Recommendation for light, tripod soft case
 

Hello,
I'm a corporate videographer that works alone 99.9% of the time. I'm looking for a sturdy secure soft case that I can put 2 Lowel Omnis, light stands, and my tripod (Sachtler Video 14) together when I have to fly out to shoots. I like to have my camera as carry-on but would like to combine my lights and tripod to avoid paying extra baggage fees. Any recommendations? I plan on wrapping the lights in foam and keeping the bulbs seperate and with the carry-on.

I was lucky to get a suitable soft case when I purchased a couple medium light stands on ebay. It's a "bugbags", but a quick online search didn't find them. Dimensions (from memory) are about 14x14 triangular x perhaps 48" long, padded & lined cordura with heavy-duty zipper.

I can endorse your plan, though. I've had a smaller 2-stage tripod, 2 Lowel Rifa 55, a Lowel Pro, 3 light stands, and misc. accessories in it for many flights. Once I arrive, the tripod comes out and travels bare, the misc. gear in my suitcase goes in the bag, and the bag is now the lighting/grip/accessory case over one shoulder, the carry-on camera bag over the other shoulder... and hopefully there's someone else to carry the tripod, but I can carry the whole rig if needed.

The Omni is a little harder because of its shape - seems to me you'd need a bag long enough to put the lights at one end, they'll not go alongside the tripod like I do with the Rifa.

All in all this has been a great kit for lighting interviews. I've even boomed the pro as a backlight using a Lowel "Grip" head and two light stands, using a bag of ac extension cords as a counterweight.

How about the Petrol PLC series? I bought a couple for my university department and they've held up very well to student (ab)use.They're semi-rigid with cordura exteriors, wheels and an exterior cargo strap. It's not a shoulder case, but I'll take a wheeled case anytime if I'm not going over rough terrain. The Video 14 should fit in the PLC-5, but it'll probably work in one of the other cases if you take the head off and stash it in one of the dividers. You can also lash your tripod naked to the exterior as per Seth's suggestion when on site.

Check out Petrol Bags for the various models, which should be available at several forum sponsors.

An alternative that might serve just as well are Kata's Palm series (www.kata-bags.com), especially if you want the option of shoulder carry. They're not wheeled, but can mate with Kata's Insertrolley. I don't have direct experience of this product, however.

Hope this helps,

Hoi

I was reading another post over in the lighting section, and was reminded that a friend of mine has a Cartoni of similar size to the Sach. v14 and accessories in an SKB hard golf-bag-case. I'm not sure if you pay oversize baggage fees for something like that, he mostly drives, doesn't fly much.

Petrol is very good stuff, too. And I do kind of suffer from having no wheels on my cases. Last November I was staying with a friend on her houseboat, it must have been a 15 minute walk on the dock each way. That's hard with camera, light kit and tripod if you don't have wheels. I ended up borrowing a luggage cart for those shoots.

The people at B&H always have a saying to tourists who first come to B&H asking at petrol bags.
"People seem to target the ones who have Petrol since it means expensive camera equipment inside"
I got myself a cinebackpack and I love it. Havent used it yet but im just waiting ^^

Another vote for an SKB golf club hard flight case -- they're cheap and survive the airlines well. Soft cases and airlines don't get along.

Take a peek at KATA bags as well. I own a camera case and will be buying a soft-er sided light case early next year.