Traveling with gear
 

I am scheduled to fly out to chicago for the day for a photo shoot at one of my companies installs. my question is how do you guys travel with your gear? I just purchased the Delsey pro 50 trolley and a padded bag for my tripod, I'm hoping not to have to check any bags as my time in chicago is limited. Are there any tid bits of info that would be useful? do i even need a bag for my tripod or can i just strap it to the side of the trolley? thanks in advance.

Everytime I have traveled with my gear, I just used my backpack case or my shoulder bag. You shouldn't have any problems using that trolley. The only thing that crosses my mind is that if you have a seprate bag for the tripod it will count as another carry-on item.

Something you could do would be....strap the tripod on, but stash the bag somewhere in the trolley (keep any tags on it, etc). If security says you can't have the tripod strapped on, just put it in the bag.

I have read places online that photo gear doesn't always count towards your 1 personal and 1 carry-on count and that you can have an extra bag for gear...but I have never needed to know, nor reasearched any further on the issue. It may be something to check on though...

Cheap Canon backpack. Inconspicuous, I bring it as my carry on, and it is on my person at allllll times. I never check camera gear if I can avoid it, and when I carry film do everything I can to avoid the scanner, especially with 400+ ISO.

That trolly looks good! Also pretty low-key and padding is good. You probably won't be allowed to bring hte tripod on outside of a bag -- if you check anything just put it in your checked bag.

Yea, I forgot to ad that. Whenever I take my tripod, I just stuff it into a large checked bag.

Like what was said...avoid checking camera gear at ALL COSTS!

I arrive at 10am and fly back at 6pm so i really don't plan on checking anything. i figure worst case the tripod and the trolley are my 2 bags. my concern is my tripod is 27" which i don't think meets the carry on standards. but i guess worst case i check the tripod in. or i could possibly pick up some cheapo smaller tripod and try to toss it into the trolley.

thanks, i'm siked but nervous at the same time.

lol get a gorilla pod

i brought my camera backpack as my carry on too and ended up buying a really cheap tripod since the one i have didnt fit in my big bag that i checked. i think i was allowed two carry ons so u could probably get away with that trolley and probably even just carry a tripod. try callin the airline and see what they say possibly

if any of you do end up checking your gear - I HIGHLY reccomend Pelican cases:

www.pelican.com

i use them for any gear that is fragile or sensitive. check out the horror stories sectoin and you will see they are very durable. they arent the cheapest, but they come in every size imagineable, have an unconditional lifetime warranty, and have several different interior options to best suit your needs.

i use them for my guns, GPS systems, and just picked up a pelican case for my new laptop.

I never carried my tripod with me on the plane, but I did carry it in a checked in bag... it arrived fine. I've traveled everywhere with my gear and I can say that most places like the US and Germany pulled me to the side and made me show every lens. Well the US wasn't as strict, but the German's would actually take off both lens caps and look through the lens, then make me take a picture with the camera/s. I hope you don't go through that, but just be ready to take apart your bag to prove its equipment only.

thats weird...ive traveled to costa rica, new zealand, and all across the US and have never been asked twice about my gear...but i have heard of this happening, and they also may do a swab check for explosive residue.

in fact, a guard in NZ complimented me on my sigma 10-20 lol

WKderF, i looked into the pelican cases, and wanted the one you were selling :( I think i will get more use out of the trolley. since i can also use it as a suitcase if i take out the inner gear caddy. But i might pick up a pelican case soon down the road since i seem to be traveling with my gear more.

cszakolczai, wow thats crazy, I only traveled to GA with my gear once, no tripod, and it wasn't to bad, i'm hoping since i'm only going to chicago it won't be a big ordeal and get pulled out to investigate my gear.

+1 on the Pelican. We ran one over with a m114 Humvee overseas (a smaller one with a radio) and it didn't even break it.

So i just got the Delsey pro 50 Trolley in today, and have been spending some time trying to arrange it, but sadly i don't think it's going to work out. I didn't have my flashes with me but it looks like once i get my flashes i will only have enough room for one more lens. Which is kind of limiting. I wanted something that would have ample room for more gear and this so far doesn't seem to be it. I also can't fit my laptop in the bag with the gear like i had imagined. which again sort of defeats the purpose of buying this bag.

I was looking at the think tank rollers but they are ridiculously expensive, nearly $400 for the size roller, and $330 for the mid sized one. the mid sized one is 4" taller than the Delsey Pro 50 i currently have. I also was looking at the pelican 1510 camera case. with the divider insert it's only $150ish. it's a few inches taller than the Delsey and one inch narrower.

So yea, if anyone is interested in the Delsey Pro 50 Trolley/Roller it might be for sale soon.

maybe i just have too much gear :(

So i returned the Delsey PRO 50, and ordered the pelican Photo Studio cruzer. it was a bit more money, but is much larger, has a custom slot for a mac book, and has the awesome un-conditional warranty. I'm siked, now i just need to wait another week :(

http://www.casesbypelican.com/Studio...r-IMG_0729.jpg
http://www.casesbypelican.com/Studio...r-IMG_0730.jpg
http://www.casesbypelican.com/Studio...r-IMG_0731.jpg

pelican photo studio cruzer

looks badass!

yea it does! my only concern is going to be the weight of it when filled up. in the demo video of it, you can here the guy strain a bit when he lifted it. haha guess thats why it's a roller.

you wont regret your purchase. I have 4 pelican cases for all of my valuable or sensitive / delicate equipment and they are indeed as tough as they advertise.

enjoy it bro - glad we could help you with your decision.

Got the case in today, I thought it would be a little larger but it's a good size. the laptop fitment isn't very snug but it is separated from the other equipment so it shouldn't pose a problem. I loose a lot of space due to the battery grip/camera combo being too tall so i have to lay them down. All things considered it's really nice, i guess i just had "the perfect" case in mind, and this isn't quite it. not that it is bad.

thanks fred, i'm very happy with this choice.

Now will you check this case or carry it on?

carry on, that was the overall goal,