Kinos As Baggage

I've got to drag two 4x4 Kinos with me on an out of town shoot, domestic flight. I've got a pelican case for the tubes and the ballasts, cables, hardware in a soft roller luggage case. However, I don't know what to do with the heads. My buddy (a travelling shooter) has a soft piano keyboard case and "thinks" they will survive in it, tubes removed.

Local rentals are not an option, thoughts?

Dave Winters
DP L.A.

> Local rentals are not an option, thoughts?

Yes Kino makes several cases which should be perfect, though not cheap. You might want to look at the case for the "gaffer Kit" which is 2 4x4 and weighs about 70lbs fully loaded.

http://www.kinoflo.com/sales_catalog_2004/kits/001_kits/

gafr_intrview_kit.html

I think they also have soft cases and single cases etc.

> Local rentals are not an option, thoughts?

Sorry sent that last one too fast.

I know you just wanted a case for heads, but the gaffer kit would set you up perfectly for future travel. Not cheap- about $450ish

If you don't travel often, Soft case may be a good option for you at about $175ish. Especially if you are putting ballasts and bulbs elsewhere.

Can't remember if this fits one or two heads...

John Roche
Gaffer

> I've got to drag two 4x4 Kinos with me on an out of town shoot,

Is it possible to take two Kino Foto Flo units instead? I own two of them and they are totally self contained. The ballast is integrated like the Diva and the "keyboard" style hard carry case holds the spares as well.

Of course they are slightly less versatile. Since the ballast is attached, you can't mount them directly to a wall or ceiling and you only have a choice of two lamps or four.

I love mine, they work all the time and I've never had a complaint.

Tom Burke
Gaffer, Atlanta

>I've got to drag two 4x4 Kinos with me on an out of town shoot,

If you are only doing this once in a while, just grab some big pieces of cardboard from a large appliance box (or go buy a large wardrobe box from Public Storage or a moving supply place and cut it up) and tape or hot-glue a box for the two heads - they are light and not sensitive to bumps or shocks, so you needn't worry too much about them. Get a small box to put the ballasts and cables and you are all set.

If you want to spend some money, there are a variety of custom case manufacturers available - I would probably go for plastic cases with aluminium edging rather than the heavier anvil type road cases â€“ in fact the plastic "expando" cases that Kino Flo uses themselves are not bad as you can put fixtures, tubes, ballasts, and cables (and a fair bit of dirty laundry) in them.

The supplier I used on the east coast for those sorts of cases was Inklheimer Ernst also known as Fiberbilt Case Company. I think they are now in Pennsylvania now, but any company that does sample cases for salesmen would be able to do these for you - the advantages of expando cases is that they expand - and they have no hinges to break - and the sides overlap each other almost 100 per cent until you fill them with dirty laundry and if one of the straps breaks, you can tape the darned things closed.

Mark Weingartner
Lover of light-weight cases for light-weight stuff
LA based but a frequent flyer

>I've got a pelican case for the tubes and the ballasts, cables, hardware >in a soft roller luggage case.

So what's to break?

Those heads are just plastic, durable as heck. You've got the fragile stuff taken care of. I'd think the piano keyboard case would be just fine. Even packing the head shells in a cardboard box with bubble wrap should be enough protection. Have a good trip!

Chris Mosio
DP/Seattle

Thanks for all the suggestions. Tried the keyboard case and it was 1' too short. I ended up making a box out of two cut up 2x2x2' boxes (I just moved) and padded the box with folds of other cardboard. It's pretty durable and basically the size of one of those expando cases.

Hopefully it makes it out and back. Worst case only the heads will get messed up, the least costly part for once!

If I do this again I'll buy one of those expando cases. However, I think this is one of those weird jobs that only happens once every few years.

Dave Winters
L.A.