Camera leasing

M

mcbob

Veteran
By summer, I'm moving out of my AF100 to something more salable as a freelance owner/op. I do not, however, have $10-20K sitting around in readily accessible cash or credit - nor, frankly, would I want to dump that much given the rapidly changing landscapes and whims of producers.

Enter the lease... of which I am afraid for a variety of personal biases that I could blame on my mother or Dave Ramsey or mixed Scottish/Jewish ancestry. At first glance, potentially spreading equivalent cash out over ~2 years vs. filling up a high-interest credit card seems attractive, if that's even how it realistically works.

Any reason I shouldn't be afraid? What if I need to swap systems or otherwise sell off the camera midway through the lease? What are the various ways I could be screwed by the whole deal? Anything other business considerations I'm not seeing?
 
I leased my C100mkii though Texas Media Systems and Canon Financial Services.

It is a zero percent interest lease with a $1 buyout. Makes the payments easy and there really isn't any downside.

And you can pay it off early with no penalty as well.

In fact I will do the same thing once the C300mkii comes out.

And the people at TMS are excellent to deal with.
 
At 48 months on the C300 mkII, with a $415 monthly payment, it looks like you would be paying about $4,000 more ($3,921 exactly) for the camera when all the payments are made. That's just about an 11.2% interest rate over those 4 years.

I'd much rather try to find a 0% promo rate on a credit card and then do a balance transfer when that rate expires. Or any other financing that's less than 11%.
 
The 24 month at Texas Media Systems is listed at $745 a month, which would be $17,880 total, or still about 11% interest.

Are you seeing something I'm not, though?
 
I'm also curious to have this question answered. Leasing seems like an appealing option now that cameras are so quickly obsolete.
 
Canon C300 Mark II Lease Rates Texas Media Systems

Canon C300 Mark II Lease Rates Texas Media Systems

The C300 Mark II camera is not currently listed as available on Canon's 0%/24 and 1.99%/36 month promotional lease rates that expire at the end of Q2.

If the C300 Mark II were available today and available on the 0% lease promo, the estimated monthly payment cost be $15999/24 = $667 plus taxes and insurance.

Canon Financial Services wouldn't commit that the current promo rates would be extended into Q3 when the C300 Mark II is released, so we based the C300 Mark II rates upon the unlikely scenario that no promotional lease rate would be available for the C300 Mark II. Texas Media Systems will update the lease rates once Canon makes a formal announcement.

FWIW, the 0% was just re-introduced after not being available for some time.

Regarding taxes, many of the larger states like Texas, California, New York, New Jersey and others have full or partial Sales Tax Exemptions for Film & Television equipment. At Texas Media Systems, we like to submit the sales taxes exemption docs with the 1 page lease agreement so that you don't have to deal with Canon at a later date when the bills start arriving with sales tax. Canon Financial Services gives you 90 days to have CFS added to your existing insurance policy as an "Also Insured".

Joshua Cadmium said:
The 24 month at Texas Media Systems is listed at $745 a month, which would be $17,880 total, or still about 11% interest.

Are you seeing something I'm not, though?
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canon-apply-first.png
 
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mcbob said:
By summer, I'm moving out of my AF100 to something more salable as a freelance owner/op. I do not, however, have $10-20K sitting around in readily accessible cash or credit - nor, frankly, would I want to dump that much given the rapidly changing landscapes and whims of producers.

Enter the lease... of which I am afraid for a variety of personal biases that I could blame on my mother or Dave Ramsey or mixed Scottish/Jewish ancestry. At first glance, potentially spreading equivalent cash out over ~2 years vs. filling up a high-interest credit card seems attractive, if that's even how it realistically works.

Any reason I shouldn't be afraid? What if I need to swap systems or otherwise sell off the camera midway through the lease? What are the various ways I could be screwed by the whole deal? Anything other business considerations I'm not seeing?
Click to expand...

I think leasing can be cool.

Most important it is really important to have the right tools to do you work. A really dumb thing to do is scrimp on tools - that does not mean you cant build a business shooting on a phone or a 60d - it means dont get a $10k package when the camera really asks to be a $15k package.

I bought the FS7 cash the day it was released but before that I had had serious flirtation with the F5 and Scarlet.

With both of those cams I could afford the base unit cash but could not stretch to properly building them for work - lots of media batts and in the case of the Scarlet monitors too.

Also the F5 and Scarlet are not true 'premium' cams like the F55 and Epic may be.

Clearly it became apparent that my Scarlet money and a small lease to lift me to Epic would be worth it or F5 money to lift me to the F55 could be worth it too.

I cant remember but it got to the point in my calculations where the higher frame rates of the Epic were going to cost me $100 a month or suchlike - good value!

The last thing you want as a Scarlet owner is leaving it at home, not earning, while your client rents you an Epic.

Right now I have the same nag in my head for my cash FS7 purchase - would I have been better with a C300ii for FS7 money down and a small monthly payment?

C300i vs C500? - certainly the C500 is IMO a way better cam for small extra payments.

I therefore think leases are great for getting you the right tools.

--

100% lease? Well ive only done that once, (to buy 3 nikon D1s stills cameras to leave film) ? Back then I had contract work and was safe (in film savings) that I could cover the full money.

I would be cautious about 100% leases - I dont think a new cam equals new clients!

Downsides?
One thing about a leases.. you commit to this business. Once you are in for $700 a month you cannot become a bum and take out 3 months out to hitchhike to Argentina.. you have to pay. You are now a businessman.

More Downsides?
Understand the technical s*%t, be aware of defaulting on loans, get the right insurance bla bla bla!

S
 
Of course the own verses rent is an infinite debate. But very prescient in todays uber changing world - Alexas and F65s have dropped huge amounts in 24months, but one hopes the owners paid them off in 20 months!

You may want to consider buying maybe the S35-4k JVC and renting the right tool for higher end jobs.

Do some math on that one, two rentals a month maybe cheaper than a lease.. or not.

It is all a spread sheet.

lifestyle, contracts, clients that actually need better than Gh4,AF100, rental costs, multicam jobs (where cam is specified) et etc.

I have one client who's 'A' operator is FS7, Ive slipped right in as 'B' op probably 80% due to the similar cam. Im sure I also lost jobs with my (cash purchased) FS100 and F3 - jobs that I would have won with a leased C300 - but Ive not had to take the hit on C300 depreciation. Swings, roundabouts.

S
 
Yep, much the same mess... already in this as a business, sole bread winner with a wife and three kids, so I'm not bumming around anywhere any time for the next several decades. Already own a GH4 and AF100, fine for some of the work I do, but at the verge of moving into a higher budget class and last year, at best calcs I lost out on ~$7500 by either NOT having the right camera for the job (thus not getting the job) or by having to rent.

FS7 vs. C300.2 vs (mystical unannounced camera)... that's my rough target area, and that's a whole separate debate.
 
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