Rental of super 16mm equipment

Landon D. Parks · August 26, 2004

Can someone point me to a good rental house that rents all the production needs from one place?

I'v looked at clairmont camera and several other places. One will have a lot of camera euipment, but no grip. and likewise for the rest.

Im looking for a place to rent a Aaton XTR Pro w/ 800' mag (Maybee a Arri 16 Advance w/ 400' mag if no Aaton is available), Dolly, Track, Panther Cinejib (or equal), lighting ect...

Im not really wanting to rent everything from 2 oe 3 different places. but all from one.

If anyone knows a place that has all this equipment very cheap for a MAx 3 day a week rental., and 2 if possible?

since I have never delt with a rental house before , I am very dumb to the fact of how it all works. I Thank you in advance for your advice!

Landon

P.s) This product is out of my league im sure, But does anyone knoe who rents a Panther Galaxy crane w/platform? and if so, what the average price per day is?

:rolleyes:

Josh Hill · August 29, 2004

Well if there's nothing near you, I think you're going to be screwed in trying to get it to you. I once talked to someone about renting an Arri SR (because they had excellent prices) but they would have to ship it, and they were quoting over 1000 dollars shipping price to get it to me on time and then another 1000 dollars to ship everything back (camera, mags, lenses, matte box, etc etc).

Also, they're probably going to expect extra insurance if you're shipping it around or moving it (I'm assuming that you're not shooting in Cali or New York, since I remember you mentioning in the past not being near rental houses).

My advice would be don't worry about how many places you have to rent things from, rent them from wherever is closest to you, somewhere you can drive in a day. Otherwise whatever you're trying to save in a good rental deal will be eaten up in shipping and extra insurance.

Honestly, from the looking around I've done, you're probably better off renting from mulitple places ANYWAY. You can get a better deal on grip stuff if you rent from a house that specializes in grip, rather than renting from a camera house with a limited grip department.

Gear Rental in Austin (www.gearrental.com) used to have an XTR on consignment but they got rid of it, but if you called and wanted to rent a grip package they could probably put you in touch with the owner (complete camera package for 600 a day, lens, mags, batteries, matte box, and all) ... but I doubt you'd want to drive a truck from Texas for about 250 a day plus mileage (which is another issue).

Landon D. Parks · August 30, 2004

Also, they're probably going to expect extra insurance if you're shipping it around or moving it (I'm assuming that you're not shooting in Cali or New York, since I remember you mentioning in the past not being near rental houses).

I Don't know where I'll be shooting. But I image in and around Bloomington, Indiana. Which is about 60 miles south of Indianapolis. Im not sure if they have any camera shops or not.

But I guess I could go up to Chicago and get the equipment. Its only 3-4 hours from me. Im sure they have several rental houses.

Really im about 2 1/2 hours away from some large city's. Louisville to the south, Cincinnati to the east, Indianapolis to the north.

I have also considered just hiring people who have the equipment. There are a lot of DP and film crews in indianapolis who have there own equipment. Which may work better?

I don't know, we will just have to see.

but I doubt you'd want to drive a truck from Texas

no thanks, lol :unsure:

robfowler_dp · August 30, 2004

Landon,

Why are you going to rent the equipment ? You should let your DP rent it. Most experience DP's have established relationships with rental houses and know where to get it from and probably know what house has what equipment and often can get great deals because they have already established a long relationship with a rental house. Also, some DP's have their own choice for dolly, jibs, cranes. Why would you rent brand-x when you don't even know how it works and force your DP to work with equiptment they probably haven't even worked with. Also, most DP's have built relationships with their gaffers over the years who can also procure any equiptment the DP desires, and also know what they want.

RF

Alex Ellerman · August 30, 2004

SMS productions in Chicago is well known for S16 rental (and they have most everything you would need from there.) SMS

TT

Tim Carroll · August 30, 2004

If your coming to Chicago to rent, also check out MPS

http://www.mps-chicago.com/

If for no other reason than to have a competitive price war with SMS and let the two of them try to beat each others prices. MPS specializes in Arri equipment with Arri SR2's and maybe SR3's.

When are you shooting, and what is your production schedule?

-Tim

Laurent Andrieux · August 30, 2004

I Don't know where I'll be shooting

When you know, let us know... B)

Elhanan Matos · August 31, 2004

I think you would be lucky to rent from only 2 or 3 places, Usually if your trying to keep to a strict budget you'll get cameras from the camera house that will give you the best price for cameras, lights from the place that will give you the best price for lights, and the same goes for grip, props, sets, dollies, trucks, and the list goes on and on and on.

If you have the budget then you could rent cameras from whatever camera house you would like and then get everything else from a big studio like warner bros, or universal or sony pictures.

It's a shame your not shooting in LA, then you would be able to experience the magic that is "Wooden Nickel."

Oh and about getting equipment shipped from out of state, it's done all the time, but you would normally want to prep your own package at the rental house, you'll want to do scratch tests on your mags, test all your lenses, make sure all your gear works and so on.

Landon D. Parks · August 31, 2004

When are you shooting, and what is your production schedule?

Well, I imagin Late Fall / winter / early spring. and Im guessing schedule for Principle Photography would be 3-5 weeks.... depends on the budget we have to work with.

everything else from a big studio like warner bros, or universal or sony pictures.

I got a Price list from Warner... I will say they tend to be cheaper on some things than some rental houses I'v seen. But I think bringing equipment from L.A to Indiana would be quite a feet, and cost a lot of money.

I think I'll just allow the DP to get the equipment. I have meetings with 3 DP's now, all out of Indianapolis.

If anyone here is interested, I can't say what the job would offer. But I'm sure it would be a learning and fun experiance for all! (lol) But contact me (PM, E-mail, YAHOO me, what ever), And we can talk.

(The reason Im not starting this production sooner is the fact that I am currently working with a local caving organization to Direct there Cave film, Working title is: "The true Caver". It invlovs a lot of mud crawls, water passage's 1 foot high and everything. And we have to squeez Broadcast cameras and lights into them. PP on this to start 6-8 weeks from now.)

*PP: Principle Photography