Hi all, one thing I´m badly missing in the freefly lineup is a top notch transport case. Being a photographer I have dozens of cases, pelis, backpacks and whatnot of some of the best known manufactorers. The one I love most is the Tenba air case for my iMac. It´s lightweight, rigid and has a great form factor. Unfortunately Tenba doesn´t have readily available cases in the size of a cinestar8 (with 360 gimbal), but they do have a request form for custom cases. However, there is a note: "very small quantities are not possible if the item cannot be based on an existing Tenba item". While I don´t know what very small quantities are, I asked myself if there would be more people like me willing to investing some money in a well built case. One idea would be a get together and request for a larger quantity shipped to different addresses. The other one would be Freefly contacting Tenba for such a request. Either way: Anybody interested? Cheers, Wolfgang
Interested. Would it be best to have a case for booms attached or removed? I'm not sure as I'm still building, those who are traveling will have a better idea.
Sam, it depends I would say ;-). If you are traveling by air with your copter and have enough time to assemble/calibrate it on location, I´d have booms, etc. removed. Then you don´t need a custom case and can go with what´s readily available. On my last journey I used this one. Since it´s bigger and lighter than pelicases and solid enough (while you can´t roll over it with your car, you can easily sit on it). If not, and you need to be fast on location or go by car, it would be better to transport your cinestar ready to fly. That´s when you need a gib custom case.
Wolfgang, Have a look at my thread. I just made one this week to transport my CS8 fully assembled. I agree with you, I'd rather travel to the job with it fully assembled and ready to go. And I just don't want it flopping around in the back seat of my truck...where it barely fits and could get damaged. http://forum.freeflysystems.com/index.php?threads/cinestar8-custom-made-transport-case.622/
Folks: I've emailed to Tenba to ask them about the minimum quantities for custom cases along the design of Chris' case. I'll let you know what they say. Andy.
Andy, you´re the best!!! Chris, thanks, I already watched your thread, that´s why I gave mine the number II ;-). Looks like a nice case, but I´d like to be able to carry and store it upright and flat, also I tend to do a lot of DIY and in the end buy the available stuff, only to continue to modify it. In the end DIY for me is most of the time more expensive than buying what is available, starting with camera cranes and ending with camera gimbals.
Hey Guys. I bought this one. I got the name of the company from QC since the ones they stock were not big enough for a CS8. These are the same cases they sell on their website. They are big, and a bit heavy, but well made, durable and fit perfect in the back of a van or SUV. Price was good - with shipping to me in FL, just under $1000. They offer wheels of some type but I did not opt for them since I plan to just leave it in the back of my vehicle most all the time. I got the 46x46x20 if I remember right to leave some room to do a nice foam insert all the way around it (which I have not gotten to yet). http://www.ecscase.com/shipping/loadmaster-single-lid-100 Click the Select A Size button and you will see they have a lot of size options to fit what ever you might need.
Hi Michael, thanks for your input. Wow, they looked really promising - until I found out about the weight. Perfect when you always leave it in the car, but the ones I am looking for should weigh no more than 1/4 of the loadmaster case. One more advantage I didn't mention: the interior of the tenba is made from velcro, so you can easily attach and detach foam pieces. Anywa, thanks again for your help and happy new year!!!
Light weight with a velcro interior would be great. Let me know what you end up finding out because if you get a light weight velcro interior solution made by tenba I would probably turn this one into a storage box for something else in the garage! I have some tenba cases for other lighting equipment and they are fantastic. Happy New Year!