FS7: Financing a Camera Package

V

Vintegreo

Well-known member
I'd love to hear stories about purchasing your first FS7 package (or other equivalent).

I rent the camera when I need it and have been pondering taking the purchasing plunge. Sony has their financing that they promote, some people will use a credit card and pay it off, and others might consider getting an old fashioned loan for their gear.

I have rented the camera enough times now so that I'm getting a much clearer picture in mind as to what I would buy and would love to not be renting all the time. BUT...on the business side, it's not always abundantly clear when to take the plunge.

Any insights on how you decided and how you financed it would be appreciated. Perhaps you took the plunge when you were renting weekly or otherwise. Or perhaps you had $30K worth of seed money to buy the cam along with a bunch of accessories and got it done in one fell swoop.

Thanks!

Tim
 
I am very old school. I do monthly savings for investments. So I mostly pay cash.
If the expenses aren't covered by savings I 1st of all think twice if I really need it ;-)
but I know that if I need a short hand credit when it will be paid back by savings.
I found out to spend savings is harder than go for a credit which is a good thing.

I do plannings every year of investments and add 25% for unforeseen.
Sounds boring but lets me sleep well
 
Clermond said:
I am very old school. I do monthly savings for investments. So I mostly pay cash.
If the expenses aren't covered by savings I 1st of all think twice if I really need it ;-)
but I know that if I need a short hand credit when it will be paid back by savings.
I found out to spend savings is harder than go for a credit which is a good thing.

I do plannings every year of investments and add 25% for unforeseen.
Sounds boring but lets me sleep well
Click to expand...

There's nothing wrong with being old school!!
 
First, no matter what you decide to do, wait for the coming announcement for a new Sony camera in 2-3 weeks (one rumour claims it's a FS7mkII)...

Me, personally, my income is too irregular so I only ever buy anything if I can pay it cash, in full. Not being tied up in monthly expenses is what saves me in the down periods (which are much more common that the ups!).
 
I bought my fs7 in June of 2015, as a "comprehensive" kit investment. I ended up over the 30k Mark, and have been paying it down since. I'm less than half left at this point.

I financed all of the Sony items through abel cine in NYC, there was 0% interest for 12 months (caveat, the entirety of the financing must be paid off in 12 months, which was not what I was expecting. I thought I could pay most in 12 months, and then pay the rest with some interest - nope!). So anyway, 0% for 12 months on all of the sony gear, which included a baseplate, two UWPd11 LAV mics, and various bits and pieces like the kit lens, XDCA back, etc etc. I also bought an a7s as part of my deal. I believe that totaled to 17/18k if I recall. My monthly payment was 1500 dollars for 12 months, which really put a strain on me. But I made it work. I had a full time job at the time which I wasn't necessarily planning to have, I used that full-time job to pay the rent and live, and I worked most every weekend or atleast 2 a month to finance the camera. My side money made with the camera paid it off in the one year. That felt great.

The additional money, spent on batteries, sachtler sticks, canon lenses, etc. I borrowed from my family with a 3%interest loan on my mother's home equity line of credit. I make monthly payments to her of 500 dollars (during that year making the 1500 a month too, yes that was crazy) And now that I'm not making those 1500 dollar payments, I pay a bit more towards the "mom loan" as I call it. My goal is to have the remainder paid down early 2017. I still have a full time job at a TV show, and side hustle on weekends. Now I occasionally rent my fs7 to close friends who need it as a b or c cam, that supplements some of the financials as well.


It's a big ol' bullet to bite, and I wouldn't have guessed I could have made those payments, but I was diligent and busted my butt to make sure I could. And I did. It's the kind of money that makes itself back. Next year, I'll own 30 something thousand dollars of gear outright. That will be the day. (i'll probably buy a nice lens at that point like a dummy).

Good luck! Buy some stuff used, and most stuff new, its a big investment but you don't wanna be making payments on stuff that's crappy or broken. My big used purchase was the sachtler sticks with video 18p head. Half price from new, work horse sticks that I shouldn't need to replace in any kind of near future.


edit: I knew that a lot of the jobs I was going to get were to be last minute, owner op type stuff. Having the camera in my apartment and not at a rental house definitely made a few jobs a bunch easier to say yes to. It makes taking a 500 dollar total a day job for shooting and lighting and stuff worth it because you have it all already and don't need to rent it. It also helps when you get hired as an AC and rent the production your camera. You are the one making sure everything is straight with it and treated proper, and you basically get paid two day rates in one day. oh yeaaaah.
 
I borrowed money for the FS700 when i first started my business. When i sold it + Odyssey 7Q some three years later, i used that money + some fresh income to buy the FS7 with batts, cards, and audio in cash.

Only 8 months later did i buy even more additional batteries, cards, more lavaliers, audio, easyrig etc. in cash for a big job when it was all actually needed. Got by with cheap Lexar media and only three batteries until then.

I borrowed when first starting up, but now i only buy cash when i know i have a (big) job coming up where gear is either needed, or when the job will pay for the gear. I use credit cards that give me points toward free airplane tickets on every purchase so i can travel with my gear, but i only use the credit card after the contracts have been signed, or the job is complete and money is in my account. I do not use credit as a loan.
 
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When I got my FS7, I did the 0% 12 month promotion through Sony who uses DeLage Landen as the finance company. I bought it locally through Samy's Camera.

DON'T DO Sony financing. DeLage Landen reported my financing to the Los Angeles Business Office who then hit me with a "Unsecured Business Tax" which is total B.S. because I already paid sales tax on it. So now, the city of Los Angeles wants $130 "tax" a year for the duration of my FS7 ownership. Huge extortion on the part of the city since sales tax was already paid.

I would personally just get a 0% for 12 months credit card so the government doesn't get into your business anymore than it needs to.
 
A number of times I've found a good credit card through the web that has 0% interest for 18 months. A lot of them automatically give you double the original manufacturers warranty as well and I've successfully used that for serious $1000+ repairs even though the fine print says its not for business equipment. After 18 months you can always switch to another card for a 3% balance transfer fee.
Boosts your credit rating as well to have bought more on credit .
JUST MAKE SURE YOU PAY EACH MONTH ON TIME. They can remove the 0% deal if your late so I always set up bill pay to pay the minimum every month automatically from my bank.
 
I would not ever us Sony 24-48 month finance a camera like this. Technology moves so fast, if you can't pay it off in a year then it's not worth buying IMO. I usually use a 0% credit card. The FS7 was paid off faster than I expected it would.
 
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