Renting your personal camera

komodorover · August 13, 2004

I was pondering the idea lately of putting out ads to rent my Pansonic AG-DVX100A, but I don't know what the pros and cons are of doing this or the ettiquette. Does anyone have any knowledge and or opinion about renting personal equipment to strangers?

Rich Steel · August 13, 2004

Does anyone have any knowledge and or opinion about renting personal equipment to strangers?

YES, DON'T, IT WILL EITHER GET TRASHED A DAMN SIGHT QUICKER OR WORST LUCK STOLEN, NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN. PEOPLE DON'T LOOK AFTER KIT IF IT'S NOT THEIR OWN. AS FOR RENTING TO STRANGERS, GET SOME SORT OF HEAVY DUTY DEPOSIT OR PAYMENT UP FULL AND ALWAYS GET SO PUKKA I.D.

I MEAN WOULD YOU HONESTLY HIRE A $5000 CAMERA TO A STRANGER. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE INSURANCE IN PLACE.

If that hasn't put you off and if you still want to rent out the camera to serious players then you'll have to make a significant investment in a complete package (i.e Decent Tripod, Matte Box, Follow Focus, Light Weight Support Bars, Batteries, Field Monitor/LCD, Flight casing etc). So your initial investment of say $5000 (US) for the camera Balloons to $10,000 (US) and if your really serious about renting consider the following:

24/7 Support

Back-up Equipment (yet another huge investment)

Insurance

Carlos M. Icaza · August 14, 2004

I think Rich said it best.

Around here (SF Bay Area) it is about $100.00 a day for renting Panasonic 24P DVX 100 Camera by itself. But that is from a rental house, which has just about everything else for rent, and that's all they do, rent cameras and camera equipment. They will not talk to you unless you have insurance and put them as part of the insurance rider.

Does anyone have any knowledge and or opinion about renting personal equipment to strangers?

My opinion is that I don't think is worth the headache.

I personally don't have any horror stories. But seen and heard plenty.

C.-

Phil Rhodes · August 14, 2004

Hi,

Sod that, I just finished paying for the damn thing.

Phil

Matt Short · August 14, 2004

I've rented my camera package (beta sp) a couple of times to very experienced friends of mine. I will never, I repeat, NEVER do this again. Niether one of these guys have ever owned their own equipment. All they've ever done is rent. I went on one shoot with one of these guys and couldn't believe how he treated my camera, right in front of me! I realized this would be the last time I rented out my gear about the third time I said, "Hey, Bob, how about putting the camera on the tripod instead of just dropping it in the dirt." <_<

Xuefei24p · August 17, 2004

Do not buy a camera unless you can cover the cost, because, if you make the mistake of renting that thing out...well, you can only guess what'll happen. People are pigs, my friend, when they work with a set-up they don't own. Then, on top of that lax attitude, if they screw it up, you don't have the power of an established rental house backing you up when its time to collect. Save yourself a lot of trouble.

Josh Hill · August 17, 2004

HOWEVER ... if you really want to make some cash on the off time by renting your equipment, you can always try to find a rental house that will rent it out on consignment. Of course you're not going to get the full cost of the rental, because they're going to take their percentage out of it, but at least you have some security against a stolen or damaged camera. And you have the rental house to back you if something happens, or have it serviced if it is damaged.

But its still iffy, and I would give it a lot of thought.