Shipping my gear...

M

maooley

Member
This is probably the wrong forum for this question... but i'm gonna shoot anyway...

I'm getting prepped for a shoot that is on the west coast. I'm currently in Louisville, KY. I'm wondering what is the best way to ship my gear. (Our agency just started shooting video a while back and this is our first air-traveling gig.)

We have an HVX200 and a ton of other gear. I have a pelican case that is large enough to fit all of the really sensitve gear (mostly camera stuff.) And I have cases for my lights, etc.

Would it be best to just pack it away all snug in my pelican case and hope the package handlers don't mangle it? Or... would it be better to ship via UPS and get it insured? What is the most common way to ship for all of you who do this on a regular basis?

Thanks for your help.

-mao
 
I'd carry the camera on board. You can always make due with lights and other gear but without a camera, you're kind of screwed.

I carry my HVX and laptop on board and either ship the rest or check it.
 
While a Pelican case is sturdy enough for HVX (mine has survived checked baggage), I would try to carry the camera on board if for no other reason than the airlines proclivity to lost or mishandled baggage. It is not quite so bad on domestic flights since you are allowed 2 carry-ons. It is quite a packing experience to take an HVX, a laptop, a Firestore, a hard drive and a change of underwear through Heathrow, where only 1 carry-on is allowed.

Ned
 
I'd put what you can in the Pelican case, lock it, and FedEx it.

I hate UPS with a passion, they have misdirected a number of my shipments, and delayed delivery of others. When FedEx gets a package to my area ahead of schedule, they'll actually deliver it. UPS lets it sit in their distribution center until the day it's supposed to arrive.

In one instance, a package that arrived in LA early on a Thursday morning was sitting at the DC the rest of the day, was driven around town all day on Friday with a "OUT FOR DELIVERY" status, only to be returned to the DC and a "RESCHEDULED FOR DELIVERY" status when the driver couldn't finish his route on time. Because this happened on a Friday, I had to wait until Monday to get something they could have gotten to me the previous Thursday.
 
I find if I insure, it shows on time, regardsless of shipper. I don't always sinsure for the full value, but enought to scare them into paying attention.

Heck I even go overtnight service to Anchorage. Not out, but certainly in. ;-)

One adendum, if it is one of a kind, I hand carry.
 
It is also worth noting that even if you check in your camera and it is put into the cargo hold of a commercial aircraft, you must still use a TSA-approved lock, i.e. one that the TSA and who knows who else has a master key for.

That is another reason why FedEx, UPS etc. might be a better option.
 
I carry my camera on-board as well. I have been in the habit of shipping everything else in advance (insured) with UPS. It is evident that my equipment is enduring some rough handling, which makes me a very unhappy customer.

I'm thinking of switching to FEDEX. Can anyone else share their experience (with either carrier)? Thanks.
 
I TOO HATE UPS. Late shippments and the local delivery guy.. who was having a bad day one day... forcefully pulled my kinoflo case out of his hold and broke off the handle on top and then he threw it from the top deck down to the ground and that's where I heard the bulbs shatter.. UPS covered my loss on the bulbs but didn't do anything on the case as they don't cover the shipping container. That's something to consider.. and you can be rest assured that they'll abuse it.

I've had much better luck with Fed Ex than UPS overall. When traveling... I do also prefer to carry on My HVX and important items. Shipping things in advance is a real nice luxury as carry all that crap through the airport is a hardship.. I bought a nice backpack case for the HVX for just this purpose and have taken it only 5 trips so far... The only other thing to be cautious of is how they handle the camera when you go through the xray machine. I grabbed a guy by the arm one time when he was literally beating the cam and touching everything. I told him that if he continued to do that in front of me.. that we'd have a situation. Thankfully he stopped but man it made me pissed..

Another good bit of advice when shipping is to put some tape on the outside or inside so you'll be able to tell if it was opened. Usually they'll check it at the Fed ex place and then you can close it and lock it up... but I'm sure that this might be a problem with shipping a locked container for some companies...especially if it's over seas...
 
I also have horror stories from ups and prefer fedex.
I recently flew and carried on my hvx+35adapter+lenses+marshal monitor.

I worry about even getting my clothes back from the baggage claim.
 
I have no horror stories about ups, but i probably wouldnt go onboard without my cam.

You can carry a Pelicas 1510 airlegal on board, i will leave tomorrow to italy, and until now its no problem....!

But it definitly will be a problem in the near future in europe (dont know about the states) as they will minimize the maximum size of airlegal onboard luggage...just because of some terrorist paranoia...its really poor..!

So in Future, i will take a backpack with some clothes, pull out my cam in the security and bring it on board anyway...the cam itself shouldnt be too big..unless they prohibit to take anything on board..!
 
I, on the other hand, say Don't cave in to the fear. I have never been mugged before, and thus I don't worry about carrying around $10K in cash if the occasion calls for it (don't ask and I won't tell).

Last year I was on a 3-camera job for several months, and we must have flown 30 times. Every single time we checked all of the gear under the plane (except the cameras, which we carried on), and we got it back every time. Once a case was delayed by a day, and we made do without it until it arrived. We could never have done the UPS/Fedex thing, because sometimes we weren't even staying somewhere the whole day!

Right now I'm in Romania on a gig, and this time it was all of my own personal gear. I carried on the camera with my laptop in a behemoth of a carry-on (Kata BP502), and no problems.

Personally I think life's better when you don't overthink everything. I've flown hundreds of times to over 50 countries, and never lost a bag permanently. Your chances of even losing it for a day are probably about 1 in 100,000. Just make sure it's in a good case; I once had a friend who was a baggage handler, and everyone called him "Mash."

Seriously.
 
You could also add these on the outside of the shipping container -- I believe they are the same shock sensors used on MythBusters:

Shock Sensor Stickers

If placed on the outside, they are easily visible to anyone handling the shipping container, and might reinforce the need to be careful while handling that item. I have received network equipment in the past that had these.
 
hvx_germanboy said:
So in Future, i will take a backpack with some clothes, pull out my cam in the security and bring it on board anyway...the cam itself shouldnt be too big..unless they prohibit to take anything on board..!
Click to expand...
Last year, all interational flights originating in Great Britain had a 100% ban on any and all carry-on items, not just electronics.

I don't know if that is still in place, but for anyone planning international travel with their camera, I highly recommend checking with the airlines first so you don't run into a problem at the check-in counter.
 
in the last few years ive flown to europe, south america and mexico several times and i always simply check my cameras in a pelican 1650 and the only thing ive lost is a single firewire cable.

if you have your pelican organised well and not overstuffed, even when they open and search it, it all goes back easilly.

if anyone is looking for great deals on pelican cases, ther eis an authorised pelican dealer here in texas that sells for nearly half of what a camera dealer will.

www.sailtechmarine.com
 
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