I’ve been holding off on buying cases for my Reds now for 18 months pending Epic, but I just can’t wait any longer. I do local shoots only so far, so keeping them wrapped in blankets in sturdy cardboard boxes has been my MO for awhile. Or, if I’m going any distance, one goes on an old Hartman carry-on—a perfect fit! (I’m not proud.) I can’t do this anymore. How do you guys design your cases, what works and what would you have changed if you could do it over again?
I remember a post 18 months or so ago from one of you who had a deep Pelican and layered all equipment from the Red to cables to EVF, lenses etc in one case. I see others keeping their Red and a monitor and/or EVF in one case, lenses in another and power in a third. Some of you use molded plastic and others ATA boxes. (Do you prefer the twist or pull down clamp?) And if ATA boxes, how thick? Everything is custom it seems.
My style is more studio oriented, though I have both the Mantis and Zacuto shoulder rigs. I have a small case for filters, which I know will be lost one of these days, so I want to make room in my matte box case(s) for filters, but in their original pouches. But what is a safe number of filters to pack away like this? 4? 6? You need a pola, an IR, a couple of ND’s and what as a minimum? I can always pack some additional filters in my luggage. Or do I invest in a case for maybe 20-30 filters? ( I have nearly 100 filters: ND’s, ND grads, ND hard, mists, diopters, etc, but you don’t take them all to a shoot.)
Do I make a small case for my LMB-5 with a few filters or do I make it larger to include a shoulder rig? Or to include some primes? Larger still to include the batteries so that I have fewer cases to worry about? I can see pros and cons to all this. Do I go molded plastic (Pelican and Storm, for example) with wheels, but they don’t stack. Or do I try to come up with similar sized cases that will stack?
Some of you have advised me on not making the cases too small (too easy to walk away), but what is too big?
There are a number of very sharp and thoughtful Redusers out there. Hopefully you can share your thoughts not only for my situation, but others who may have less or even more gear that I have.
I remember a post 18 months or so ago from one of you who had a deep Pelican and layered all equipment from the Red to cables to EVF, lenses etc in one case. I see others keeping their Red and a monitor and/or EVF in one case, lenses in another and power in a third. Some of you use molded plastic and others ATA boxes. (Do you prefer the twist or pull down clamp?) And if ATA boxes, how thick? Everything is custom it seems.
My style is more studio oriented, though I have both the Mantis and Zacuto shoulder rigs. I have a small case for filters, which I know will be lost one of these days, so I want to make room in my matte box case(s) for filters, but in their original pouches. But what is a safe number of filters to pack away like this? 4? 6? You need a pola, an IR, a couple of ND’s and what as a minimum? I can always pack some additional filters in my luggage. Or do I invest in a case for maybe 20-30 filters? ( I have nearly 100 filters: ND’s, ND grads, ND hard, mists, diopters, etc, but you don’t take them all to a shoot.)
Do I make a small case for my LMB-5 with a few filters or do I make it larger to include a shoulder rig? Or to include some primes? Larger still to include the batteries so that I have fewer cases to worry about? I can see pros and cons to all this. Do I go molded plastic (Pelican and Storm, for example) with wheels, but they don’t stack. Or do I try to come up with similar sized cases that will stack?
Some of you have advised me on not making the cases too small (too easy to walk away), but what is too big?
There are a number of very sharp and thoughtful Redusers out there. Hopefully you can share your thoughts not only for my situation, but others who may have less or even more gear that I have.
