in Alexandria, Va and was blown away.

 

[eleskin]

Well, I would say everything I listed I need. Most of my shooting is done with either a 35mm Summicron, 28 Elmarit (good street lens), and 50mm Summicron. On occasion, the telephoto is of great use to me, and my 90mm Tele Elmarit has gotten me some wonderful pics (especially portraits and detail shots of the tops of blast furnaces, and the like. The Noct is my favorite night lens / mood enhancer. Cannot leave that home. !35mm Tele Elmarit and 280mm Telyt, good for some close ups, especially from high rise buildings. I have traveled the world (Middle East ,Egypt, Israel, Gaza, West Bank, Russia, Portugal, Spain to name a few). What I usually do is take an assortment like this, and pick and choose what I need for a given situation. I used to travel with 500+ rolls of film, 2 leica M's, 28mm Elmarit, 35mm Summicron, 90mm Summicron, Pentax 645N, and Fuji GSW 690. Now it will be only my M8 system (no more big bricks of film and airport x-ray hassles) and everything I listed when I started the thread. Right now, this is just a trip to the east coast of Florida, but Portugal is coming up soon.

 

[eleskin]

I forgot to mention I love to use a beat up canvas army butt pack bag for street shooting. Ugly as hell, but great. I would leave 80% of my stuff where I am staying and travel with a much smaller package.

 

[35mmdelux]

http://www.craigsterling.com/gallery.html?gallery=Paris

get a Louie Vitton bag.

 

[eleskin]

Pelican 1510

Pelican 1510

The Pelican 1510 looks very attractive for my needs. I have a larger
pelican case for my light heads and power pack, and it has been thrown around worse than that gorilla commercial from the 1970's (American Tourister?) and is like the day I bought it.

Anyone here have the Pelican 1510?

 

[Chuck Albertson]

The Pelican 1510 looks very attractive for my needs. I have a larger
pelican case for my light heads and power pack, and it has been thrown around worse than that gorilla commercial from the 1970's (American Tourister?) and is like the day I bought it.

Anyone here have the Pelican 1510?

I have one, and it's held up well (three years). Even though I hate roll-aboards, needs must on occasion. Instead of one of the Pelican inserts, I got a Think Tank Airport Ultralight backpack that will squeeze into an empty 1510:

http://www.thinktankphoto.com/ttp_product_ArprtUltrlght.php

Some commuter lines have balked at the size of the 1510 (smaller overhead bins), and when that has happened, I pull the Ultralight out and carry it on board, gate-check the 1510. It might hold all your gear.

 

[LeicaMSeattle]

LowePro Roller II should be able to hold it all, it does for me when I have to fly to assignments. It has moveable dividers so I can pack (2)DSLRs, a 400mmf2.8, 300mm f2.8,
24mm f2.8. Monopod and tripods travel in a Manfrotto padded tripod sling bag that gets checked. My Leica gear is in a Tom Bihn Buzz sling bag, one body and three lenses at the most as well as my laptop. Proroller goes in the overhead and the Leica stuff is down with me.

 

[geesbert]

1510

1510

All my camera gear lives in peli 1510, they are fantastic. I have been flying with them many times, and never had to discuss it with the crew, although it weighs sometimes more than 20kg. but as you can tow it very easily even when fully loaded you never have to show how heavy it is until you reached you seat in the airplane. make shure no flight attendant is watching you moan when you lift that thing up to the head compartment.

you can stand on it, it is water proof (lass week someone spilled a double latte over it while i had tucked it under a bar while shooting. rinsed it it the drain whith tll the equipment in it, wiped it and it was fine. smells now much nicer than before.

it fits a lot: two big canons, two flashes, up to 5 lenses including the 70-200, a macbook pro, charger and many bits an pieces

the handles are really tough, get a cable lock for it, so it takes 5 minutes longer to steal it.

get the mesh insert for it, that really helps.


I have only two niggles:
the wheels are too hard, they make a lot of noise, I haven't yet been successfull in exchanging them for softer inline skater wheels and the pull handle is not as comfortable to hold as the main handle. but still, they are great.

 

[geesbert]

I am not a big fan of the pro roller. I have one for a small flash outfit. the zippers are not of best quality, the lock lugs broke immediately and i had one of the zippers go bad within a few months. and all the bits dangeling on the outside are useless. and you can't sit or stand on them, which I use more often than i thought I would.

 

[eleskin]

Chuck,

I just bought the Think Tank model you have, and will buy the Pelican later as my budget is tight at the moment. I like your idea of putting this backpack in your Pelican Case. A big thing for me was not only having space for the stuff mentioned above, but that this thing has a compartment for my Apple Powerbook G4 (15"). I already have a soft case for the Powerbook, so it should just slide in. Just placing all this inside a Pelican is too goo to resist. Thanks to everyone for the great information! Helped me very much!!!!

 

[Chuck Albertson]

Chuck,

I just bought the Think Tank model you have, and will buy the Pelican later as my budget is tight at the moment. I like your idea of putting this backpack in your Pelican Case. A big thing for me was not only having space for the stuff mentioned above, but that this thing has a compartment for my Apple Powerbook G4 (15"). I already have a soft case for the Powerbook, so it should just slide in. Just placing all this inside a Pelican is too goo to resist. Thanks to everyone for the great information! Helped me very much!!!!

The Ultralight will *not* fit in a Pelican 1510 if you have a laptop in the Ultralight's sleeve--at least, Think Tank's product literature says that. If I'm taking my Thinkpad along on a trip, it goes in a separate bag.

 

[Ben Z]

I have a Pelican-style case but I can't see travelling with it unless I was expecting to be river-rafting or going through a monsoon. It's just so heavy and the hard-shell transfers airplane vibration to the inside. I've traveled for years with one or another Lowepro backpack. One time getting off a shuttle bus someone pushed it out of the seat and it fell about 5 feet onto concrete and nothing inside was damaged. Another time it fell out of the overhead bin and onto the aisle floor. A few times cabbies tossed it hard into the trunk of a taxi and then threw other luggage on it. No damage to contents, ever. BTW you mention taking 2 card readers, but only one charger. I carry an Ansmann universal charger that acts as a backup for all my others, in case a dedicated charger conks out.

 

[aizan]

gura gear kiboko seems to be the best airplane carry-on bag.

 

[Jim Evidon]

Billingham Hadley Pro. Well padded, flexible and holds two bodies, a bunch of lenses, a charger and even a flash if you are so inclined. Also reasonably light weight.

 

[KM-25]

Wow, that is a hilarious amount of gear, LOL!

There is no way I would take that much Leica gear on a plane...I don't even own that much Leica gear, and I shoot for a living.

This is the equipment that I would take with me:

2 M8's
28mm Elmarit m
35mm Summicron
40mm Nokton
50mm Summicron
50mm Noctilux
90mm Tele Elmarit
135 Elmarit with goggles
280 Telyt (Visoflex Lens)
Visoflex 2
Visoflex 3 with Prism
Visoflex focus mount for 135mm Elmarit
Charger for M8
4 M8 batteries
2 Card readers with cables.
10 memory cards, 4gig each.
Lens cleaning supplies
Manfroto monopod

I have a King Pelican case, but I fear that the Airlines will not let me take it into the passenger cabin due to its size.
My bet is for a softer bag alternative with compartments that is also rugged and offers excellent protection for my stuff.

What is the best quality for the money?

 

[Tom Niblick]

This is the equipment that I would take with me:

2 M8's
28mm Elmarit m
35mm Summicron
40mm Nokton
50mm Summicron
50mm Noctilux
90mm Tele Elmarit
135 Elmarit with goggles
280 Telyt (Visoflex Lens)
Visoflex 2
Visoflex 3 with Prism
Visoflex focus mount for 135mm Elmarit
Charger for M8
4 M8 batteries
2 Card readers with cables.
10 memory cards, 4gig each.
Lens cleaning supplies
Manfroto monopod

I have a King Pelican case, but I fear that the Airlines will not let me take it into the passenger cabin due to its size.
My bet is for a softer bag alternative with compartments that is also rugged and offers excellent protection for my stuff.

What is the best quality for the money?

Everything you have will fit into an older style LowePro Omni Pro bag which fits into a 1450 Pelican. This is not the same as the Omni Sport which is smaller.
When loaded with a M8, M4, 5 lenses, charger, etc plus D2x w/2 lenses, and a laptop, its jammed full and weighs a ton but still fits in the overhead.
Personally, I like to just take a M8 and 3 lenses, 3 batteries and a bunch of cards in a Domkie F5XA, and then toss that bag in my old leather carry-on or backpack. The older I get, the lighter I like to travel.

Tom

 

[Isca]

Wow, that is a hilarious amount of gear, LOL!

There is no way I would take that much Leica gear on a plane...I don't even own that much Leica gear, and I shoot for a living.

I'm not sure that I follow the logic that as a professional photographer you should have more gear or you should carry more gear than those of us who don't?