Lighting Case

V

Vintegreo

Well-known member
I'm looking for a lighting case that would fit on a Magliner Jr and hold an Arri 650 kit plus a few related accessories. More specifically, I have an Arri 650, 300 and 150 plus a Lowell Rifa 1000 and a Lowell Rifa 500. I probably need to also think about getting a top shelf for my Mag as I don't currently have one.

I do have an old Kata case for the lighting gear, but nixed it because with the rounded shape, I couldn't stack stuff on it. When I put it on top of the other gear on the cart, it was also very unwieldy. I then graduated to milk crates, but for the one man band shoots I do, that was pretty untidy for me.

I thought about the Pelican 1740, but it looks like if I did that I'd have to think about a Mag Sr to replace my jr.

I travel with a Sony FS7 in a Tenba case, a Sacthler 20 in a tuffpack and some other misc stuff. I'm right on the line of making one trip vs two, and I think if I got a better way to transport my lights I'd be set. Historically, I've not been a fan of the old Arri grey cases.

Thoughts??? Pictures of what you have would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Tim
 
Honestly? Not a whole lot of us hauling a pile of relatively large and heavy tungsten lights anymore. I have an Arri Softbank IV kit and quite a few others laying around but it's the super light, flat LED panels that many of us are using a lot more than our bigger, heavier tungsten kits. I can fit four LED panels, two Aputure LS 1S, two Kamerar Brightcasts, and batteries for all four and AC power supplies AND an Arri 150 or 300 watt fresnel, all in one case like a Storm 1510. Fits in the trunk of my car along with a roller duffle holding the light stands, audio gear, tripod and head, etc. Weighs less than 50lbs and it's a five light lighting kit that fits in the trunk of a small car. I still love tungsten but my lights are slowly being relegated to only being used for certain very specific projects, usually beauty or glamour and usually when I have a crew to help me wrangle it all.

You bring a Magliner when one man banding it? Wow, you must like hauling around a lot of weight. Magliners are great but sound like massive overkill for one man banding it. Usually Magliners work better when you have a hydraulic tailgate on a 5 or 10 ton. The trend has been lighter and smaller. Sachtler Video 20 is a great tripod and head but a beast to carry alone with all of that other stuff. Possibly not what you are looking for but you might want to put your gear on a diet and downsize and reduce weight. If you have a PA or crew to help you lug stuff, great, but if you do a lot of OMB, my advice would be to slim down your gear. Not sure if you have read this but it gives a lot of good advice about downsizing and becoming more efficient with your gear. Well worth the read and you can adapt and apply to your own kit. http://www.geardads.com/video-production-equipment-documentary-filmmaking/
 
I'm actually pretty satisfied with my gear list as it serves my clients well and they are pretty happy. I've tried several lighter options and none have landed in my personal sweet spot for cost vs performance. All that said, for the time being I need to make what I already own work as well as possible, this the original case question. I'll look forward to someone giving me a case recommendation as I'm sure there's a good option out there for what I've got.
 
Vintegreo said:
I'm actually pretty satisfied with my gear list as it serves my clients well and they are pretty happy. I've tried several lighter options and none have landed in my personal sweet spot for cost vs performance. All that said, for the time being I need to make what I already own work as well as possible, this the original case question. I'll look forward to someone giving me a case recommendation as I'm sure there's a good option out there for what I've got.
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No problem, just a suggestion to make life easier. I too have the long Kata case and don't use it because it is too flimsy, the Arri case is too large and heavy. I would imagine one of the larger Pelican Storm cases https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...Case_IM2975_00001_iM2975_Storm_Trak_Case.html (I have two of these, they are nice but bulky and heavy) would work fine but then you are adding yet another 30-50 pounds to your load, just for the case so you are kind of in a vicious cycle of increasing your weight even more as a OMB. Good luck.
 
puredrifting said:
No problem, just a suggestion to make life easier. I too have the long Kata case and don't use it because it is too flimsy, the Arri case is too large and heavy. I would imagine one of the larger Pelican Storm cases https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...Case_IM2975_00001_iM2975_Storm_Trak_Case.html (I have two of these, they are nice but bulky and heavy) would work fine but then you are adding yet another 30-50 pounds to your load, just for the case so you are kind of in a vicious cycle of increasing your weight even more as a OMB. Good luck.
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LOL! Thanks so much. FWIW, I am looking into other lighting options, just feeling conflicted after looking at all this stuff at NAB 2017, and the look of tungsten is still pretty darn beautiful even though it's terrible on the back and the feet! :laugh:
 
Hey man, don't look to stuff sold as dedicated lighting cases or whatever.
Try looking into the VAST selection of cases sold for P.A. System gear.
I have had MUCH better luck here when in comes to multi-purpose cases of all different sizes. And everything from padded nylon, to molded plastic, to full-on ATA Flight cases.

Almost all of it is built to stack, and much of it has wheels.
 
Vintegreo said:
LOL! Thanks so much. FWIW, I am looking into other lighting options, just feeling conflicted after looking at all this stuff at NAB 2017, and the look of tungsten is still pretty darn beautiful even though it's terrible on the back and the feet! :laugh:
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We have a film resurgence lately, why not a Tungsten resurgence? Your and my Arris looks leagues better than any LED made, even the $6,000.00 ones. It's just the heat and not being able to deal with mixing with daylight and the worry of popping breakers that are the only drawbacks. I love Tungsten. But it is not as convenient and easy as LED.
 
That's for sure. I've rented Litepanels, Fiilex (sp?), Arri Skypanels, Kino Celebs, Kino Flo, Jabs and a bunch of stuff I'm forgetting and still I come back to the old Arris and Rifas. A good friend usually uses only two lights: his Joker Bug 800 and a Kino 4 bank and with his reflectors and modifiers shoots beautiful stuff. I'd argue that the Joker Bug looks way better than any of the LED stuff I've rented, but even used they cost a fortune.

Contrast that with my Arri kit which I bought recently to eliminate rental and here I am looking for a better case. I paid only a bit over a thousand for all of the tungsten I have, and quite frankly, it was what I could afford when I made the purchase. That said, when I end up in a corporate office full of daylight, I rent something from that list mentioned above, but none of them has hit me as what I want to buy given that most of time I have enough electricity and ability to block windows that the tungsten kit still keeps paying the bills.
 
Why don't you split them up into two smaller cases? You need a pretty big pelican/hard case to fit the 650. What about the pelican storm 2600/2620? Otherwise, look into hard padded cases on b&h, which you can still stack.
 
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