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HDX900 crew rates and rental pricing
I’m having discussions with agents and clients about a standard 2 person crew using the HDX900. What is the national going rate for this and what are rental houses charging for day rate including HD monitor and broadcast HD lens?
BTW: I know this is a Varicam discussion board but right now there is nowehere else to go. To all the Varicamers: Thanks for sharing. I learned quite a bit reading about the filmlike gamma settings vs Film Rec.
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25 Replies
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It’s my understanding that Wexler Video, here in LA, is charging $50 less than the Varicam on rentals, which are going at a $300 premium to Betacam packages; so a typical 2 person ENG package with HDV900 should be $1750-$2000. But you should be aware that some clients are paying $2250-$2500 for the same thing with a Varicam. As always it’s what the market will bear and as more owner/operators comne on line, these prices will become more competative!
JS
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We are charging $2250 for a 2 person crew full HDX900 with HJ-11 wide angle lens package with 17″ HD monitor, audio package consists of a Sound design mixer w/4 411 lectrosonics, MKH 50, Sennheiser 416….
It’s a nice package.
http://www.varicamcrew.com
South Carolina HDX900 Varicam Crew
DP/CamMate Crane Owner/Operator -
There is no such thing as a single national rate.
The rates are based on what the market will bear and the experience and skill set of the crew required for the specific job.
Rental house rates in larger versus smaller markets will also vary greatly again depending on what the market in that area will bear etc.
In anycase I can tell you it will cost you more than fifty bucks for anything.
Tony Salgado
“I don’t get paid to push buttons, I get paid to push the right buttons at the right moment, in the shortest amount of time allowed”.
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The value of a crew that owns their camera package is much greater than a crew that rents. They usually just know the gear better than those who rent and it’s more likely that they have more experience than those who rent. It seems that those who rent, never can seem to justify the purchase….wonder why. Everyone is always so worried about what the rental houses are going to rent the camera for. In my opinion, if I need a crew in another area, I prefer a crew that owns the gear. If I personally need a second or third camera, I’ll call a rental house. In my opinion, crew rates shouldn’t be set on what a rental house sets their rental rates.
http://www.varicamcrew.com
South Carolina HDX900 Varicam Crew
DP/CamMate Crane Owner/Operator -
Are lights included with your package?
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Yes, a standard tungsten light package set for interviews….HMI lighting is additional.
http://www.varicamcrew.com
South Carolina HDX900 Varicam Crew
DP/CamMate Crane Owner/Operator -
Is it just me or do these rates sound awfully low ? I rent my Varicam at 1200 per day for the standard 1 lens package. Crew are obviously additional, as are lights and aks such as downcoverters,videotransmitters, client monitors, aditional lenses etc. Even NGT who are the cheapest people in the industry pay 1250 for a Varicam package. I intend to charge maybe 1000 per day for the 900 untill someone tells me they can get one cheaper somewhere else. Lets stick together on the East coast at least and not drop the price too much : )
Nick Gardner
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Are you suggesting price fixing? Just kidding!
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I hope this doesn’t sound too much like an ad, because it wasn’t meant to be. We ( Rule Broadcast Systems ) received our HDX900 last week. We create rental pricing based on our cost of the camera, lens, tripod and batteries. With a list price so low compared to the Varicam, we’re pricing the HDX 900 for $625/day. Sorry Nick. I think once more rental houses have this camera, you are going to see similar pricing. For comparison, our Varicam rents for $950/day and Sony F900 for $1200/day. The rental includes the lens, tripod and batteries.
So far, we are really happy with the way it looks and what it does. Though I wish I new that it takes a 5 pin stereo microphone so I could have ordered it in advance as well. One thing which we discovered, though it should not have surprised us, was the potential problem when in 720/50p. Though the format will not be used too often by our clients, the older BT-LH900 monitors do not recognize this new format nor did the 1200A deck. The newer 8.4″ monitor does recognize the format and I would assume the 1400 deck does as well. Though I am still waiting on the deck.
Andrew Dunn
Equipment Manager
Rule Broadcast Systems
https://www.rule.com -
Ditto on the mic commector. Anyone know where I can get an adapter so I can use a standard 3 pin mic input as a mono camera mic?
We are pricing our HDX900 with lens, tripod, batteries, charger and 8.4″ monitor at $1000/day Canadian. That’s about $850 in US bucks.
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