Which camera equipment would you rent?

[jazzper]

Buy or rent, ultimately it always come down to value vs cost
I am thinking of quitting my full time job to start a camera rental service targeted at ordinary people, amateur photographers for short to mid term rentals. For example renting a gopro for a short holiday instead of buying it.

What are the type of low-mid end equipment (cost below 2k/piece) that you would consider renting?

 

[ziggy]

I have never rented equipment before but I think most people who rent are professionals, those who need a specific piece of equipment for a particular assignment. For the general consumer, rental can be an option if it is cheap enough. Otherwise buy the equipment, then sell it after being used.

There are already a few equipment rental firms here, yes mainly for the pro market because that's where the business is. My advice is stay in your job at least for now.

 

[shierwin]

I have never rented equipment before but I think most people who rent are professionals, those who need a specific piece of equipment for a particular assignment. For the general consumer, rental can be an option if it is cheap enough. Otherwise buy the equipment, then sell it after being used.

There are already a few equipment rental firms here, yes mainly for the pro market because that's where the business is. My advice is stay in your job at least for now.

+1

 

[thoongeng]

Low end camera market heavily eroded by smartphone cameras
High end market high start up cost and will worried about equipment lost or damage

The camera rental companies that are doing well I see generally have a longer history so with customer base and reputation, and carry all sorts of equipment from low to high end to cater to every market.

But disruptors can appear in any market. Good luck

 

[one eye jack]

Buy or rent, ultimately it always come down to value vs cost
I am thinking of quitting my full time job to start a camera rental service targeted at ordinary people, amateur photographers for short to mid term rentals. For example renting a gopro for a short holiday instead of buying it.

What are the type of low-mid end equipment (cost below 2k/piece) that you would consider renting?

As Sun Tse (The art of war) said "Know yourself and in a hundred battles
you will be victorious".

You have a discontentment with your present circumstances of life.Some call
it mid life crisis,burnout, whatif this or that or whatever it is everyone
experience this sometime in their lives. It would be nice to marry passion with work but rarely does it happen as fate or destiny dictates.

Is your business model valid or viable? What are the facts or reality as others have pointed out? Hewlett Packard , 2 partners who started business from a garage said "never try to challenge establish players because it's difficult but they did it eventually.Now that does not mean YOU should.
Again know yourself!

To be a disruptor is a calculated process, example - like bike sharing in China, it is based on the number of potential users of the service and the cost of each bike.The chances of success "seems" VIABLE but there are already some companies that have closed because of insolvancy/bankruptcy in a country of more than 1 billion! You are in this lil' red dot! How many potential users?

Keep your job and try to work out your problems and still have fun with photography. We all learn one way or other that to be happy is the most important thing in life as all things will follow once we achieve that state
of awareness.

 

[jazzper]

Thank you for your advice. I believe that there is a opening for a low cost, high turnover rental model. Sick of looking at the high daily rental prices of established companies. I believe that rentals should be kept affordable, perhaps a clear upfront pricing and a online shopfront. Doesn't make sense if it's cheaper to rent a car then a FF Camera!



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[Bamboopictures]

Not sure about low -cost, high turnover given Singpore's real esate prices But...
Might be worth your while targeting the video segment because on the average, there will be a lot more equipment needed per shoot.
Experts estimate that 75% of data on the internet will be video by 2020.

Consumer-class equipment suited for the one man band ( a growing market segment) are largely ignored by the established rental houses, so there is a niche to be filled if you pick your inventory wisely.
Think: the low level marketing executive arrowed by his boss to create videos for the company social media.
Price inelastic because the company is paying. But gear must be convenient to transport, easy to use. Use the iphone as a benchmark.

Popular itens could be :
Battery-operated lights such as:
-CameTV boltsen range of fresnel 50W-150W,
- Falconeye/brightcast fabric LED panels
-single hand operated gimbals from Zhiyun, Nebula and Moza.
-Wireless HDMI solutions from Connex
-Ultra portable tripods from Benro and Velbon
-Edelkrone range of motion cotrollers, sliders and wings.
-GH5S kit out with a complete set of MFT cine lenses
- ditto for Sony FE.
- Senny AVX
- Saramonic range of cam mixers
- Zoom recorders
- Yellowtec ixm reporter mic

iPhone filmaking gear:
lens attachments,
35mm adapters
gimbal
phone rigs
TRRS audio solutions (mics, mixers)


Sony MIS accessories.
Hot in demand XLR-K2M

Fast, offbrand primes:
Meike, laowa, 7artisans, Kamlan
Consumer superzooms from Tamron and Sigma
Assortment of adapters, tiltshifts, speedboosters, ND filters.

Makeshft studio equipment(for office use)
Pop-open flex-greenscreen, Muslins
OMO teleprompters (Padprompter. parrot prompter)

webcasting solutions:
- Canon XF405 camcorders
- roland vision mixer /streamer like the VR-4HD
- HDMI, SDI recorders from Blackmagic, Atomos.

Consumer Aerial shoots:
DJI Spark, Mavic Air, MAvic Pro

Consumer sportscam /360 cam:
Insta360, Gopros, RXO

Underwater camcorder:
JVC Quadproof series.

 

[Octarine]

Thank you for your advice. I believe that there is a opening for a low cost, high turnover rental model. Sick of looking at the high daily rental prices of established companies. I believe that rentals should be kept affordable, perhaps a clear upfront pricing and a online shopfront. Doesn't make sense if it's cheaper to rent a car then a FF Camera!

Do you only believe or do you know? The difference is vital for you. many people start something because they think it might work - only to learn the very hard way that few others think alike.
In order to verify your idea you should a) define 'affordable', b) look at the price and life span of any camera you have in mind, c) add costs for shop space, utilities, and d) add your own salary that you want to draw.
From there you can already see how many cameras you need to rent in order to cover costs. Adjust the factors if needed and you will see whether your business case gets into any viable shape.
Another point: carefully look at the driving factors for people renting any items. Factors like initial investment, usage patterns, commodity versus tailored product, differentiation to existing products (handphone) come into mind mind. But also other factors like: availability to target users (e.g. do you want to open 50 shops across the island? or do you plan to courier the camera to the user?), easy return and others need to be considered.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want to discourage you. But do your home work and put beliefs aside. Nothing is worse than the human mind riding on wishful thinking.

 

[ziggy]

Thank you for your advice. I believe that there is a opening for a low cost, high turnover rental model. Sick of looking at the high daily rental prices of established companies. I believe that rentals should be kept affordable, perhaps a clear upfront pricing and a online shopfront. Doesn't make sense if it's cheaper to rent a car then a FF Camera!



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Who are your target customers for low end equipment? Those trying out photography? By the time they learn to use the camera, it's time to return it. Or if you want to rent a lens. You probably have an entry level lens and hoping to try a better lens. Cost of repairs, damage, mishandling? Rental deposits? Disappearing renters?

All these factors need to be considered to determine the final rental rates. You may be able to offer lower rental rates for pro-level equipment to compete but I am not sure there is a market for entry level equipment only.

Another way could be that you sell the equipment with a guaranteed buy-back price of xx% off the price he paid, within a certain period. For new equipment, the prices will be higher while those being recycled can be at lower rates. But you will need to have enough selections.

 

[dennisc]

Was renting cams when I was a poor intern... interested in portraits.
Then the Camera Rental company snubbed me when they got more popular.
Hundreds of dollars each rental, from a poor student, it was a lot.
Now I can more than afford just about anything... looking back, it was bitter sweet.
Wouldn't touch a rental place anymore especially THAT place (CRC)

 

[pwnies5600]

For me rental would be for big ticket items (e.g. video cameras) or equipment with low utility (e.g. high power lighting equipment) mainly because buying them isn't worth the cost. The other thing I'd rent would be any DJI equipment. I'm through and through tired of the bugs and software issues with their products. Since their after-sales service is infamously bad, I'd rather rent the equipment I will be using. At least that way I can just plug and play without spending half a day figuring a firmware rollback.

 

[ElCarnicero]

go ahead and try

If it fails, let me know so I can buy cheap stock from you

 

[jazzper]

Was renting cams when I was a poor intern... interested in portraits.
Then the Camera Rental company snubbed me when they got more popular.
Hundreds of dollars each rental, from a poor student, it was a lot.
Now I can more than afford just about anything... looking back, it was bitter sweet.
Wouldn't touch a rental place anymore especially THAT place (CRC)

I was once in that position, hopefully I can make rentals affordable again! I'm working on a website with booking system now. Will keep you guys updated

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[jazzper]

For me rental would be for big ticket items (e.g. video cameras) or equipment with low utility (e.g. high power lighting equipment) mainly because buying them isn't worth the cost. The other thing I'd rent would be any DJI equipment. I'm through and through tired of the bugs and software issues with their products. Since their after-sales service is infamously bad, I'd rather rent the equipment I will be using. At least that way I can just plug and play without spending half a day figuring a firmware rollback.

Yea, new Dji stuff are notorious for bugs. Especially newly launched products. Firmware update liao must test and test, sometimes the drones do unexpected actions. Source: I have more than 10 Dji gear for rental

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[ronniegogs]

I rent camera gear which would be impractical for me to buy.

Rented long telephoto lenses when I needed to shoot for a graduation.
Rented a FS700 with lens when I needed to shoot slow-mo

2nd reason is to try out a lens before I buy it so that would mean a one time rental only.