Air travel and the HVX ?

A

andy_starbuck

Well-known member
What is the current wisdom concerning travel with an HVX?

I know this subject came up about a year ago w/re the DVX, and about half said pack the DVX and half said carry it on board and pack everything else.


Do you pack it in an open Pelican-type container?
Do you carry it on board?
Do you bring a battery in it?

I'm looking at travel within the U.S. including an HVX, an M2 adapter, lenses, a rod support system, and a laptop.

Any advice for dealing with the M2?

Would you just carry the laptop and put the rest of it in the Pelican?


Thanks for the information, insight, and advice.


I can't believe that such a similar post popped to the top of the forum as I was writing mine. I'm leaving this question posted because mine refers to a much simpler domestic trip, and they are talking about months of travel across countries with tons of gear.
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=65535
 
Last edited:
Thanks. I saw that thread pop up after I submitted.

So... the recommendation then is...
1) Pack the M2 Cinema Lens Adapter and all else in a Pelican case in foam.
2) Carry-on the HVX without a battery.
3) Carry-on the laptop.
 
I always carry the camera, drives and laptop with me on board. Why gamble? Why would you consider giving your equipment to people who could care less about? If it breaks, then you are in trouble looking for a back-up.
 
I just took my HVX to Baton Rouge from SF. I've heard too many horror stories about lost or damaged luggage, so I simply packed my HVX in my hard suitcase with my clothes and carried it on.
 
Carry everything that you can't lose. Just got back from a trip to Brazil this week and I carried the HVX with the P2 store, cards, mics, etc with me in a simple bag through all the flights. Heavy, but well worth it. The only thing I had to check was the tripod - and guess what got lost? (Screw United BTW.)

Garrett
 
Here's just some quick, off the top of my head, thoughts from a well worn and weathered all too frequent flyer:

Another alternative I've used is UPS or FedEx. I have it sent overnight to where I'm going. Pack it right, it'll be fine. Coasts a tad more, but then, it doesn't get banged up on the plane. Just an alternative I've used on occation. I don't like to carry too much onto the plane with me. Often, if it's a crowded flight, you may be forced to check some of your stuff if there's not enough room on the plane. It's happened to me many times.

I've spent way too many years now flying a LOT. I hate carrying my good camera on the plane. I bought a really cheap-O consumer HD camcorder for trips I don't need my expensive "bread and butter" camera on. When I am being pait to bring my camera and stuff, I usually pack it and ship it overnight via UPS or FedEx, signature requried, to my hotel.

Nope, never check in a bag you can't afford to totally loose. Against my own advice, I just had a flight where I stupidly packed a FireWire hard drive in my main checked in bag. Packed all nice and neat in the middle of all my clothes. Got to the hotel, opened it up, the case is "broken" off of the unit, the power supply is cracked, it's dead until I buy another encosure. And then it may not spin up properly.

Let me guess, some monkey pulled it out to make sure it wasn't dangerous and dropped it? They are not liable at all for anything like this, too.

Oh, also, there was the really friendly note about how my bag was search by Homeland Security (who don't get much respect here in Katrina-land anymore, them and FEMA, but that's a whole series of jokes for another day).

Important, anything that breaks or goes missing when you travel, NO ONE IS RESPONSABLE for it. So, make sure you're equipment's insurance covers travel damage and theft, too. Things can happen to carry ons, too.
 
I travel with full gear packages fairly often, sometimes with 12 cases or more. Obviously you can't carry on everything. But I always carry on the camera. Recently I had a job where I had a Varicam and the HVX. I hand carried them both, the Varicam in a Portabrace bag and the HVX nicely secured in a backpack.

Fortunately all bags I have ever lost that contained gear have always been returned, although I have had some damage. That is inevitable. But you must be sure to watch the ticket agent closely when they are ticketing your bags during a busy time. I recently experienced a ticket agent who put my tag on someone elses bag and vice versa (I had 12 cases, 11 showed up). When my tripod (Sachtler 20) didn't show up and we didcovered it had someone elses tag on it, it really confused them and I was very worried I'd never see it again. Fortunately I had my business card in the case and it was only returned to me because of that. Make sure your info is in every case!!
 
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