Pelican 1514 or 1564

Trying to decide which size pelican case would be best for me. It seems that my gear would pretty much fill up the 1514 and not leave much room for growth, but maybe the 1564 is too big?

1514: 22.00" x 13.81" x 9.00" 0.96 cubit ft 13.6 lbs $175
1564: 22.06" x 17.93" x 10.43" 1.64 cubic ft 20.0 lbs $200

Difference: 0.06" x 4.12" x 1.43" .68 cubic ft 6.4 lbs $25

1514: $182.29 per cubic ft
1564: $121.95 per cubic ft

1514 photo
1564 photo

I do not plan on using it as a carry on for any flights. I will be using my backpack for that. So the carry on size is not really appealing to me. My 2 main uses for this will be to lock it up in my car (when going out to eat or things like that) or to lock it up in a hotel room. I may sometimes just take it to a location shoot instead of moving it over to my backpack.

I do also have insurance, so the biggest thing for me is making sure I am able to lock up my L lenses, bodies, Canon flashes, and triggers.

What do you guys think? Go with the more cost effective case which offers more storage space but at the cost of size and weight? OR go with the smaller/lighter case and focus on locking up my most expensive gear?

I don't think anyone can answer the question except for yourself, but for what it's worth, I have the 1564 and really like it, I don't find it too big.

Just my opinion

While I share your concerns with locking up valuables (I travel internationally with my camera and lots of L lenses), the Pelican Case screams- "there is something expensive in this". Besides- locking it up means they only need to cut the lock off later and just take the whole case. Case in point (pun intended). I carry two suitcases I run under the belly of the plane- one beat up Samsonite and a new SKB I series 2617 (Looks like a Pelican). I always find the SKB has been opened and rifled through where as the beat up Sami hasn't had anyone interested. Same contents in both. I carry my rig as carry on for this reason.

While overseas, I leave mine in the most inconspicuous looking crappy bag and its not been touched. I mainly work in south east Asia where a rig like mine would be a persons paycheck for years.

If you were looking for protection against banging them around- that's a whole different story. Id say Pelican is the way to go.

Cheers

Offroad Canon Junkie wrote in post #16455325
Just my opinion

While I share your concerns with locking up valuables (I travel internationally with my camera and lots of L lenses), the Pelican Case screams- "there is something expensive in this". Besides- locking it up means they only need to cut the lock off later and just take the whole case. Case in point (pun intended). I carry two suitcases I run under the belly of the plane- one beat up Samsonite and a new SKB I series 2617 (Looks like a Pelican). I always find the SKB has been opened and rifled through where as the beat up Sami hasn't had anyone interested. Same contents in both. I carry my rig as carry on for this reason.

While overseas, I leave mine in the most inconspicuous looking crappy bag and its not been touched. I mainly work in south east Asia where a rig like mine would be a persons paycheck for years.

If you were looking for protection against banging them around- that's a whole different story. Id say Pelican is the way to go.

Cheers

I understand how the case would look to people, but it will remain out of sight. It will either be in the back of my SUV with the privacy cover closed (chained to the car and padlocked), in a hotel (chained and padlocked to something in the room along with do not disturb sign and leave the TV on), or at home as a storage case.

I also do not plan on taking it to other countries. IF I did choose to fly with it, I would likely take my gear in my backpack onto the plane and put my clothes in the Pelican case. Then at my destination they would be locked up in the pelican case as described above.

So the case is not going to simply just sit in the car with a padlock, I also plan on buying a high quality chain which is difficult to cut. If I keep the chain short it will be a pain for them to get leverage on any bolt cutters. In addition I will be using a padlock that is an alloy/carbide material rather than just hardened steel which is much harder to cut as well.

I do not plan on my gear sitting for hours rather just give me some piece of mind if my wife and I are out and want to go inside a restaurant to eat or something.

CincyTriGuy wrote in post #16454924
I don't think anyone can answer the question except for yourself, but for what it's worth, I have the 1564 and really like it, I don't find it too big.

Thank you!

I traded my 1564 for a 1514 but only for the carry-on reason. The bigger case wasn't too big and was just as portable and convenient.

I will say that my 1514 filled is close to 40 lbs and the 1564 could easily get past 50...

Erik S. Klein wrote in post #16455407
I traded my 1564 for a 1514 but only for the carry-on reason. The bigger case wasn't too big and was just as portable and convenient.

I will say that my 1514 filled is close to 40 lbs and the 1564 could easily get past 50...

Do you find you are able to fit a decent amount of gear in the 1514? Do you ever miss the extra space of the 1564?

Thank you for your input! It is nice to hear from someone who had had experience with both .

Ratjack wrote in post #16455443
Do you find you are able to fit a decent amount of gear in the 1514? Do you ever miss the extra space of the 1564?

Yes and no.

I always like to have more stuff but I have to draw a line somewhere.

Maxed out I can get my 1Dx, 5D2, 70-200, 85L, 24-70 and 24-105 and 1.4x into the 1514 with all needed chargers, batteries, cards, straps, etc.

That ends up being 40+ pounds of stuff. I then have a small soft bag with my flash, cleaning supplies (rocket blower, lens pens, cloths, etc.) and Lee kit with a few other small items that I may or may not take depending on need.

My tripod and monopod fit into a third bag.

With the 1564 the stuff from the small bag fit into the case as well and, with a bit if effort, I could stuff another lens or mic or something like it. If I packed as tightly as the 1514 I could probably make it hold a bit more to get me closer to that hernia I've always wanted.

The problem was that the packed 1564 wasn't getting on an airplane as carry on and I'll walk before I let airline baggage handlers grope and toss $20K worth of camera gear.

I'm happy having my gear set up the way it is. I can grab the bulk of what I need very quickly and add accessories (flash, mic or support) as needed...

YMMV.

The 1514 can hold a ton of gear if you are creative. I chose it over the 1564 for versatility. Even loaded up its light enough to lug around and if I ever need to carry on, I can. I can even fit my tripod in my 1514

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