Shipping my gear

DavidTO

I'm going on a 2 week bifurcated vacation in July. By bifurcated I mean the first half and the second half are very different types of vacations.

I've been thinking about how to get all my crap across the country, and I'm starting to think it would be really nice to drop my camera bag and tripod into a box and have them shipped rather than having to shlep them on the planes.

I've got a 5DmkII, possibly 4-5 lenses, 2 film cameras, an RRS TVC-23 tripod, and all the accessories that go with that much stuff. The bag is a Crumpler Karachi Outpost.

I'm looking for advice, warnings and helpful comments. :ear

Pupator

It costs extra than just shipping and mailing it yourself, but if you have UPS pack the boxes for you they can insure up to crazy amounts. I think a local store can only do a 5k (or is it 10k?) maximum package, but the nearest sorting facility/warehouse can do up to 50/100k.

DavidTO

That's good to know! The gear is all insured on a policy that's separate from my homeowner's, so I don't think I'm going to pay extra for that. But maybe. Paranoia is a powerful force!

Pupator

My experience with insurance policies is that they always have an exclusion which prevents you from being covered in any scenario where your stuff could actually be lost/stolen/damaged. So it includes protection against theft- but not if the thief was a cab driver. You're protected against loss while traveling, but only if the gear is in a bag connected to your person by a 4" thick chain rope.

Seriously though - I would not trust any kind of policy to cover my gear while it was being shipped unless it specifically states that it is.

DavidTO

Pupator wrote: »

My experience with insurance policies is that they always have an exclusion which prevents you from being covered in any scenario where your stuff could actually be lost/stolen/damaged. So it includes protection against theft- but not if the thief was a cab driver. You're protected against loss while traveling, but only if the gear is in a bag connected to your person by a 4" thick chain rope.

Seriously though - I would not trust any kind of policy to cover my gear while it was being shipped unless it specifically states that it is.

I'll check on that.

BradfordBenn

We ship some fragile equipment at work, and we use Pelican cases inside of boxes with packing material around the cases. Definitely an expensive way to do it, but when shipping $20K test equipment well a hundred for shipping safely is easy to justify. Never had a problem despite having some beaten up outer boxes.

DavidTO

So, I got some advice from Marc (Muench), who's been checking his camera gear for 20 years. I figure that's a track record that I can get by with.

I got a Pelican 1440NF, which just barely fits my Crumpler Karachi Outpost. It's all less than 50 lbs. I'm going to trust the fates and the airlines with my gear.

ian408

That Pelican case will serve you well.

Mitchell

DavidTO wrote: »

So, I got some advice from Marc (Muench), who's been checking his camera gear for 20 years. I figure that's a track record that I can get by with.

I got a Pelican 1440NF, which just barely fits my Crumpler Karachi Outpost. It's all less than 50 lbs. I'm going to trust the fates and the airlines with my gear.

This is how I've traveled by plane with a Pelican 1550. Even the gorilla from the old samsonite commercials did not damage my gear.

dogwood

If it's a personal trip, you'll be fine. You could always rely on a quality point-n-shoot as a backup. For a commercial job, I'd carry-on any essential equipment (ie camera body and 1 or 2 lenses, laptop) just in case.

I've shipped lighting equipment UPS direct to hotels with no problems. It's a little pricey though.

Just a word of caution about checking equipment on flights -- there's a lot of people handling that stuff. Portland had a recent case of bag handlers stealing from checked bags. Took a while to figure it out since travelers would arrive at their destination and not know where the items had disappeared. I'm guessing that's probably not as isolated as we might think especially now that bags can't really be locked due to security access requirements.

I always like to travel looking like I'm not carrying a MKIV or whatever. I use regular luggage and clothes to pad equipment. Pelican cases scream, "Expensive photo gear!" to me. So I use a bike courier bag for a camera bag. On a trip to Miami in April, I was sitting in a city park waiting on a model for a quick shoot and an outreach worker approached me thinking I was homeless. In my mind, that's a lot better than thinking I have 8K worth of camera gear in my bag.

Of course it all depends on where you're traveling. Miami is very different than Yellowstone.

Also, just re-read your post and it sounds like you're taking quite a bit of equipment. Five lenses and three bodies? I'm sure you've thought it thru but less equipment means less hassle (and less strain on the back). The best advice on travel I've ever heard is, "Take half of what you think you need and twice the money." Just my two cents anyway.