Hard case for Deardorff?

[cyrus]

Can anyone suggest a hard case (ie Pelican) for an 8x10 Deardorff (and hopefully fit a 300mm lens and perhaps the dark cloth and a couple of film holders too) for long-distance air travel?

Ideally this should be something that I can take as carry on luggage but I'll take info on non-carry one sized ones too (Big dilemma: If I am carrying my 4x5 polaroid conversion, and the deardorf, which one gets checked in and which one goes carry on - especially considering that all my film must be carry on?)

as a side note, How do you protect the gg in transit, and what do you use to protect Berlebach sticks? Someone mentioned custom-made cardboard tubes or a section of pvc piping.

[John Kasaian]

The Air Force kept their 'dorff's in foam lined grey fiber glass suitcase-like containers with pressurization valves and mondo heavy duty aluminium hardware ---like the kind you'll sometimes see in good surplus stores. As a carry-on they'd probably be a no-go though---but as close to bullet proof as you're likely to find.

You can reverse your lensboard and carry the 300mm inside your folded 'dorff if the lens isn't too long. My 19" Artar will fit that way.

A California Cooler, the kind that you get at Costco for about $20 that come with a shoulder strap and little plastic hand cart thats velcro-ed on can hold my 'dorff, dark coth, about five holders and the exterior pockets will hold two more 6x6 lensboards with shuttered lenses(mine were mounted on #5 Universals!), filter kit, cleaning kit, lightmeter, guidebook and some cable releases. You can remove it from the cart if the cart is too bulky. Of course the only protection will be from your dark cloth serving as cushioning.

[Brian Ellis]

I carried my Deardorff in a hard-shell suitcase with clothes all around it and checked the suitcase. I do the same thing today with my Technica. Never had a problem and a hard suitcase should cost a good bit less than a Pelican.

[Capocheny]

Cyrus,

I think Brian's idea is a good one and is the least expensive route to go. Instead of clothing being used as the packing material though, have a look at the following link:

http://www.photobackpacker.com/mm5/m...ory_Code=RPT01

There's camera and lens cases of all sizes available and you could certainly place this in an old hard-sided suitcase for the purpose of shipping.

To protect your groundglass...

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=18355

Alternatively, there is a guy on e**y selling gg protectors for about $25. Or, contact Jim at MidWest for the same version.

Cheers