Pelican Case for my Nikon D40

October 3, 2009

I recently got a Pelican hard case to house my Nikon D40 and an extra lens. For those who don't know, Pelican is a company that specializes in designing and building cases which are all but indestructible. They cater heavily to the military and other industries requiring rugged cases for sensitive equipment. On Pelican's site, they show a case being run over by a Ford Excursion with no problems, a strong case for the strength of their products.

This is the 1200 Case. Note the angled plastic around the hinges.

The case is made of hard plastic and has very heavy duty latches and hinges. Every moving point on the case is designed with plastic parts around it molded at angles to deflect any blows to the weaker structure and maintain the case's integrity. The lid has an O-ring seal which makes it waterproof and dust proof as well. In addition, the case has a pressure relief valve that is made with a special Gore-Tex membrane which allows air to pass through and relieve either positive or negative pressure, but also keeps water from passing though. This feature might take a minute to figure out, but if you open it on a plane or a high altitude environment and close it, when taken to a lower altitude environment the case will have developed a vacuum inside and will be difficult to open. With the valve in place, it is easy to open regardless of the outside pressure.

This is the automatic pressure purge valve. Unlike earlier models, this is completely automatic, requiring no opening or closing by the user. It is also waterproof, like everything else.

Pelican warrants their cases to be almost indestructible, although their liability is limited to the case and not it's contents. Those with children under 5 should be weary though, because along with damage from shark bite and bear attack it is exempt from the warrantee (although I think that this is somewhat sarcastic, and meant to show that they cover everything). I have checked over the internet and found nothing but great stories about Pelican's customer service and their no-nonsense warrantee.

I got the 1200 Model in black. This is a small case that can easily fit into a backpack or be carried without adding any bulk to your gear. It also adds some peace of mind, as I no longer have to worry about getting caught in a torrential downpour or a rough environment with my camera gear. As long as I have it closed in the case, it will take anything that I can, and more. It comes with what Pelican refers to as pick and pluck foam, which simply means that the foam comes in small cubes that can be pulled out in the shape of your gear. Although I  got this specifically for my D40, it will also work fine with a D40x or D60, the new D3000 and D5000, and I imagine also with any of the other smaller DSLR's.

This is my case. You can see where my D40 goes, it is gone because I was using it to take this picture. The silver around the outline was from the marker I used to mark the pick and pluck foam.

I have my case arranged to hold my camera with my 35 f/1.8 on it and the hood reversed. It also has room for one other lens, in this case my 55-200. I can also substitute the 18-55 if I will be using wide angle, although the 35 I have been using along with the 55-200 covers just about everything I need. It will also hold a few more things, such as a few memory cards, filters, or accessories to the area directly right or below the camera.

Here you can see the plastic strategically molded around the latches, designed to deflect any blows to the latches or hinges. These are around every area, designed so the case cannot catch an edge anywhere and break a part off. This thing really has been designed to take whatever you can throw at it.