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Premium Lens Costing

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Van Royko

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Hello

I am thinking of financing some nice new lenses- probably a Cooke Red Set or Arri Ultraprimes. Im wondering if anyone has any ideas how both the resale value and rental value of these lenses is expected to change over their life. What is a premium lense's life expectancy anyhow? And while I'm at it, what are the approximate maintenance costs of these lenses.

I know that no one knows for sure but educated guesses are welcome.

Thank You
 
Lenses tend to have a fairly long rental life if they are properly maintained. Their rental day rate will be about 1% of cost.
 
Lenses

Lenses

Lenses if maintained properly will easily see out three or four generations of camera. Lenses like Cookes series II or III are still being used today over 30 years after being made. However keep in mind what works for 4K now may not for 5K or for what ever comes after.
 
If you are looking for maintainability, I would go with Cooke S4s. They are very easy to maintain. Usually the only time we see S4s here at the shop is for our perpetual clients that take good care of their gear and perform regular maintenance. Sometimes a dropped S4 will snap the cam follower, but even then, it's an easy fix. Almost no mechanical/optical problems.

I don't think it would be smart to bank on the value of a lens. Look at what's happened in the past few years... Used lens prices have tripled since 2005
 
Thanks for the response Matthew. What do you mean by " I wouldn't bank on lenses". Are you saying that they are very volatile with supply and demand and could go up or down with changes in the market. Do you think a set of S4s could lose more than 10-20% of their value in the first five years. I mean if I would think they would get snapped up quickly at that kind of used discount, considering it takes 6 months to get a set from ZGC. I'd love to be able to find used Cooke's.
 
Modern lenses will hold their value for quite some time. A 1% day rate for rental sounds about right, meaning that it will take years to pay off the value of a lens. But they cost relatively little to maintain with normal use, but of course if seriously abused can cost thousands to repair.

Lenses are a great long term investment if you are going to be doing a lot of shooting or wish to rent your gear to others either directly or in association with a rental house. Many people purchase gear such as lenses to use occassionally and then otherwise station at a professional rental facility to share in rental revenue. The rental facility goes through all the administrative work of rentals and does the day to day maintenance of the equipment.

If you are interested in financing the purchase of equipment, let me shamelessly plug Abel Finance, which is set up to do exactly this for individuals and small production companies. If you're in the US and interested in Arri lenses you'll have to talk to us anyway as we are the dealer, but we can help you with any equipment purchase.
 
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