Gear rental

S

snoopaloop

I have an idea for a new way to rent camera equipment and I want to see what others think of it.

This idea is still in its infancy but to make a long story short, assume the site would provide a safe and secure way to rent gear from other filmmakers in your community and in turn rent out your gear as well. It would basically allow you to post whatever equipment you want to rent out locally and in turn allow others to search for equipment close to them. This is something I wanted to do on those days where some of my gear is not being used and is just sitting there. I realize this is not something that would appeal to everyone and I certainly wouldn't rent all of my equipment out.

Again, assuming it would be safe, (renter information, credit card deposit, insurance, etc....) would it be something you would use?

Why or why not?

Thank you for your insight!
 
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The big problem with renting from individuals, is that you're screwed if something breaks or doesn't work properly.

Rent from an actual camera/film place, and you have a handful of dead pixels on the sensor? You can have a new camera replacement and be back up & running in an hour. There's no way an individual, looking to make a few extra bucks by renting out, is going to be able to accomodate that - and that means my shoot is over, until I can find another piece of working gear... most likely from an actual rental place.

How does your proposed site handle situations like that, btw?

.
 
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+1 to everything Zensteve mentioned

In addition, whenever I rent from a reputable rental house, I know that the equipment has been appropriately serviced and prepared for me, that the lenses should have been collimated and the camera's flange focal distance or back focus is correct.
I also have anywhere from an afternoon to a whole week, depending on the gig, to prep the gear at the rental house's prep room and ensure absolutely everything works the way we want and need, and if it doesn't then we can have it fixed or replaced immediately.

And then if we run into issues on set we can call the rental house and they can replace the camera immediately.

And then there's all the insurance issues...

Interesting concept though
 
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I don't mind renting my gear out, I do it from time to time. Also, if the price is right then on some projects I'd be willing to try a system like that out. I'm thinking no more than half what the big oine guys charge, which is usually half to a third of any local rental.

The big problem I see is not being able to rent everything you want from the same seller. Shipping is an expensive part of the online rental world. I think I paid like $75 round trip for my last order in shipping alone because it has to be two day both ways. If I want specific camera bodies and lenses but I have to order from two or three sources to get it all, then that doubles or triples the shipping.
 
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There might be a market for such a website.

But I wouldn't use it for the reasons Zen and j_r mention. Perhaps
there are filmmakers who would take the chance if the fee was
considerably lower. But if the fee is only, say, 20 to 30 percent lower
it just isn't worth it.

I'm interested in your thoughts about the issues posed.
 
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Morris said:
A friend used to rent out jibs, but they were abused when they came back. Some people will treat them like some treat rental cars.
Click to expand...

And when this happens at a rental house, they not only (usually) have multiple units, so if something is booked the next day, a pristine unit can go out, they also have (along with the production, usually) insurance, so if something is broken, it's written up as either a production insurance claim, or the rental house's insurance claim.
 
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