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Best Cases for Lenses?

Nick Morrison

Nick Morrison

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Hey guys, I'm amassing 5 or 6 sets of vintage lenses, and I need some great suggestions for cases. Pelicans, etc. Most of these sets have between 6 to 12 lenses in them. I'd love to get each set into it's own case, if possible. Assume they will have 77mm threads on them.

It would be great to travel with them, but I'm already realizing these sets may be too large to fit as carry on (most of the sets have at least one or tow large telephotos).

Lemme give you an example of a set. I have a growing collection of Hasselblad lenses. The 250mm is a pretty large piece of glass, as is the 50 2.8.

I'm also collecting 16mm glass, including some zooms (Angy 12-240, Zeiss 10-100 T2). These need their own box, to go with some of the primes I have.

And then of course I have my large and growing collection of Contax glass.

Ideally, I'd love to have 5 or 6 matching pelicans in different colors, so it's easy to instantly identify sets.

All thoughts and ideas are deeply appreciated and welcome! Thanks!
 
Nick, my absolute favorite case for most everything is the Pelican 1510. I use 2 of them for my sound kit, and a couple for camera accessories. I'm going to get a couple more to hold my rapidly growing set of Contax. I find that the 1510 is the perfect size and weight to easily carry around. And it is approved as a carry-on for pretty much every airline.

As I measure it, I think I can get 10 "normal" cine-vised lenses (with 80mm fronts) into a 1510. Not together with the bigger zooms, though...those might need one to themselves. The 1510 does have wheels, which might be a negative for a lens case (wouldn't want someone to inadvertently drag it over a curb or down a bumpy sidewalk just because the case has wheels on it) but unfortunately, Pelican does not make a non-wheel version of it.

Of course, the Innerspace and other ATA-style lens cases are great, but they are so heavy and awkward for everyday use...I just don't travel enough days of the year to make them worthwhile or necessary.
 
Nick Morrison said:
Awesome, thanks Tom! How are those Contax lenses working out? Which one's you got?
Click to expand...
I am just getting started with the Contax, Nick. I've been buying the slower (and cheaper) ones for the last couple months as I find them in good condition and at a fair price So far I've gotten 5: 25/2.8, 28/2.8, 50/1.4, 85/2.8 and 135/2.8. I also purchased a 35/2.8 from KEH but ended up returning it because I wasn't happy with the condition (they said it was an EX, but it seemed kind of rough to me). So I'm still looking for one of those. Next ones on the list are the 100/2.8 and the 60/2.8...then I'll start looking for the 35 & 85 1.4's and some of the 2.0's.

I just got the 50 back from being cine-vised at RP Lens (see photo) and I'm waiting for them to finish the other ones. Meanwhile I have been tracking down some Allstar C/Y adapters, so by next week or so I should be ready to start shooting. I'm pretty excited to see what they can do!

CZ_50mm_CineUpgrade.jpg
 
Tom Greenberg said:
I am just getting started with the Contax, Nick. I've been buying the slower (and cheaper) ones for the last couple months as I find them in good condition and at a fair price So far I've gotten 5: 25/2.8, 28/2.8, 50/1.4, 85/2.8 and 135/2.8. I also purchased a 35/2.8 from KEH but ended up returning it because I wasn't happy with the condition (they said it was an EX, but it seemed kind of rough to me). So I'm still looking for one of those. Next ones on the list are the 100/2.8 and the 60/2.8...then I'll start looking for the 35 & 85 1.4's and some of the 2.0's.

I just got the 50 back from being cine-vised at RP Lens (see photo) and I'm waiting for them to finish the other ones. Meanwhile I have been tracking down some Allstar C/Y adapters, so by next week or so I should be ready to start shooting. I'm pretty excited to see what they can do!

CZ_50mm_CineUpgrade.jpg
Click to expand...

Holy shit Tom, that looks really good!!! With the All-Star mount it looks...well...like a real PL piece of glass!!!! LOVE IT.
 
Nick, I have gone through different case styles over the years, and have migrated most of my lenses over from hard cases like the innerspace, to lighter pelican style cases which seal out moisture. To me the innerspace style hard cases have the edge in the looks department, but the pelican style case has the edge in the practicality department. I'm no longer a spring chicken, and with advertising budgets shrinking I'm working more by myself or with smaller crews, so loading and unloading lighter cases helps my back. I think my favorite lens case at the moment is probably the Storm Case iM2500. I have found that carrying lenses in a larger case just gets too darn heavy. I also prefer the latches on the Storm Case over the Pelican. Configure any way you prefer, pluck, closed cell, or padded.
 

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I agree with David...the Innerspace and other ATA cases are very heavy duty, offer great protection, and are fantastic for extensive airline shipping, but are heavy as hell and not very friendly to knees, shins, doorways, car paint, and other real world situations that I encounter on a daily basis. For those situations, give me a Pelican type case anytime. I also agree that the Storm latches are nicer to operate than the standard Peli latches...much easier on the fingers! And David, your lens kits make me drool...I saw the list of all your Contax on your website...so jealous!!
 
Thanks Tom. At some point I will fill in the missing holes in my Contax set. I have a few other brand sets that I'm trying to fill out as well. This whole lens thing has gotten crazy. Years back I had a complete set of Canon K35 primes & matching zoom, but my market was so fickle that nobody wanted to shoot with them because Zeiss was the buzzword at the time. I basically gave them away to sweeten the deal on the sale of my Eclair film cameras. Who would have known that X number of years later all those old film lenses and accessories would work with modern cameras and be in demand?
 
I think a lot of people have yet to wake up to the coverage problems that large sensors are going to create. Wish I had been in the game earlier, but oh well. I am stocking up on some full-frame glass now before it gets any crazier.
 
I am a big fan of pelican storm cases.. You can design your own custom inserts for pelican and a bunch of others at mycasebuilder.com
They have an 3d online design template that works quite well. And its a lot easier than tracing out on paper.
 
David W. Jones said:
Nick, I have gone through different case styles over the years, and have migrated most of my lenses over from hard cases like the innerspace, to lighter pelican style cases which seal out moisture. To me the innerspace style hard cases have the edge in the looks department, but the pelican style case has the edge in the practicality department. I'm no longer a spring chicken, and with advertising budgets shrinking I'm working more by myself or with smaller crews, so loading and unloading lighter cases helps my back. I think my favorite lens case at the moment is probably the Storm Case iM2500. I have found that carrying lenses in a larger case just gets too darn heavy. I also prefer the latches on the Storm Case over the Pelican. Configure any way you prefer, pluck, closed cell, or padded.
Click to expand...

Hey David, thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I'm leaning smaller Pelican right now. I have a couple of ENORMOUS Pelicans with pluck right now, but as you say...these cases are getting very heavy. I have almost 30 Contax primes, and these cases are getting hard to lift.

But the pluck..I have a problem with. It kept leaving "dust" debris all over the lenses. I ripped it all out and put in padded inserts instead. The lenses are all a little loose, so I've tamped them down with some of the pluck foam to keep them snug. Will replace the pluck with bubble wrap soon, to make the cases perfectly dust proof.
 
I still have pluck in most of my cases, but have yet to have issues with it. I have been trying to hold off on the closed cell foam until I get both my Contax and my Speed Panchros rehoused with PL mounts.
 
We use either Pelican/Storm or Underwater Kinetics cases depending on size needed. if we are getting a hard case built we will use Lemsford or Case Design aluminium case. For either Peli or aluminium case we will get a route red foam insert made usually in Plastazote foam.

The Innerspace or Anvil cases are great but heavy. Ive yet to see one complete trashed.

We have had to replace several Peli's over the years which get tired after a time, the Aluminium cases can get bent if an airline drops them or runs a forklift in to them, there are several here that have definite form marks on them.

Our yard stick is checking you are perfectly OK that when you kit is packaged if you are happy to drop it out of a first floor window and having the kit survive the drop intact and useable and undamaged as this is what an airline handling are very likely to it in its life time.
 
does anyone know what old lenses can be modified to fit on my eos mount? and cover 4k? i dont want to switch to pl mount so i can share with my 5D.
can baltars with mitchell mount, or kowas with bncr? or cooke speeds with arri standard? any thoughts on others? and where is the best place to get that done? thank you!!!
 
jordan levy said:
does anyone know what old lenses can be modified to fit on my eos mount? and cover 4k? i dont want to switch to pl mount so i can share with my 5D.
can baltars with mitchell mount, or kowas with bncr? or cooke speeds with arri standard? any thoughts on others? and where is the best place to get that done? thank you!!!
Click to expand...

I think this is very, very complicated. You'd be better off modding your 5D to PL. But you may not want to take that drastic measure...
 
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