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Scarlet Owners Who Rent Their Gear Out: How's Business?

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Chase J. Carnahan

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Hey all,

I've been considering making an investment into a Scarlet - X, and I have been having trouble contacting those who actually own their camera and rent it out to help supplement their income.

I have a few questions for those who do.

1. How often do you rent out your gear, and what's the average rate you charge? (for the base package).

2. Is it a requirement to have lots of other lenses and mounting options to rent out your gear?

3. Would you consider it a smart investment, knowing what you know now?

Thanks everyone!

Chase
 
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Yeah, long time no see! This is a great thread, Burke, but at the same time I didn't really see any opinions from people who have success renting out their gear. If anything, people kept saying "Just rent one", which would confirm my theory that it's a good idea to own it and rent it out! If renting it is the more practical use for the camera, wouldn't renting it out also be more practical, financial wise?

I would really like to see some thoughts from Scarlet owners who rent out their gear, whether it be successfully or unsuccessfully. Ultimately I would like to use my Scarlet for my own productions, but if it takes me 40 days of rental to recoup the costs, that will be worth it for me, in the end.
 
I have a Scarlet and occasionally rent it out. I would say that It gets rented out 2-3 times a year. For a base package I usually get $350 a day. I would say most people who contact me end up wanting more gear than a basic kit, more memory cards, more batteries, and other accessories. I think if I didn't have these accessories it might be more difficult to rent out.

For the most part though, rentals dont' come around often, I usually am the one shooting with them.
 
Hey Louis,

Do you actively search for people trying to rent? Do you advertise on craigslist and other sources like that?

You comment is very interesting to me. I was thinking I would be able to pay it off in about 6 months if I tried really hard to get it rented, but the way you describe it makes it sound like not a great investment.
 
I don't actively search for rentals no. Other than posting on occasion to RedUser in the for rent section. I prefer not to post on Craigslist or other type of websites because if my camera does get rented out, I want to make sure the person knows how to use it very well, and takes care of it.
 
Chase J. Carnahan said:
Yeah, long time no see! This is a great thread, Burke, but at the same time I didn't really see any opinions from people who have success renting out their gear. If anything, people kept saying "Just rent one", which would confirm my theory that it's a good idea to own it and rent it out! If renting it is the more practical use for the camera, wouldn't renting it out also be more practical, financial wise?

I would really like to see some thoughts from Scarlet owners who rent out their gear, whether it be successfully or unsuccessfully. Ultimately I would like to use my Scarlet for my own productions, but if it takes me 40 days of rental to recoup the costs, that will be worth it for me, in the end.
Click to expand...

Hi Chase,

I own a Scarlet which use personally quite a bit for commercials I direct and also rent out in and around LA.

My opinion on renting, especially if you intend on it being an income stream, is that the Scarlet is not poised well in the marketplace. In LA Epic's are so common and inexpensive to rent that most Scarlet's just get squeezed out. They're great owner/operator cameras, but not so much on the rental side.

If you do decide to buy something to rent out, make sure you have a good, fast PL lens set to go along with it as well as all the quality production trimmings (matte boxe, follow focus, filters, arri + touch&go plates, etc). In my opinion its a must. Producers will generally not rent the camera, lenses and accessories from different places, they want a package deal. Likewise, most DP's on features or commercials will avoid EOS lensing like the plague.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks Paul,

Yeah, I understand that pretty well. I know a few EPIC owners who rent their gear out + them for around $650/day. When I came across that, I was literally blown away at how inexpensive it was.

So what you're saying is that to actually make a bit of money off of renting out the camera, the minimum investment is around $25-30k? I guess that makes sense.

Essentially I would want to shoot with the camera myself on commercial productions, however, it's looking more and more like I need to just keep doing what I'm doing, save up, and rent myself out before I rent out my camera gear.

It's true what they say -- it's not the camera that makes a production great, it's the people. Hopefully I can squeeze myself into the game relatively quick here. Time is money!

If you have any more pointers on business models for aspiring RED owners, feel free to throw them at me, I'm all ears. I do some lower-budget commercial productions, and I'm trying to break into the upper level shoots. I'd love to be a part of a few, even if it's just for the experience.

-Chase
 
Chase J. Carnahan said:
Hey Louis,

Do you actively search for people trying to rent? Do you advertise on craigslist and other sources like that?

You comment is very interesting to me. I was thinking I would be able to pay it off in about 6 months if I tried really hard to get it rented, but the way you describe it makes it sound like not a great investment.
Click to expand...

I do not think you'll be able to pay a Scarlet off with craigslist listings, etc. Most folks either have existing jobs or clients asking to rent the camera. I've also heard of folks consigning the camera to existing rental houses, but none of the places I approached were interested as they already had plenty of Epics available.

My Scarlet was paid off in about 14 months through my own commercial work (as an A or B cam). It's been insured and avail to rent the whole time, but has only gone out a handful of times.
 
I couldn't get clients, so I got an Epic and threw it at a rental house and am getting a Dragon soon is the short of my personal experience. Not to say a Scarlet can't rent I just personally can't work it enough so I am using a middle man to assist essentially with my upgrade.
 
Chase J. Carnahan said:
Thanks Paul,

Yeah, I understand that pretty well. I know a few EPIC owners who rent their gear out + them for around $650/day. When I came across that, I was literally blown away at how inexpensive it was.

So what you're saying is that to actually make a bit of money off of renting out the camera, the minimum investment is around $25-30k? I guess that makes sense.

Essentially I would want to shoot with the camera myself on commercial productions, however, it's looking more and more like I need to just keep doing what I'm doing, save up, and rent myself out before I rent out my camera gear.

It's true what they say -- it's not the camera that makes a production great, it's the people. Hopefully I can squeeze myself into the game relatively quick here. Time is money!

If you have any more pointers on business models for aspiring RED owners, feel free to throw them at me, I'm all ears. I do some lower-budget commercial productions, and I'm trying to break into the upper level shoots. I'd love to be a part of a few, even if it's just for the experience.

-Chase
Click to expand...
''


I don't know a single high end commercial DP that personally owns a camera more professional than a DSLR. They all own glass.

The rental game is a go big or go home business, if you can't justify at least 50-60K in equipment it's probably not worth playing.
Any purchase should be a no brainer. If you have to start tabulating monthly returns and rationalizing costs then the price is to high.

My advice is to be a creative as possible with what you can easily afford and use the rest of the money to empower that creativity in other ways.
 
Chase J. Carnahan said:
1. How often do you rent out your gear, and what's the average rate you charge? (for the base package).

2. Is it a requirement to have lots of other lenses and mounting options to rent out your gear?

3. Would you consider it a smart investment, knowing what you know now?
Click to expand...

So I'll start off and say this. Everybody's journey and business model is different. I never rented just my Scarlet-X out. I didn't however bring it on with me during the time I owned it. I also had to rent Epics occasionally for additional frame rates on gigs. During that time frame I shot on Scarlet-X maybe 60% of the time, and 40% Epic. Interesting numbers there. Numbers that eventually led me to upgrade to Epic.

If you're primary business is rental the more lenses, accessories, and support gear you have the better. Having a camera is one part of the equations, however, having a camera that you and others can put to good use is another. I have since invested a great deal of equipment that I used to have to go and grab myself for gigs.

For me it was a smart investment. However, again my plan was to go out and shoot with the gear and it being my kit rental. Looking forward into the future I'd say it's still a decent buy, but whatever camera you're looking at has to make sense for you. Whether your plan is to build as you go or invest a larger chunk of change and start there.

One major factor for me purchasing the Scarlet-X was that I could upgrade it. Same for the Epic. I can't really do that with any other system and I know personally I'll be shooting for the rest of my life. Both in professional and personal capacities.
 
Great Point, Phil.

I've worked with RED before, and I know the camera and workflow very well, however the investment is just too large for me to buy one and not immediately see a return on investment. I guess I'm trying to do too much too soon. Oh well. Looks like renting a Scarlet or Epic is what I'll have to do to finally save up enough to buy one myself.

- Chase
 
I think the success of a business model that relies partially or entirely on rental income depends a lot on your individual market conditions. As Paul and Phil pointed out, the LA market is very saturated with REDs, especially Epics, and that makes renting any RED camera difficult, especially a Scarlet.

In my medium-sized market, the situation is somewhat different. I am in a city of about 1 million, with over a dozen Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the area. There is a healthy indie film community, but the majority of the work is advertising and corporate. There are 5-6 Epics, 10+ Scarlets, and a couple of RED One's in the area, almost all in the hands of owner/operators. There are also some excellent rental houses nearby (Fletcher in Detroit & Chicago, and Stratton in Detroit). Most of the owner/operators stay fairly busy, so their cameras are not generally available for rentals.

I've been reasonably successful renting my camera package for a couple of reasons. First, because there aren't a lot of local cameras available. Second, because I have charged very competitive rates (even with larger markets). In fact, some of my rentals have been to fellow local RED owners for B cam or backup use. I've also been able to rent some of my accessories because I made a substantial investment in high-quality, in-demand aks when building out my kit. I strongly believe that those accessories greatly contribute to the desirability of my kit for rentals.

I am not trying to compete with the rental companies. I certainly don't have anywhere near the variety of items they have available, especially the cine lenses. But by offering a very well-equipped package at an attractive price, I have been able to generate a decent amount of rental business.

Of course, as they say in the car biz, YMMV...
 
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