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Rental Health for photographers - part 3 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Published 01/06/2013

Direct Photographic

For those not already very familiar, Direct Photographic is a leading photographic rental facility, based in London, Paris and Cape Town. Direct covers both camera and lighting hire, the latter of which is evenly split between flash and continuous.

MD Steve Knight outlines the newest flash items as the Profoto B4 battery unit and the Broncolour Scoro S pack. Anticipated items include the Broncolour Move out in June, a rival to the B4. "Our hire prices are really a reflection of the cost price," explains Steve. "The B4 is around £6K for the complete kit, whereas it's renting for £85 per day, so that's a good reason to hire if you're only going to be using it a few times a year." In terms of continuous light, the Profoto 800 watt HMI in conjunction with a five-foot Octa softbox and Broncolour Para 88 reflector is "flying out the door."

For camera kit, Direct has noticed photographers graduating from a Canon 5D to a C300 cine camera. "We've seen guys who have cut their teeth on the 5D Mark II and III moving to the C300 to do filming for a day. Or they might hire one body for filming and another for stills, to shoot one alongside the other. At present the C300 is our hottest rental camera, and has been for nine months, so there appears to be a desire for photographers to learn about the moving image."

Direct Photographic is also the exclusive rental partner for Leica S Series, and has just taken delivery of its new 'S' model complete with a full range of CS lenses. "That's a big ticket medium format camera in the shape of a DSLR," Steve continues. "People might think it's not as fast as their Canon, but should be compared to a Hasselblad or a Phase One as it's a great piece of kit."

For lenses, again, the ones most suited to shooting video are proving popular rentals, including the Zeiss CP.2 'Compact Prime' lenses. "There's a desire to try those with the 5D Mark II and we've bought them with an EF or Nikon mount so they can be used with the Nikon D800 too." Camera grip equipment, microphone kits and metre-long 'glide tracks' for tracking shots are also renting well on the video side.

For all kit, a weekend's hire is offered at a single-day rate. Again, this provides a great deal for those who might want extra equipment for a weekend wedding shoot. Discounts on longer hires are by negotiation.

www.directphotographic.co.uk

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1st Published 01/06/2013
last update 09/12/2022 14:58:32

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