What's Your HVX Rental Rate?

i prefer to rent from independents rather than indie. the craigslist guys i rent from are always on top of gear maintenance because they own the gear. i know first hand that indie sends out gear that doesn't work right and sometimes the customer service is horrible. they stuck us with a bad hvx and a bad mini35 and a set of zeiss superspeeds that hadn't been serviced since who know's when. my ac was going out of his mind because proper focus was impossible with so many things out of whack. the guys at indie continuously lied to us and said they would send a tech out. nobody ever showed up. this went on for 10 days. i guess eric, the owner was out of town. he apologized repeatedly which is cool but the film is done and problems exist. i have had numerous other problems with them. such as i call in an order and when i get there, nobody knows anything about it. it's always a madhouse and i never get out of there in less than 30 minutes even for a simple one item rental.

the craigslist guys will meet you or even deliver to your set and returning can happen at odd hours. i dig the convenience of it.
 
Jeez, I didn't realize people had such bad experiences with them. Well I'm sure we'll be advertising on Craig's List soon, we just are waiting to get some more equipment in before we start pushing what we have to a wider audience. I have some lenses on order and the RedRock adapter, plus a good matte box / follow focus kit and a Porta-Jib, so we'll be pretty well equipped with whatever an indie filmmaker would need anyway. We aren't trying to rent to big productions anyway, obviously.
 
I rent the panasonic hvx200a, 3 batteries, 4 filters, panasonic shotgun mic, cables, and manual, lacie 160gb external hard drive, 16gb card for 250 a day and charge 75 a day as an operator. That is just me though, If I am not operating the camera and just renting it out I take a 6,000 dollar cash deposite hold until all equipment is brought back. If they don't bring something back I just subtrack it from the 6k and give them the change.


Orlando, FL
Jay Shropshire (Full Sail University film student for hire)
954 914 4164
 
I rent out my HVX 200a, redrock, 5 nikon lenses, bogen sticks, monitor, batteries, 16 GB card, for 450 per day. Thats about 300 less than what the rental houses rent for here in Nashville.

For small budget stuff I will negotiate based on their budget. For example I'm doing a full day shoot for 200 which includes the gear and me as camera man. (mainly because they don't have insurance, so I want to make sure my gear is ok). I have fun and get paid too.
 
In Okc, I rent mine for $400 per day with a FS-100. 16gig p2 cards go for about $75, but most people seem to prefer the FS-100, that i've come into contact with. My day rate as an operator is $500, on top of the rental, but we usually strike a deal for $700-$800 per day total.
 
HVXSHROPSHIRE said:
I rent the panasonic hvx200a, 3 batteries, 4 filters, panasonic shotgun mic, cables, and manual, lacie 160gb external hard drive, 16gb card for 250 a day and charge 75 a day as an operator.
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$75 a day as an operator !!! That's less than $10/hour - I was getting $25/hr TWENTY years ago fresh out of college with NO experience as an operator.

Your skills are worth more than that - even if you don't have experience.
 
In Kansas City, I just started renting my HVX out for $175 day + $25 for a 16 gig P2 card. I also have an audio kit with 4 lavs, 416, me66, ocKtava, sure fp33 mixer in a bortabrace bag and a rycote blimp system with two lectro sonics transmitters / recievers and a RE50 with a lectro plun on transmitter for an additional $100 a day...

I have to keep my prices cheap for a small midwest market. If I were in NY or LA I'm sure you could double it.

And I only rent to friends or DP's that I knwo.
 
That does seem like a deal that's too good to be true. People are right, you should be getting atleast 250 per day or such to go out with equipment. I also wouldn't recommend telling people that you are a fullsail student. Just site your equipment list and experience and leave the fullsail out of it. For some people it might help get you in, but for others it will keep you out and make people assume things about your competency and such.

cheers





HVXSHROPSHIRE said:
I rent the panasonic hvx200a, 3 batteries, 4 filters, panasonic shotgun mic, cables, and manual, lacie 160gb external hard drive, 16gb card for 250 a day and charge 75 a day as an operator. That is just me though, If I am not operating the camera and just renting it out I take a 6,000 dollar cash deposite hold until all equipment is brought back. If they don't bring something back I just subtrack it from the 6k and give them the change.


Orlando, FL
Jay Shropshire (Full Sail University film student for hire)
954 914 4164
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Justyn said:
That does seem like a deal that's too good to be true. People are right, you should be getting atleast 250 per day or such to go out with equipment. I also wouldn't recommend telling people that you are a fullsail student. Just site your equipment list and experience and leave the fullsail out of it. For some people it might help get you in, but for others it will keep you out and make people assume things about your competency and such.

cheers
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I do not think you'd be out of line charging $500 a day for both you and your equptment.
 
indeed.. that's a decent and fair rate... might be nicer to get 800 but a lot of people work all week for that kind of money. It's just does everyone a disservice to work for such cheap prices... Like you have to love the craigslist adds that ask for an experienced A list guy, 12 hour days, will pay 75 bucks if things look good, and maybe provide lunch.. I could make more money mowing lawns..
 
Justyn said:
indeed.. that's a decent and fair rate... might be nicer to get 800 but a lot of people work all week for that kind of money. It's just does everyone a disservice to work for such cheap prices... Like you have to love the craigslist adds that ask for an experienced A list guy, 12 hour days, will pay 75 bucks if things look good, and maybe provide lunch.. I could make more money mowing lawns..
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Justyn,

Thank you! I agree, I just said $500 because it would be a good starting point... I have friends that have put togther some really nice reels and are now getting $3500 a day... If you can show you are worth it you will get the big $.
 
Postmaster said:
Oh boy - 175 a day!

Here in Germany I can rent a HVX for 39 Euros (about $58) a day.

http://www.dv-kameraverleih.de/
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Yeah... and the cam you get is pure crap. Honestly, you get what you pay for and that is espacially for this company. It is good for all the amateurs that these prices exist, but you allways have to be aware of the fact that there is ALWAYS a reason, why they are so cheap.

Market prices for the HVX200 here in germany are about 180€-230€... and you can be sure, that your equipment is in good shape and working. There is nothing more expencive than standing on set with a broken camera.
 
Postmaster said:
I usualy check everything at the renting house before I take it to the set.

Frank
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Sure, but the shop you mentioned is not a rental house... it is a online rental shop, where you pick up your stuff in the flat of some guy...
We rented their steadicam last year and gosh... we had to tape 2 bottles of water on the counterweight because there was a screw missing... I wish I had some pics of that construction.... :D

No, seriously... you get what you pay for...
 
Most industry rental house charge about 1/45th the retail value of the product for a 1 day rental. Basic rule of thumb. This is mainly Grip and Electric Equipment wise. Camera house run in the same way, some charge as much as 1/20th for rental. As always prices are dictated by the market.

Discounts for cash up front and longer rentals.
Generally if you rent for a period of 1 month it's fairly easy to get pricing at an 8 day month or 2 day week for camera equipment and 1/4 or 1/2 day weeks for Grip and Electric Equipment.
So you would pay half the cost of 1 day and get it for 1 week.
If they did not discount like this most film productions would just buy the equipment and many can afford too.


Insurance wise - get business liability insurance. For a small film production company you can expect to pay around $1200 a year - that will get you 2 million in liability coverage. You'll be able to rent from anywhere at that point. It will cost a bit more if you plan on running as a rental house. The alternative is to always require that who ever rents your equipment provides insurance. In this way it costs you nothing.

After a couple years you
ll get big insurance discounts. After 3 years mine is already down to $700,
 
Blood Angel said:
Sure, but the shop you mentioned is not a rental house... it is a online rental shop, where you pick up your stuff in the flat of some guy...
We rented their steadicam last year and gosh... we had to tape 2 bottles of water on the counterweight because there was a screw missing... I wish I had some pics of that construction.... :D

No, seriously... you get what you pay for...
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That´s funny. But why didn´t you get a bolt instead of fiddling with the bottles?

I had problems with gear of more expensive rental houses before.
So there is no chance that only because you pay more you get propper equipment (they just make more profit).

I remeber driving a Digibeta recorder forth and back from Augsburg to Munich just because I haven´t checked it when I got it. 2 weeks later I had 2 broken bulbs in 2 Arris of the same (big expensive) company. So where was my advantage in paying more?

Since that day I make sure it´s working before.

Price is no excuse and no insurance.

Frank
 
Hvx200a
16gb, 2 x 8gb
6 batteries
Letus Ultimate
Zeiss Contax lens kit
Redrock Follow Focus kit

750.00/day

I'm in LA
 
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