I recently did a sailboat delivery from Myrtle Beach SC to the Bahamas.  I’ve been wanting a pelican case for my gear around the house for a while now (to keep kids/dust/dirt out of it) and I figured this trip was the perfect excuse to finally bite the bullet and order the 1514 (the version of the 1510 with inserts, the 1510 is the largest case that’s legal as a carry on bag).  I ordered the 1514 version of the case (the 1510 is the empty version, the 1514 has the dividers) so that I could keep the dividers in it for storage when not in use.  I also grabbed a think tank airport ultralight v2.5 (quite the mouthful!).  This bag is specifically designed to go into the pelican 1514 or their storm iM 2500 case (both are very similar).

Now, what this setup gets you is a very professional, no nonsense carry on camera case.  The good news is, if you ever get your kit gate checked, there are no worries with the pelican case.  Toss your TSA approved lock on it and you’re good to go.  Unless someone breaks into the bag via a set of TSA keys, there really are no worries (I have insurance and can’t recommend it enough).  My one concern would be a theft on the way to a job, or lost/stolen memory cards, so I’d ask anyone demanding a gate check if you could take the backpack out and check just the case, then squeeze the backpack into a smaller spot to keep it in sight.  And I would NEVER check CF cards with anything on them.

Now, once you’re on a plane, the 1510 isn’t the easiest of bags to use in the overhead bin.  It’s VERY hard, so there’s no slamming the bin to convince it that it can fit up there…  On 3 737 flights I couldn’t get the bins to close with it in the “deep” way.  Someone has since told me a “trick” that you prop the inboard end of the bag up an inch or so and there’s more room, so I’ll have to try that next time, but flat it will not let you close the door, and it’s off by <1″…  So you’re stuck pushing it in the wide way which is fine provided you’ve boarded early enough there’s still room to do so (which everyone checking massive bags I hate to take up excessive space if I don’t need to).  This does however leave plenty of room behind the case in the bin for my tripod (which I hand carry on).  The other issue is there are obviously no pockets on the outside of the case.  I’d highly recommend having a small “personal item” style bag that can slide over the roller handle that you stash in your seat with you with all your in flight entertainment.  I had two magazines and my macbook air in the bag in the case, so I’d get to my seat and have to open it quickly to grab them.  Doesn’t take long, but I’d much prefer a second small shoulder bag to make that portion easier.

Outside the airplane, the case has a nice set of wheels which makes it easy enough to wheel around.  It goes over most terrain with ease.  It’s also got two very nice beefy handles with nice rubber coating on them so you can pick the case up on either side and heft it around as needed.  The case itself is ~17 pounds though, so loaded with camera gear it’s not light.

The camera bag is a pretty basic “front” entry camera backpack.  Thinktank stuff is very well made, and their inserts are quite nice.  There’s an outside laptop pocket.  ThinkTank says you can’t close the case with a laptop in it, this might be true for traditional laptops, but my 11.6″ macbook air fits in just barely (making the case harder to close).

Here’s a link to the .pdf instruction manual for the airport ultralight.

Edit: Not sure how this was never published…  I’m working on installing a new theme on the blog and saw this sitting in the posts section under drafts…  So I’m publishing it today (almost 2 years later…).  One thing I’ll add to this review is that I’ve used this backpack pretty much non stop since I received it.  The pelican gets use when it’s needed (not very often, it pretty much lives in the basement unless I’m flying).  But the backpack goes with me EVERYWHERE.  ALL my arch shoot, all my landscapes, all my weddings.  I own an f-stop loka and mindshift rotation 180 yet this bag is the one I keep coming back to.  The “insert” is just that much better than the others and it fits my gear perfectly.  My ONLY complaint is that it’s not back entry so you’re setting the part that touches you on the ground when you open the bag.  Otherwise I LOVE it.