I put this up in the Nikon thread but I guess it should be in here as it's a quick review of the case as opposed to the Nikon gear in it.....
Yesterday my Peli Case 1550 arrived so I've just spent the last hour plucking the foam out for my gear to fit nice and snug.
I've read so many reviews about the foam being really difficult to 'pluck' but I found it a doddle. I didn't have to mark it or use any special technique to pluck it at all. I know some of you have discussed hard cases for your gear recently so I thought I'd show you how it looks.
I will keep my gear nice and safe in here and take out what I need when I go shooting.
All lens hoods are reversed and attached and everything fits very snug indeed. Nothing will move around in there, and I have to say the case is built like a tank. I can see how these things are claimed to be crush proof, bullet proof, water proof etc.
I went for Orange as it will make it a lot more visible should anyone ever pick it up and try to walk off with it.
Not to knock your great layout, but I currently have 30 pelican cases with foam in them for over the past 10 years, and I have learned that you'll want to maintain a 3 segment wall at all times.
Anything less than that, and you'll find yourself with sticky spray glue trying to salvage the thinner points, but after several attempts, you just end up getting a whole new foam set and starting over.
Of course, in your 'case', the only point of contention will be between your body and 24mm lens. Another consideration that you may have already contemplated, is the weight distribution of heavier items toward the bottom so that when you carry the case (by either handle), the heavier items aren't sagging the foam...wanting to tear more - but your pockets seem snug in that aspect, other than the one weak point.
Sound advice, Hammy
I shift my gear around SO much, I went with the padded dividers.
Good thread nice to see what folks are doin' wid da Peli's....orange ya glad you bought it?!
Hammy wrote:
Not to knock your great layout, but I currently have 30 pelican cases with foam in them for over the past 10 years, and I have learned that you'll want to maintain a 3 segment wall at all times.
Anything less than that, and you'll find yourself with sticky spray glue trying to salvage the thinner points, but after several attempts, you just end up getting a whole new foam set and starting over.
Of course, in your 'case', the only point of contention will be between your body and 24mm lens. Another consideration that you may have already contemplated, is the weight distribution of heavier items toward the bottom so that when you carry the case (by either handle), the heavier items aren't sagging the foam...wanting to tear more - but your pockets seem snug in that aspect, other than the one weak point....Show more →
Yeah, I realised my goof between the body and 24mm afterwards. I aimed for 3 segments between each item and then afterwards was like, do'h.
Oh well. The case will be stored flat when inside so hopefully the sag will be kept to a minimum. I'll see how it goes but if needs be will get a new set of foam.
I also use the padded divider systems for my Pelican cases. They allow you to put a lot more stuff in a given case, and of course they allow you to change to accomodate different gear. The pluck foam does allow you to get a little better fit to some items, but I do not find I need that for my gear, and get plenty good protection with the padded dividers.
Jun 02, 2012 at 02:40 PM
Lars Johnsson Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
Hammy wrote:
Not to knock your great layout, but I currently have 30 pelican cases with foam in them for over the past 10 years, and I have learned that you'll want to maintain a 3 segment wall at all times.
Anything less than that, and you'll find yourself with sticky spray glue trying to salvage the thinner points, but after several attempts, you just end up getting a whole new foam set and starting over.
Of course, in your 'case', the only point of contention will be between your body and 24mm lens. Another consideration that you may have already contemplated, is the weight distribution of heavier items toward the bottom so that when you carry the case (by either handle), the heavier items aren't sagging the foam...wanting to tear more - but your pockets seem snug in that aspect, other than the one weak point....Show more →
Hammy, I'm also getting quite a collection of pelicans (1624's with padded dividers). Can I ask your advise on the best way to store/arrange the pelicans themselves? Have you built some sort of shelving system?
I use a 1550 myself and with the dividers, I can really load up alot of equipment in there...(typically) two gripped bodies w/spare batteries, 16-35/24-105/& fish-eye lenses, four speedlites w/battery packs, spare battery pack inserts, a bunch of CyberSyncs and cables, and some other misc. The best thing though is sometimes I need to change up this set, and with the dividers I can easily do that. You can't load that much equipment or change-up what you carry with foam.
netexpress wrote:
Hammy, I'm also getting quite a collection of pelicans (1624's with padded dividers). Can I ask your advise on the best way to store/arrange the pelicans themselves? Have you built some sort of shelving system?
Thanks in advance for your advice.
For the two pelicans that I use for camera gear, I too have moved over to padded dividers. As other have stated: more gear and more options. My gear used to ride in a 1650 with foam, then I graduated to a 1560 (about half the size) with padded dividers and can fit the same amount of gear in it.
Now, with more gear than back then, I use my 1560 (hard sided, lockable) for lenses that get checked on flights. Camera bodies, batteries and the rest of gear (non glass) rides in a soft sided pelican (same size as 1560) as a roll-on for flights.
The rest of my pelicans (27-28? of them) are 1660s that I originally bought to store/travel viewstations around in. Each held one PC, three monitors and all the parts to setup a table for three heads on our network for selling onsite. About 20 of them hold computers, the rest carry misc cables: Cat5/Power, 6 plugs, network switches, tape, etc... and one is dedicated to a whole studio setup: lights/stands/power/umbrellas/etc and my 1650 now carries all my wireless radios (16 radios of varying frequency/power for wireless bridges).
Of the 20 for computers, even with 3 walls, over the years, they have degraded with lots of failing walls - but it works out on par with the number of failing computers! The computers are 10 years old, so I've gotten plenty of life out of them. Replacing those viewstation configurations are other computers: servers, downloaders, DVD burners - for our larger shows where we're either covering 6-7 cheer stages simultaneously, or burning up to 12,000 discs per day. These computers take up about 1/3 the Pelican so we just stack a couple of them with foam on bottom and top of the case.
So, needless to say, of my pelicans - most of them are heavy 1660s, and I don't have much of a storage configuration other than lining them up in our warehouse. We do have very sturdy, warehouse grade shelving that we put the first shelf just higher than the standing 1660 height (but we store them on the floor):
Other than that, we can store them and travel with them on a steel wheeled dolly (standing on its side - on the left of that photo) where we can stack 10-15 8ft folding tables and then either 4 pelican side-by-side on top of them (2-3 layers of pelicans are possible) - or 5 pelicans side-by-side if they are rotated sideways. They certainly nest better on their top/bottom, but since we strap that whole assy to ride on a truck, they can ride sideways fine also - depends on how high can go in the truck (door/ramp) or how heavy we want that dolly to be to push up a ramp!
I also have several pelican cases; all with dividers……Don’t forget the Pelican Desiccant Silica Gel packs if you store your equipment in them for very long.
Hammy, great tips with the foam walls and weight distribution.
I use the dividers in all my Pelican cases. I just switched out my divider layout in my main case and Im still getting used to it. Definitely couldnt do it if i have the foam
nice to see what folks are doin' wid da Peli's....orange ya glad you bought it?! 
