UK Red Rental. Buy to rent?

Steve Shovlar

Steve Shovlar

DVXuser Sponsor
I have three weeks to make up my mind whether to invest in a Red One.
I would love to own one, and can probably afford it. But really, owning such an expensive camera to be used for my feature, and home movies, is quite an expense!

So what would be the rental options in the UK? Would it be easy for me to advertise that I have a Red One to rent out on daily and weekly packages? Would there be enough demand out there in the UK to help pay for the camera? Having never rented out camera gear, it seems a real minefield. Stolen, damaged, abused are just three things that spring to mind immediately. I really look after my gear and treat it with the respect it deserves. I am sure rental gear is treated like hire cars. See how fast it will go in first gear etc!

What would one charge for the hire of the camera? How would you accept payment. How would you make sure the hirer isn't giving false information and only has theft in mind? Etc etc etc...

If I knew I could cover the expense of the Red One with rental, I would buy one tomorrrow. Anyone in the UK have thoughts on this?
 
You could always hire yourself out WITH the camera. This way you'll be a bit more sure of the use and abuse it gets :)
(ps: I don't know anything about renting a camera out either)
 
Hire yourself out as a Digital Image Technician (DIT or Digitographer) and travel with the camera to keep an eye on it, or better still learn to use the camera and be one of the elite few 4k digital camera operators in the UK. You will need to invest in insurance and make sure that any production company hiring your equipment has insurance too.

One of the problems facing you will be having a complete solution. Productions often like to use companies they know, and if they can hire an ARRI setup with all the lenses from one place it makes the paperwork and hassle alot easier. But this is were RED users have to be clever in marketing the system. And don't forget if you take the approach of using it for creating HD footage for TV you have a world of opportunity from the likes of BBC and private production companies who make documentaries or tv programs to break into.

Personally I think the best way to look at it is selling yourself with the camera. Learn to shoot with it, practice and become an expert and then walk onto a set and show people why you can offer them £100,000 worth of expertise because they suddenly don't have to worry about working with film.

Anyone expecting to make money from simply buying and renting the camera will like to think they can make alot to begin with, but the truth is this simply is not Hollywood. There aren't as many people shooting films here and those that are are use to what they know. The film schools are only just beginning to encorporate HD equipment so telling a lecturer that using a 4k digital cinema camera is a possible alternative to film will seem like blasphemy.

Also don't forget that if you order it and put down the $1000 (About £540) you can always get that back if you change your mind later. Which gives you more time to think about it. I've also found that by taking that step it makes you think differently about how you act towards the product. (It also means you think of it as costing $16500 too lol)

Like I say though buy it, become an expert with it and educate those in the field, look at it from this point of view and the select few who are purchasing one in the UK could consider themselves pioneers in many respects.
 
I suppose it would also give my feature a push as well. The first feature shot in the UK on a Red One.

That does sound cool.
 
Steve Shovlar said:
I suppose it would also give my feature a push as well. The first feature shot in the UK on a Red One.

That does sound cool.
Click to expand...

Yeah we'll have to see about that ;)
 
Well I haven't finished the script yet but its shaping up very nicely. However if you have already ordered your Red One you are likely to be in front of me!

I'm Shooting next summer.
 
I doubt I'll be shooting a feature straight away Steve, if you need a second camera or pair of hands though gimme a shout. I'd be happy to help out.
 
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