Keeping M240 and lenses organized!

[jdsheepdog]

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Further on Pelican cases, and this from someone who lives on a boat (when not working in Hobart.)

 

I have found that the pull apart insert foam soaks up and holds a surprising amount of water over time, just from damp air, and in a salt air environment particularly so. For this reason I have given up on the satisfyingly neat "everything in its place" stowage and I leave the top and bottom foam in place, but protect the cameras and lenses with BIG bags or other ("Hippo's" from the supermarket) of silica gel or similar dessicant.

 

It is not as neat or as pretty, but the speed with which the "Hippo's" soak up water is a pretty good indicator of just how much gets in, and stays in.

 

I would agree with the recommendation for padded velcro as well, again in conjunction with a lot of drying agent. Also, I use E**y sheepskin bags for my lenses, excellent protection and not badly priced.

[sunil]

It doesn't say in the feature list that they are waterproof! Unless "Watertight" means waterproof.

 

Features

 

 

[*]Chemical-resistant, Corrosion-resistant, Airtight, Watertight, Dustproof, Crushproof

 

If its airtight, it must be waterproof. Can't imagine an airtight container that allows water to get through.

[tobey bilek]

This is a really nicely organized set up. One problem. Foam outgasses and will fog the insides of lenses and cameras.

 

It is the same junk that finds its way to inside of your car windows.

 

Avoid foam and leather cases except for temporary storage.

[Echo63]

Further on Pelican cases, and this from someone who lives on a boat (when not working in Hobart.)

 

I have found that the pull apart insert foam soaks up and holds a surprising amount of water over time, just from damp air, and in a salt air environment particularly so. For this reason I have given up on the satisfyingly neat "everything in its place" stowage and I leave the top and bottom foam in place, but protect the cameras and lenses with BIG bags or other ("Hippo's" from the supermarket) of silica gel or similar dessicant.

 

It is not as neat or as pretty, but the speed with which the "Hippo's" soak up water is a pretty good indicator of just how much gets in, and stays in.

 

I would agree with the recommendation for padded velcro as well, again in conjunction with a lot of drying agent. Also, I use E**y sheepskin bags for my lenses, excellent protection and not badly priced.

Ah yes, the terry pratchett definition of waterproof "it was completely sealed, of course this meant any water that got in, couldnt get out again"

[tookaphotoof]

Thanks, I'll probably go for the padded velcro.

[dante]

Second that pick n pluck foam is no good for protecting a $20K outfit. That foam lid does not have much padding at all, and the little 1cm squares do not fit anything closely enough to prevent movement.

 

May I suggest taking your setup and case to a custom upholstery shop? Many of them can use a water jet to cut closed-cell neoprene foam to exactly fit your gear. It looks fantastic, functions well, and has far less of an absorption problem than open cell poly. I would also put a dessicant cartridge in any airtight case along with a Hakuba anti-fungal package. Never hurts, no matter how dry you think the air is.

 

Also, think about a layout that lets you keep your most frequently used lens mounted (and if you use a stiff foam like neoprene, you can also use it with no lens mounted). There is something very OCD about having to take a setup apart every single time you case it, and constantly putting on/removing lenses is an excellent way to get more dust into your camera.

 

Dante

[jdsheepdog]

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May I suggest taking your setup and case to a custom upholstery shop? Many of them can use a water jet to cut closed-cell neoprene foam to exactly fit your gear. It looks fantastic, functions well, and has far less of an absorption problem than open cell poly. I would also put a dessicant cartridge in any airtight case along with a Hakuba anti-fungal package. Never hurts, no matter how dry you think the air is.

 

Dante

That is the best idea I have heard yet, I presume that in AutoCad, you could draw out the exact layout and export directly to the cutter by .dxf, just as we do in the shipyards with aluminium.

[AB007]

I have been using the ones with the padded dividers instead of the foam. It's great for travel and storage. Don't forget to get the silica gel packs.

 

I loved them and have 4 of them

[jdsheepdog]

Any idea how 'waterproof' this is? Looking for a solution where I can store my camera whenever in the kayak. Wouldn't want to drown the camera if I tip over.

 

With apologies for not mentioning this earlier, but it is critically important. Make abso-bloody-lutely certain that you have tied your paddle to the kayak. Do it anyway, but especially if you take both hands off it to pick up a camera.

 

This from someone who has made the mistake, and has had to wet exit, miles from shore, swim heavily clothed to retrieve the drifting paddle before it sank (they do when the tube fills) and swim back to the now drifting inverted kayak, and do a wet entry and rollup.

 

As I said earlier, the camera survived it all, despite my stupidity.

[Jeff S]

Also, think about a layout that lets you keep your most frequently used lens mounted (and if you use a stiff foam like neoprene, you can also use it with no lens mounted). There is something very OCD about having to take a setup apart every single time you case it, and constantly putting on/removing lenses is an excellent way to get more dust into your camera.

 

So instead one needs to be sure that every shoot starts and ends with the same lens mounted to ensure it fits in the foam? Seems OCD to me.

 

And if one adds or changes a piece of gear over time, another trip to an upholstery shop?

 

If I had a hard case, I'd just use padded, changeable dividers. But then I never saw the need for one with a light, portable M outfit; would defeat one of its key benefits.

 

To each his own.

 

Jeff

[dante]

That is the best idea I have heard yet, I presume that in AutoCad, you could draw out the exact layout and export directly to the cutter by .dxf, just as we do in the shipyards with aluminium.

 

I'm not entirely sure what the process was; when I had this done, they drew outline of the equipment on a sheet of tracing paper (and took the measurements of a Pelican 1500) and then scanned it into a computer.

 

I assume that something like Autocad was used to vectorize the shape, since they told me they could make additional copies (and configurations) at will. But the cuts for my application were generally full thickness - with a slice of the section removed put back into the hole to center the item top to bottom. They told me the opening would be "oversize," but it fit like a glove (probably because neoprene is a little grippy).

 

Of course, this was a shop that also did custom foam packaging for prototype auto parts, so it may be a lot more sophisticated than some places. It did cost $90 for the piece (materials and labor), but it worked.

 

Dante

[dante]

So instead one needs to be sure that every shoot starts and ends with the same lens mounted to ensure it fits in the foam? Seems OCD to me. And if one adds or changes a piece of gear over time, another trip to an upholstery shop? If I had a hard case, I'd just use padded, changeable dividers. But then I never saw the need for one with a light, portable M outfit; would defeat one of its key benefits.

Jeff

 

I'm not sure what the point of a hard case for an M system is, but that's the question on this thread. I have an older Pelican 1400 that I use to store lenses (storage only), and it came with a grid of padded rigid plastic dividers. The central part of the grid is about a 6x6 opening, and I can wedge an M body in with a variety of lenses attached. I have not been impressed with the Pelican soft dividers, which don't seem designed to accommodate rough handling.

 

On the foam thing, I think you're overplaying the problem. First, many M lenses are of similar diameter. But as to the one mounted to the body, if you are using sufficiently stiff foam, the fit to the body (top, back, bottom, and about the first inch of each side) will keep the camera in place; small lenses can float free (think of it like the way an everready case grabs a camera body), and you can cut for your largest lens. As to recutting the foam all the time? If you want.

 

Dante

[Echo63]

Second that pick n pluck foam is no good for protecting a $20K outfit. That foam lid does not have much padding at all, and the little 1cm squares do not fit anything closely enough to prevent movement.

 

May I suggest taking your setup and case to a custom upholstery shop? Many of them can use a water jet to cut closed-cell neoprene foam to exactly fit your gear. It looks fantastic, functions well, and has far less of an absorption problem than open cell poly. I would also put a dessicant cartridge in any airtight case along with a Hakuba anti-fungal package. Never hurts, no matter how dry you think the air is.

 

Also, think about a layout that lets you keep your most frequently used lens mounted (and if you use a stiff foam like neoprene, you can also use it with no lens mounted). There is something very OCD about having to take a setup apart every single time you case it, and constantly putting on/removing lenses is an excellent way to get more dust into your camera.

 

Dante

 

waterjet to cut closed cell foam ? thats genius !

i also know someone that has a massive water jet, might be overkill for a bit of foam though - it will happily cut 2mx4mx0.2m of whatever (stone, steel, aluminium, titanium etc)

[tookaphotoof]

With apologies for not mentioning this earlier, but it is critically important. Make abso-bloody-lutely certain that you have tied your paddle to the kayak. Do it anyway, but especially if you take both hands off it to pick up a camera.

 

This from someone who has made the mistake, and has had to wet exit, miles from shore, swim heavily clothed to retrieve the drifting paddle before it sank (they do when the tube fills) and swim back to the now drifting inverted kayak, and do a wet entry and rollup.

 

As I said earlier, the camera survived it all, despite my stupidity.

 

I've been paddling a lot with an airedale, which makes it even more important to have the paddle tied to the kayak.

I would want to add, one should never take of its life vest just for convenience.

I almost got myself killed when I was swimming back to an island nearby land when my dog decided to go back to mainland halfway. As I was trying to call her, current took me so far I knew I would miss the island and had to swim back. Glad a friend of mine picked up my boat and life vest. Lesson learned albeit the stupid way.

 

My case seems to get more expensive by the day with all those lovely suggestions of all of you. Closed cell foam + waterjet. Sounds very good...

[Jeff S]

On the foam thing, I think you're overplaying the problem. First, many M lenses are of similar diameter. But as to the one mounted to the body, if you are using sufficiently stiff foam, the fit to the body (top, back, bottom, and about the first inch of each side) will keep the camera in place; small lenses can float free (think of it like the way an everready case grabs a camera body), and you can cut for your largest lens. As to recutting the foam all the time? If you want.

 

Too funny…you're the one who recommended that the OP go to an upholstery shop and have the foam cut by water jets 'to exactly fit his gear.' Obviously, under your scenario, getting new gear would require more cutting.

 

I suggest you re-read your own post. I don't even bother with cases or foam, let alone care about making trips to upholstery shops.

 

Jeff

[jdsheepdog]

I've been paddling a lot with an airedale, which makes it even more important to have the paddle tied to the kayak.

I would want to add, one should never take of its life vest just for convenience.

I almost got myself killed when I was swimming back to an island nearby land when my dog decided to go back to mainland halfway. As I was trying to call her, current took me so far I knew I would miss the island and had to swim back. Glad a friend of mine picked up my boat and life vest. Lesson learned albeit the stupid way.

 

My case seems to get more expensive by the day with all those lovely suggestions of all of you. Closed cell foam + waterjet. Sounds very good...

 

This is almost turning into a kayaking thread , my last dog, a Border Collie, sat in the back hatch of the Feathercraft for short trips. She was pretty well behaved, except one time, when I, wearing a coat and tie and paddling across False Creek in Vancouver for a meeting, strayed in the harbour seal rescue nursery behind Granville Island.

 

The dog saw a seal and started to bark at it to warn it off. The seal thought it was an expression of love and desire and tried to climb onto the kayak. Back home in Brisbane I have (bad) photographs of the event taken by reaching over my shoulder and pressing the button on a little point and shoot.

 

It almost rolled me, and in full view of all the tourists on Granville Island, not to mention the Feathercraft plant itself. Hilarious, and nearly very expensive, camera, cell phone, dry cleaning etc etc.

[dante]

waterjet to cut closed cell foam ? thats genius !

i also know someone that has a massive water jet, might be overkill for a bit of foam though - it will happily cut 2mx4mx0.2m of whatever (stone, steel, aluminium, titanium etc)

 

These are the people I used (I didn't have an Autocad file of what I was having them cut for, so they did a trace and scan of the case and the items). I can't say that their capabilities are characteristic of most foam (let alone upholstery) shops, since they service the prototype auto component market. But the pricing was pretty reasonable.

 

Custom Cut Foam, Sofa Cushion, Cushion Replacement, Foam Mattress, Foam Packaging, Foam Cushions

 

"Our Waterjet cutting is capable of slicing any type of open cell and closed cell foam using a jet stream of water is forced through a tiny nozzle at a high pressure to perform precision cutting and piercing up to accuracies of ± .005 leaving smooth, extremely accurate edges.

 

This Waterjet services is available to any manufacture or customer that needs to protect delicate equipment, professional advertising the devices. This is the perfect environmentally friendly technology solution for nearly all cutting needs and is less expensive then laser and die cutting. No minimum order required.

 

Prototypes are always available. For more information on pricing, please email a drawling with all the sizes, type of foam and quantity for prices. To reduce the price of set up charge we will need a .dxf or .dwg file. Otherwise we can use .jpg or .pdf file too. You can also let us know what you will be using this for so that we can recommend the best type of foam for you."

 

Dante

[dante]

Jeff S, I'm not sure why the idea of cutting foam correctly is causing you such a headache. You're not talking about an SLR worth $5 at a thrift store; a $100 foam insert is less than even the sales tax on most Leica lenses you would buy. In fact, a lot of Leica UV filters cost more than that.

 

The problem presented was using a Pelican case with solid foam for lenses. As I noted, not my first choice. But once you have that as your assumption, there are better and worse ways to do it. And this is not rocket surgery, even if you wanted to anticipate future acquisitions.

 

Even with changes in gear, you would necessarily recut even custom-cut foam. Leica lenses are pretty much all cylinders. Most of them have an overall diameter close to that of the lens mount. One diameter would cover a ton of E46 lenses (24, 28, 35/1.4, 50/1.4, 75/2.5, 90/2.8, etc.), with the only real difference being how to take up the extra length (the easy answer is that since you get the neoprene cutouts back - at least I did - you could slice the thickness required to make a foam insert to make up the gap). I don't know that the situation would be much different among E60 lenses, although there are far fewer of them (and their main body diameters, like the 21 Elmarit, are sometimes a little funky). But even then, with a minimum of foresight, you could avoid many types of re-does. There are practical limits to how much flexibility you can build in and still get structural integrity, but with a 1500 case (which is not small), you could just add more openings to anticipate future GAS.

 

Dante

[Jeff S]

Jeff S, I'm not sure why the idea of cutting foam correctly is causing you such a headache.

 

 

Headache? I've hardly given it a thought. But clearly you have.

 

Carry on.

 

Jeff

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[Edward Louis Marit]

I am entirely satisfied with my 3 pelican 1600 cases with the padded divider inserts. I store and have stored all my ( Hasselblad and Leica) gear for years with silica gel packs and never had a problem. When I go out on a shoot I select bodies and lenses from the pelican and put them in a discrete messenger type camera bag that doesn't scream "expensive cameras".

The only time I actually haul the pelicans around is if I am using my Hasselblad gear. For the leicas it's just a storage box. And I even ( gasp) keep the lenses in the leather bags that they came in. In 25 years of storing camera gear this way I have never had a problem with fungus, or mold.