Gear storage idea

I need an idea for storing gear. My EOS gear is pretty well stored right now between a couple of cases but I recently expanded my Canon manual foucs collection and I need a idea about what would be the best case or cases store it in. These won't be travel cases as it's mainly for storing it at home. I have 5 bodies (AE-1, AE-1Px2, A-1, FTb) and about a dozen lenses or so.

waylandcool wrote in post #16724197
I need an idea for storing gear. My EOS gear is pretty well stored right now between a couple of cases but I recently expanded my Canon manual foucs collection and I need a idea about what would be the best case or cases store it in. These won't be travel cases as it's mainly for storing it at home. I have 5 bodies (AE-1, AE-1Px2, A-1, FTb) and about a dozen lenses or so.

I have one of these in the home studio and all my gear gets stored on it when its not being used.
http://www.costco.com …ck-.product.11517555.html

I store my cameras (nearly 25 film cameras) in this cabinet from Ikea.

http://i462.photobucke​t.com …/qq349/djmky/DS​C04505.jpg

^^not my picture

the flying moose wrote in post #16724233
I have one of these in the home studio and all my gear gets stored on it when its not being used.
http://www.costco.com …ck-.product.11517555.html

I have a couple of the similar offering from Metro. They weren't purchased expressly for that purpose, just leftover from a previous life. They work well enough, I suppose; kinda cliche` but at the same time horribly useful. If you can stomach going into an IKEA, I've noticed they have something similar for noticeably less.

One of the ideas I recently had was relevant to this topic, albeit in a studio situation (were I to be able to establish one again) and that was to use multi-drawer tool chests.

I measured my camera bodies (with how I wanted to store them kept in mind) and determined that I'd need drawers that were about 5" deep, and once I had that spec in hand it was easier to visualize how to go about it.
I think it'd be neat... a drawer for bodies and batts/chargers... a drawer for lenses.... a drawer for filters.... a drawer for speedlights.
And wheels.

dave63 wrote in post #16724360
One of the ideas I recently had was relevant to this topic, albeit in a studio situation (were I to be able to establish one again) and that was to use multi-drawer tool chests.

I measured my camera bodies (with how I wanted to store them kept in mind) and determined that I'd need drawers that were about 5" deep, and once I had that spec in hand it was easier to visualize how to go about it.
I think it'd be neat... a drawer for bodies and batts/chargers... a drawer for lenses.... a drawer for filters.... a drawer for speedlights.
And wheels.

Thats a nice idea, could get expensive rather fast Nice tool chests are not something that come cheap.

Well, when you consider what you're going to be doing with them - home/studio use and not a lot of traveling - 'nice' doesn't have to mean Snap-On or MAC.
Harbor Fright has reasonably decent ones on sale every couple of months or so; Home Despot has the Husky brand that I found (upon direct inspection) to be of comfortable quality, and every now and then they offer things on sale or a combo of two units, on sale at a great price; the trick is that the pricing is 'online only' and you can pick up the items within 24-48 hours at a store of your choice.

One reasonable, potential delineation of operating environments I can see - and this is what generated this idea in the first place - is 'portable studio'. Where your gear is packaged in a way that it can live neatly at home/studio and not look so 'travel ready' yet can, with modest effort, load into your vehicle and live on a location site yet provide you some sense of familiarity and operating environment comfort.

For me, one of the more unnerving and frustrating things is taking my gear out of the home/studio environment, packing it up, and making sure it's all accounted for when you're using it in a not-normal environment. I reasoned that the tool chest approach would provide a sense of commonality between home and location environments; in my case, I could simply lock the drawers, roll the chest out to the Jeep or the Explorer, toss my lighting case in there, and go.
In some ways (for me, at least) this beats multiple Pelican cases, various bags, and laminated checklists, and multiple trips to the vehicle to load everything up for a shoot. It also seems to me that it would present more interestingly at location... you'd have a few centralized containers instead of scattered, piled luggage. i.e., a client could potentially be even more impressed at your operation because of your mondo efficiency skills.

I have a small closet that is really too small for clothing (about 2.5 feet wide), so I put in shelves, and use that.
The wire racks would work well, but if you're married, your wife may not like the industrial look.
Other ideas I've seen tossed around are gun safes, file cabinets (low legal sized ones), some of those huge travel sized camera bags with wheels for at home storage, a cheap dresser/bookshelf unit from Target/Walmart/Ikea/et​c., or in some cases, a second home.

I store my gear in a fire resistant gun safe. Honestly, I don't have a lot but if something happened to them, it would take me a very long time to rebuild my collection. I couldn't live with that. And the safe is obviously good for other things such as, well, firearms.. but other things like jewelry, watches, documents, old photos, etc. I think they're worth every penny. And don't forget to bolt it down. An unbolted safe will get wheeled out of your house guaranteed. OP has so much equipment that this might not really work lol.

I was thinking about getting one of these worksite tool chests for other valuables. Bolted down of course.

I like using a Pelican case to store gear in at home, it keeps things organized and protected. They can take some abuse, and would be great to have if you ever need to travel or ship.

i have been using an older igloo ice box about 3'x5'x2' as a safe box for storing body's and lenses,mostly because i live near the cost line and the weather is so damp hear and i fear the moister/fungus,its been working out nicely and keeps my gear in one place.

BobbyM wrote in post #16725401
I like using a Pelican case to store gear in at home, it keeps things organized and protected. They can take some abuse, and would be great to have if you ever need to travel or ship.

me too.

i'd love to put my gear in a cabinet where it's easy to access and appreciate, but living in California means dealing with the inevitable earthquake. i suppose having a cabinet with glass panels that lock would be good enough as people put far more expensive things in those cabinets for showing off.

i dunno. i feel safer with the gear protected from falls and things falling on them.

Storage bench I got from Target. Matches the decor and holds a LOT of gear.

Hey waylandcool, something else I thought of is, the Metro brand has baskets, and a set of hooks available. The hooks can clip on anywhere and are good for hanging things like 5-in-1 reflectors, straps, etc. (I even have my tripod in its bag hanging on one); the baskets come in two sizes... one longer and shallower for hanging on the broad side of the shelf, and one shorter and deeper for hanging on the short side (depth) of the shelf.
Don't know if the brand you're looking at offers them, but it might be something to consider. They've been terribly useful for me.

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