Journal
Guides for renting and lending film gear
Guides from Picturental on renting and lending film and photo gear, hiring crew on demand, and getting the most out of a peer-to-peer rental.
Guides ·
Grip and power hire: the 21% missing from your lighting budget
Every grip item is trivially cheap on its own, which is why the category gets skipped and why the lamps are only four fifths of the bill.
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Sony A7S III vs FX3: same sensor, and the cheaper one costs more
The rental market pays for the cooling fan and the XLR inputs, and does not pay for the viewfinder — which inverts the buy price entirely.
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Gimbal hire in London: the same RS 4 Pro costs £55 or £120
The spread is huge on handheld gimbals and almost nothing on professional ones, so the cheaper the gimbal the more it pays to ring round.
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Hiring a drone in the UK: what you legally need, and who is liable
The CAA makes whoever is registered as operator responsible for the competence of anyone who flies the aircraft — a duty no other category of hired kit carries.
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Sound kit hire in London: why the same mic costs £19 or £38
Unlike a light, a doubled price on the same microphone is mostly kit contents — and the missing dead cat is what ruins an exterior.
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Lighting hire in London: the same lamp, a 50% price spread
Four London rental houses, one ARRI SkyPanel S60-C, a £65 spread. Two lamps for a week costs £650 more at the dearest than the cheapest.
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What a one-day London shoot actually costs, line by line
Two lights cost £382.80 against £426.72 for the camera, lenses, monitoring and tripod together. Crew is the bigger half of the day at 52%.
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Tax on renting out camera gear, and where the £1,000 line is
An ARRI ALEXA 35 listed at £985 a day crosses the trading allowance on its second rental of the year. The allowance is measured in gross income, not profit.
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Does your camera insurance cover renting your gear out?
Ripe's policy excludes theft and damage while equipment is hired out unless you are present. The wording treats a dry hire as the uninsured case.
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How many rental days before your camera has paid for itself
A £4,199 PYXIS 12K and a £2,999 FX3 both pay for themselves in 25 rental days. Here is the payback table for four cameras, and what a rental house charges.
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London film crew jobs: what the boards pay, and what the rate cards say
Mandy's London board showed 178 roles across 105 productions and a £220 median. The agreements covering the same crafts are split by budget band — here is which card is yours.
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When a cine lens set costs less than two primes
The point where a set beats single primes comes at three lenses, not five — and on anamorphic it comes at two. Here is the arithmetic, with London day rates.
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A Hygglo alternative in the UK for film and photo gear
Hygglo takes a fifth of every rental from owners and puts your camera in the same queue as garden tools. Here's a film-only alternative that leaves your day rate whole — and where Hygglo still wins.
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What it costs to hire a cinema camera in London
Day rates for the bodies and glass people actually ask for, plus the week conventions, kit contents and insurance that decide the real number.
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Fat Llama alternative in the UK: camera gear fees compared
Hygglo takes 20% from lenders and 25% from camera renters. Here is how that compares with a film-only marketplace — and when a general one is still the right call.
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How much can you earn renting out your camera gear in the UK?
Real day rates, the fees that come out of them, and what a working owner can expect in a month — with the tax and damage questions answered plainly.
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How Picturental works: peer-to-peer film gear and crew hire, on demand
Rent professional kit from the people who own it, or match with gear and crew nearby in 60 seconds. Here is how it works, what it costs and how it keeps you safe.
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