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Scarlet-X Rentals

Stephen Franchek

Stephen Franchek

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Hello!
Just a few questions for the lucky Scarlet-X owners who are renting their equipment to lucky renters

How much are you charging and for what kind of setup?

Where are you located and how has business been?

What steps do you take to ensure that your equipment remains safe?

Are you willing to discuss your advertising strategy?
 
Last edited:
Stephen Franchek said:
Hello!
Just a few questions for the lucky Scarlet-X owners who are renting their equipment to lucky renters

How much are you charging and for what kind of setup?

Where are you located and how has business been?

What steps do you take to ensure that your equipment remains safe?

Are you willing to discuss your advertising strategy?
Click to expand...

+1 thanks for asking this.. Been wondering myself!
 
In Australia I've seen a full Scarlet kit including Red 17-50, touchscreen, side handle, sticks/head, follow focus, 8 x Red Volts/charger, O-grips and 3 x 64GB SSDs for $500/day. I think the Scarlet pricing will be very aggressive.
 
Just a few questions for the lucky Scarlet-X owners who are renting their equipment to lucky renters

How much are you charging and for what kind of setup?

Where are you located and how has business been?

What steps do you take to ensure that your equipment remains safe?

Are you willing to discuss your advertising strategy?
Click to expand...

I'll be renting mine through another person that owns other cameras and provides other services. They will take a percentage, I'll take a percentage it works out for both parties and saves me some time in building up more than one camera to rent. They also have tons of experience with the equipment already.

I'm running a full system with a 11-16 lens, 24-70 lens, 70-200 lens (all 2.8's) and a 50 1.4 prime, with the EOS mount Scarlet, 128GB SSD and a 256GB SSD. For power once my sidehandle gets here I will also have 4 RV's accessible to the 2 Bricks already in my kit. The rate is somewhere in the $600-$800 range depending on different things in most cases.

I'm located in Colorado. I honestly haven't really put myself out there enough or made my camera available enough to have my Scarlet rentable at this point. It has gotten interest and I've been contacted for a Rental weekend, but I'm still trying to find out whether the project I already booked will come through. It's encouraging to know that my camera will get rented at times though. I'm trying to learn the camera as much as possible before taking on to much work with it.

I plan on insuring it through USAA.

My advertising will be what I shoot on personal projects and for fun. I think the best way to sell yourself is to put yourself in the situation you love the most and are best in. If you're truely passionate people will see that through your work. I don't have a key idea for marketing so much as going out shooting and selling the knowledge I acquire, as well as share it with others eager to learn. I'm learning alot, and still have alot to learn. Sorry to not really answer that question I just have a different outlook on marketing. I think everyone has a different Eye, a different look, it's all about selling that to the right person, and getting exposure out in the right persons eyes. I'm not saying I'm talented, I'm just saying I think people can genuinely see excitement in your work, and alot of that excitement I've shared with others has gotten me work and friendships I still have to this day.
 
Local rental house here in D.C. (Erich is also active here on the forums):

http://dc-camera.com/red_scarlet.htm

Package Price 500.

PL or Canon lens mount

Side handle

Bomb viewfinder or 5" touch screen

(4) red-volt batts and charger

(2) 64gb SSD memory

Red Station SSD reader


See 35mm PL page for lenses

Red Mote Control 70.
PL or Canon mount (additional) 50.
The "Clutch" HH rig 130.
Extra 64gb SSD 40.
Extra 125gb SSD 75.
Extra 256gb SSD 130.
Extra Red Volt Batts 30.













 
Harry Charnock said:
Yikes! Who's renting that out?
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Harry, thinking that may be either gear testing price or a temporary special for insiders since I don't see it on their public website, just direct communications.

Still, if you apply the 2% rental rule to $25k you get $500/day so maybe that's reality!
 
I'd expect UK prices to be under £200 p/day once there are plenty around. That would be a body plus stills lenses and either monitor or viewfinder. I'd add a 50% premium while they are rare.

I come to that calculation by assuming the UK expectation is 1-2% return per day once there is healthy competition, so the launch kits at $9750 would be £65 p/day at 1% and £130 p/day at 2%. It wouldn't surprise me to see a basic kit doing very well at £750+VAT p/week.
 
John Wee said:
I think the rental market for Scarlet will be very savage once the camera saturates the market.
Click to expand...

I'm expecting this as well, similar to when the Red One came out. However, I don't think it will be impossible to rent out; if anything, it'll just rely strongly on the service a renter can provide and the kit itself, probably more so than most cameras.
 
Eric J Robbins said:
I'm expecting this as well, similar to when the Red One came out. However, I don't think it will be impossible to rent out; if anything, it'll just rely strongly on the service a renter can provide and the kit itself, probably more so than most cameras.
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I agree, but any rental service must provide at least 2 full kits. At least one backup kit is a mandatory for ANY brand/model of cam.
 
jimhare said:
Harry, thinking that may be either gear testing price or a temporary special for insiders since I don't see it on their public website, just direct communications.

Still, if you apply the 2% rental rule to $25k you get $500/day so maybe that's reality!
Click to expand...


True. I have seen red full packages go for such ridiculous prices that yes, I am afraid scarlet might have people pushing prices down to get their stuff out there.

Rental house wise though, Panasonic HVX still rents today around 300 dollars/day in NY. Im sure its not a hot item anymore, but it used to be. I don't think the camera was ever more than 6 grand, right?
 
Benoît-Joan Clariana-Roig said:
I agree, but any rental service must provide at least 2 full kits. At least one backup kit is a mandatory for ANY brand/model of cam.
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I completely agree. Although I was at a very reputable rental house in LA, and they claimed to always have a backup for every kit out on rental. A rep seriously told us that there was always a backup housed in the rental house. I asked if we could see an Epic brain (this was when the Epic had just been released, they had four), and the rep goes, "Oh, they're all out on rental, we don't have any here."

...

It was not even ten minutes after he promised my crew members that we'd always have a backup camera to turn to if we rented from them! Best part is this wasn't some lower end, smaller house; I'm talking about one of the biggest houses here.
 
So, a lot of you agree that rental prices for Scarlets will become insanely competitive once just about everyone has one. I don't mind that, but I am hoping that I can make my money back before I'm forced to start renting it out for $50/day w/ full kit =)

A lot of you are saying it's good to have a backup cam. I'm not part of a big rental house though... more of a studio looking to rent out equipment when we're not using it. All I have besides the (not yet arrived) Scarlet-X is a Sony NEX-FS100. It's a fantastic camera, but if the Scarlet breaks and my customer needs to finish the project in 4k... no bueno

Here's my strategy to deal with hardware failures:

If the Scarlet fails, I'll offer the FS100 kit at a discount.
If the Scarlet fails and the client needs 4k resolution and raw files, I'll refund them for whatever shooting days they've lost and give a yet to be determined amount of money to go towards a different rental
None of this applies to physical damage caused by the client. That will be an insurance issue, but those clients will not receive any discounts, refunds or credits.

Is this strategy sound? Questions/Suggestions?
 
Stephen Franchek said:
Here's my strategy to deal with hardware failures:

If the Scarlet fails, I'll offer the FS100 kit at a discount.
If the Scarlet fails and the client needs 4k resolution and raw files, I'll refund them for whatever shooting days they've lost and give a yet to be determined amount of money to go towards a different rental
None of this applies to physical damage caused by the client. That will be an insurance issue, but those clients will not receive any discounts, refunds or credits.

Is this strategy sound? Questions/Suggestions?
Click to expand...

Bad strategy from a client point of view.

When you're a client, and you're renting a Red for a shoot, the first thing you want is a backup body not to waste a single day of shooting. That's why pros usually go with rental companies, which are usually the only ones to be able to provide this. If you can't provide a backup body, as a client I'm taking more risks, so I'll expect the rental price to be significantly lower than a rental company. It's nice to refund the client (I wouldn't expect less anyway) but as a client, if the camera fails and you have to stop shooting, you usually lose more money with all the other expenses you have, insurance doesn't cover everything.
 
Have found this rental offer in Switzerland:

Scarlet-X #00XXX:


- 1x SCARLET-X BRAIN / AL CANON MOUNT / SIDE SSD
- 1x DSMC SIDE HANDLE
- 1x REDMOTE
- 1x RED TOUCH 5.0″ LCD
- 4x REDVOLT & CASE
- 1x RED STATION REDMAG 1.8″
- 2x REDMAG 1.8″ SSD 64GB & CASE
- 2x DSMC TRAVEL CHARGER
- 1x SLIDING TOP HANDLE
- 1x SWAT RAIL 100mm
- 1x OUTRIGGER HANDLE
- 1x RED CRADLE
- 1x 2B-TO-1B POWER ADAPTOR CABLE
- 1x PELICAN CASE 1510


Mietpreis pro Tag: ab CHF 490.– (~524$/day)
Mietpreis 1 Woche: ab CHF 1960.– (~1098$/week)
 
Stephen Franchek said:
If the Scarlet fails and the client needs 4k resolution and raw files, I'll refund them for whatever shooting days they've lost
Click to expand...

I guess that you should put that money in a second full kit. A full shooting day wasted costs up to 500 000 $ a day for serious productions...and small short movies up to 20 000 $ a day. And you don't want to pay that. No insurance possible.

Some locations are only available for a limited time (ie The Louvres Museum in Paris where you can only shoot there only ONE day each week and it's booked YEARS in advance for multiple productions) and you simply CAN'T waste a day there.

If you don't want buy a second kit, make a contract with another rental house for backup kits.

Peter Stadelmann said:
Mietpreis pro Tag: ab CHF 490.– (~524$/day)
Mietpreis 1 Woche: ab CHF 1960.– (~1098$/week)
Click to expand...


Not sure that kit costs 26 200 $ (applying the 2%/day rule of the total value). You can rent an EPIC for that price.
 
There's no question that if your primary source of income is rental income then conducting your business in the most client friendly way is a must. If you are just renting it out to documentary crews or no budget films as a side project then you just need to be clear about the pitfalls and price accordingly. A good rental house will always have a spare at base and agree to send it to you at no cost if the first camera fails. I'd also expect that whoever delivers the replacement camera to set should be knowledgable. If you send a driver the crew will feel like they've been left out in the cold.
I agree with BenJ that any serious production is going to be a no no alone. The smart thing would be to team up with another studio/filmmaker who has the same plan and underwrite each other's hire. Or better still have a network of people. Personally if I had one camera to rent out and it failed, I WOULD NOT send them on their way. I'd pay out of my own pocket to buy in another kit and send that out to the crew with the problem. Otherwise you are simply passing them onto the next company.
I'd also never ever make a promise to pay money 'for whatever shooting days they've lost'. Much more sensible to knock that day off the bill and then offer an extra day free either on the current or next job. It's a simple way to rebuild the relationship and you aren't promising the earth to people you don't know.
 
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