Hard case for 10-12 lenses and dividers?

[John C. Chu]

Any recommendations for a Pelican or Pelican type hard case with either foam cut outs or dividers for 10 - 12 Nikon camera lenses? [I'm lousy at cutting foam, so pre cut outs would be cool.]

I don't want it to be huge, but enough to securely store only the lenses.

Affordable is a plus!

Thanks!

[Kevin McRoberts]

I have about the same number (well, fewer - 9, but three are long bazooka lenses) in a Pelican 1525 padded divider set

[Sam Mallery]

I would go for a Pelican 1510 with dividers:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/330237-REG/Pelican_1510_004_110_1514_Carry_On_1510.html
It fits into the overhead compartment on an airplane, so you can carry it on. However, if the airport security force you to check it for whatever reason, your gear will survive the trip.

[Charles Papert]

Getting custom foam work done is not outrageous--twelve cutouts for lenses should run around $125-150. Against the value of the lenses, it's a solid investment. I can point you to numerous in LA but that won't help. There are certainly a few case manufacturers in NYC.

Bear in mind that foaming always requires more room i.e. a larger case than dividers, but provide maximum protection.

[Allan Black]

If you're intending to buy a Pelican 1510 mainly as a carry-on, check it's loaded weight and your airline limits first. Mine is over the local limits.

The coloured ones seem to attract unwanted attention sooner, go gray or black.

Cheers.

[Jim Andrada]

I think I'd second the use of dividers rather than foam. We manufacture precision mechanisms and when we drop tested fully foamed packaging and dropped the box on the corner the foam transmitted enough impact force to the contents to bend fairly thick stainless steel sheet material.

When we cut back all the corners of the foam so there was a slight air space between the foam and the case we had no more issues with product damage.

[Charles Papert]

I'm no expert but my vision of a drop test with dividers is that the objects (in this case lenses) will slam against the divider, which transmits the force to the next lens and so on down the line--seems like a lot more opportunity for mischief with the objects that much more free too move around, relatively speaking. Would be interesting to see scientific tests on this.

Inicidentally, please enjoy the attached pix of one of my flight cases that met a sad end recently at the hands of UPS (who admitted fault but later denied the claim, since the case was not shipped in their preferred material--cardboard).

[Jim Andrada]

Wow

Although I remember being asked to visit a customer who had discovered a damaged shipment only to discover that the reason the product was damaged was that their forklift driver hadn't lowered the forks fast enough and had driven right into a pallet full of expensive stuff and put the forks right through a couple of boxes - probably destroyed $40k worth of stuff.

Re dividers - the kind I was thinking about are heavily padded and if you make them a rather tight fit with the contents they can do a good job.

[John C. Chu]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I went ahead and bought a Pelican 1510 case with the padded dividers. I will probably add some wrapping to keep the lens from moving around. This case is built like a tank!

[Jim Andrada]

You definitely need to fill up all the empty space inside the case - empty space is your biggest enemy. Be particularly careful in the corners.

[Allan Black]

And put the heaviest lens close to the hinges, so when you stand it up the weight is at the bottom.

Cheers.

[Brian Drysdale]

Here's the interior of a typical UK film & TV industry flight case.

35 mm SLR Kit

The lid has thick soft foam that hold everything is place, the interior is usually high density stuff that's very easy to accurately cut.