New Lens/Reel cases

[Kirk Gittings]

A new catalog showed up in my late fathers mail today (he was an expert fly tier) from the Madison River Fishing Company. They have some reel cases that would be great as lens cases and are a little bit different from those of Orvis etc. They are better represented in the catalog (and more variety) than the website. And also the website search engine is retarded but here it is:http://www.mrfc.com

The items are made by Fishpond (the stowaway reel case and the sweetwater reel case) and from Abel (the reel brief & the reel carrier).

A direct source for the Abel products:
http://www.abelreels.com/pages/lug_rb.htm

and a direst source for the Fishpond products:
http://www.fishpondusa.com/stowaway.cfm#

From the company info both are either slightly bigger or about the same size as our beloved Orvis Reel case depending on whether their measurements are inside or out. The Fishpond version is a little more interesting to me because of the full zippered pocket in the inside lid instead of the dumb elastic pockets on the orvis.

[Ted Harris]

Regarding the Fishpond bags, they make some really great stuff and the company is owned by a professional wildlife photographer. He and I have chatted extensively and one fo the reasons he didn't participate in the last bags article is that he has been giving serious thought to developing specifically for photographers. Time for me to give him a call.

Thanks for the info Kirk.

[Ed Richards]

I have been using an Orvis case, but with photopbacker cases inside - I am worried about lenses falling out when I am working out of the case in the field. Do you use these in field, or just to pack lenses? (I also like the zipper pockets, I gave up on the Orvis pockets as soon as I lost a lens cap.)

[Kirk Gittings]

I actually use two Gnass cases for my lenses that I keep in my field camera and commercial (rail view) hard case. I use the Orvis bags for my "stuff I might need" bag including some xtra lenses (like my macro), canned air, backup readyload holder, xtra film etc. I keep another Orvis bag for the "xtra stuff" for my DSLR.

[Ted Harris]

I carry mmy lenses in two Orvis reel cases ... all mounted on Technika/Wista oards; ToyoAII/meter/quick or readyload and polaroid holder/other stuff in an Orvis Gear Bag. When I also have my Canham T57 along it is in a slightly larger gear bag along with reducing back ... 5x7 holders are in 6 pack coolers/holders

If I know there is going to be a lot of water or dust and dirt then it all goes into three Rimowa Tropicana cases instead.

[Henry Ambrose]

I've seen the Fishpond stuff its quite nice.
These fine folks have it in stock:
http://littleriveroutfitters.com/

[Struan Gray]

Does anyone know of a case like this that is a little deeper? I would like to find a case for my Sinar when it is collapsed onto a six-inch rail, and need 18 cm/7" to fit the rail in. It seems like all these cases stop at 6" depth or less.

[Sam]

Ted, can you link to the gear bag you are using?

[naturephoto1]

Does anyone know of a case like this that is a little deeper? I would like to find a case for my Sinar when it is collapsed onto a six-inch rail, and need 18 cm/7" to fit the rail in. It seems like all these cases stop at 6" depth or less.

Hi Struan,

I think that the depth with these cases may be a problem since these are really fishing reel cases designed to carry fishing reels and not photo equipment. Even many photo bags will only come in depths of 6", 6.5", 6.75", and 7" inside depths. I do not think that most photo bag manufacturers normally even consider bags to carry collapsed view cameras on short rails. :(

Rich

[Struan Gray]

I probably need the Hemingway version....

[erie patsellis]

Out of curiosity, I noticed that Bass Pro Shops has a version for $19.99, has anybody looked at one in person?

erie

[Ted Harris]

erie,

It'll be in the next bags review but that is not likely to be out until the July-August or September-October issue.

[erie patsellis]

sooooo, the executive summary is?

erie

[Jim Noel]

yesterday I received my reel case from Cabelas. I holds 10 lenses (reels) in movable chambers. It is full padded with closed cell foam and cost me a whopping $20.

When I look at the catalogs referenced earlier in this thread, I see absolutely no differnce between the $20 Cabela and teh $60+ from other dealers.

I am getting ready to order another one today.

[Kirk Gittings]

Is there a web link to the cabella one you are refering to. All I see on their website is the $69.00 Fishpond one.

[naturephoto1]

Hi Jim,

Unless mistaken, many of the other cases like the Fishpond cases use thicker closed cell padding affording more protection to the equipment. The other cases may also use superior materials.

Rich

[naturephoto1]

Kirk,

Jim is referring to these:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0036834120770a&type=product&cmCat=search&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&No=20&noImage=0&Ntt=reel+case&Ntk=Products&QueryText=reel+case&Ntx=matchall&N=4887&Nty=1

Rich

[Kirk Gittings]

Unless mistaken, many of the other cases like the Fishpond cases use thicker closed cell padding affording more protection to the equipment. The other cases may also use superior materials.

This appears to be true, though I am just going by the pictures.

The larger Cabella one seems to solve Struan's issue with the larger boards?

[Struan Gray]

The larger Cabella one seems to solve Struan's issue with the larger boards?

It does indeed. Interesting, even with the minimum shipping rate. Does anyone know if the line pouch on the side is detachable, or fixed?

[Kirk Gittings]

Ironically, I had to go by my local fly fishing shop to donate all my late dad's fly tying equipment to a fly tying school for the Boy Scouts. I haven't been by there in years and noticed they had the Fishpond Bags. These are indeed made much better made than the Orvis ones (the only other ones I have seen first hand) with ballistic nylon, much more padding, a stiffer molded bottom, a zippered pocket in the inner lid and just a better bag all the way around. It is slightly shallower in depth and because everything is very rigid it is harder to "stuff". I bought one to test out.

[Gene McCluney]

I just got one of those Cabellas cases. I ordered the largest one. $49. It is great, I can fit the almost 7" square lensboards with lenses for my Agfa/Ansco 8x0 at an angle, can get several in. This is absolutely great. Velcro dividers can be positioned anywhere.