Packing camera gear

Heading to WDW in April and want to ship my camera gear instead of taking it as a carry on. ; Hard telling what airport security is going to do these days and I would hate to have to check my gear. ; Any suggestions on how to pack the gear? ; Will be shipping via USPS.

 

I think i'd be more nervous shipping my gear with the postal service than I would be checking it in a hard case or suitcase.

Erich

 

How much gear are we talking here, Doc?

I know I am on the light side compared to many TMIPers, but I was able to construct a pretty good camera gear case for my stuff out of a rolling pilot's case from WalMart, and some dense furniture-grade foam rubber from a local supplier. I had the foam cut to fit snugly into the case, then cut custom slots for my gear into the foam. I am able to fit 1 SLR body, a bridge camera, 3 lenses, 2 flashes, multiple batteries, memory cards, and other small accessories, in a single case that is convenient and easy to manage, but also doesn't look anything like a camera case. It also has a slot for my laptop. I further modified the original case by adding U-bolts to the top so I could clip the shoulder strap from my Canon camera bag onto it.

Cost of the case was about $40. Cost of the foam was about $15. Cost of the U-bolts, nuts, and lock washers was about $5. Total cost of the project was about $60.

The only bad part is that since I could not get sectioned foam like Pelican cases use (unless I wanted to pay the premium for a Pelican insert), I will have to replace the foam periodically as my gear changes. I have mitigated this slightly by making several of the cut-outs basic rectangles that can accept a variety of gear, but every so often I'll have to buy another $15 worth of foam and cut it out. In fact, since I just got a new camera body with battery grip last week, I'll have to get a new piece of foam for the bag before my next trip, whenever that might be.

 

+1

no wait-

make that +10000

I would avoid the USPS at all costs. ; Priority mail flat rate boxes were my best friend but I found out the hard way how worthless and impossible to deal with their 'insurance' is to the tune of a smashed 80-200mm f2.8 last year. ; I will never EVER ship any camera equipment by post again.

 

Pelican case all the way. They have a new carryon size, too.

If you have to ship then UPS or Fed-Ex should be your only choice. Depending on where you have it delivered, you can also run into issues with insurance. Hotels are notorious for not taking responsibility for signed deliveries.

 

monitor the threads on this over on www.fredmiranda.com in the general gear and miscellaneous forums
so far only air canada, on flights to the us, has been refusing camera gear as carryons, this is a very popular site with pro photogs, many of whom have to fly to shooting locations, so there should be current threads, ie: someone just flew ireland to newark 12/28, and other than a little extra look at the gate, and a pat down, no problem with a bag of gear
i'm staying right on top of this myself, disney world, inconvenient, but i can drive it, but if camera gear becomes outlawed as carryon, i'll have to consider canceling my alaskan cruise in 2011, as i refuse to allow the tsa thieves to steal my gear, and the airlines continue to refuse to cover the replacement, my gear policy will cover it, but at the cost of a hefty premium increase because i made a claim, not to mention making a claim these days on long island, opens the door for the coverage to be refused, all the insurance companies are trying to get out of the homeowners business here, to prevent the inevitable hurricane payouts

 

I don't know if anybody follows Scott Kelby, but I was looking at this very topic yesterday and I ran across one of his older posts:http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2008/archives/2060.

Mitch

 

Thanks for all the good comments. ; Hopefully I will not have to resort to shipping the gear. ; Did not know that it was only in Canada. ; But, would not be surprised if it happens here.

 

Just found a thread about this on Flickr, Canon DSLR User Group / Discuss group. ; Does not appear to be a problem in the US now. ; But, watch out for your makeup or camera cleaning fluid!!

 

link to current thread on miranda site, last replies as of right now are about flying back from franfurt, and madrid respectively with no gear problems
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/850074

 

Y'know, I'd love to see Disney open a central shipping facility for its Guests, where you can send or receive packages by USPS, FedEx, or UPS, buy packaging and shipping supplies, have gift wrapping done (for all holidays and celebrations like birthdays and anniversaries), get the coveted Disney World postage cancellation, etc. For on-site Guests, the center could send packages to their resort just as all of the park and DTD stores do.

The center could be located either at Downtown Disney, or at the TTC, for easy access to WDW transportation.

I shoulda been an Imagineer, I tell ya.

 

I found the tread as well on flickr.

 

Excellent idea about the central shipping. ;