For years I transported my tripod as checked baggage in a padded tube when flying. In fact, sometimes I would need two tripods while on assignment, and would nest the two together end-to-end so that their legs intertwined like mating squids (don't ask me if I watch squids mating--it just sounded like a good analogy). I would remove the center columns first, and stick them down along the side of the mated "squids" inside the tube. The tube had a handle in the middle for balanced carrying by hand, and I installed a sling for over-the-shoulder hands-free carrying. With a single tripod I could get three small light stands inside the tube as well.
In later years when my assignments required lighting set-ups with big light stands, I did the same squid-mating thing with the tripod legs and light stands, then wrapped them in thick foam padding secured with parachute cord. This bundle then went into a zippered canvas carrying case for shipment as checked baggage. The heavy foam padding was to protect the tripod and stands as much as to protect the bag's zipper, as a sharp blow or heavy weight on top of the bag could cause the zipper to become crushed or ripped loose by the tripod legs or head, or the angled corner of a light stand. Again, a sling provided hands-free shoulder carrying. The full-length zipper had two zipping mechanisms that would be joined in the center. When unzipped the bag lay flat, making the loading of equipment into it a breeze. I told all of our people at work to be sure that they zippered BOTH zipping mechanisms into the middle of the bag when travelling, and not to use just one zipping mechanism along the entire length of the zipper so that both "tabs" met at one end instead of in the middle (this closure "tab" mechanism has a formal name that escapes me right now--a zipper foot?). We would secure the two zipper pull-tabs with a heavy piece of twisted wire to prevent the zippers from opening, but a small padlock would work just as well for more security. Of course, one of our know-it-all photographers ignored my edict and zipped his bag all the way to the end, and some rough handling by the airline broke the zipper teeth at the end near both closed zippers. This resulted in the bag being unable to be zipped open, as both zipping mechanisms were "land-locked" above the broken zipper. The zipper was damaged beyond repair, but it could have been sewn shut at that point, and the two zipping mechanisms could have worked OK all along the remaining length of the bag had the two zipper mechanisms been in the middle of the bag instead of at one end when the damage occurred. Had he followed instructions the bag would have been usable, but in that state the bag had to be torn open to get the light stands out and the bag thrown away. I almost always travelled alone on photo shoots, so I made every attempt to pack and carry all of my photo gear and suitcase by myself without redcaps, etc. I use a heavy-duty (up to 400 pound payload) two-wheel luggage cart which goes either as carry-on or checked baggage, depending on how many cases I am taking with me. I always have a shoulder bag as my travelling briefcase, and carry the tripod tube/bag over my other shoulder as it is nearly impossible to attach it to the cart when it has been filled with camera cases. At times I have travelled alone with eight cases of gear, plus the briefcase, cart and tube. My excess baggage charges usually were more than my plane tickets! John B. Corns --> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects X-Mozilla-Status: 0001 Content-Length: 1822
