Renting an XL2 with accessories : at what price?
 

Hello everyone,

I'm a serious amateur filmmaker from Quebec, Canada, and I'm looking to invest in a medium-feature project I wanna film with my little crew. Since I need more money than I can afford before the date I'd like to film, I was thinking about renting my XL2 with its accessories around where I live. BTW, I've never seen that kind of thread before on the DVinfo forums, so if I'm breaking a rule or anything like that, I apologize for my ignorance.

I'd really appreciate it if you guys could give me pointers, advices, comments and feedbacks, as I am not entirely sure about doing this, and I'm not sure if the prices I'm tempted to ask are ok. If any of you got experience they'd like to share, I'd love to hear about it too.

So here's what I got :
-Canon XL2 w/20x lens
-LetusXL 35mm adapter
-Set of 3 Nikkor primes (28mm f/2, 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.8)
-Follow focus, Mattebox, 2x0.6 ND filters & 18" rails support
-Modified 8" 800x600 LG DVD player with articulated arm
-Davis & Sanford Tripod+fluid head, can handle 18lbs weight

I was thinking about renting it for 275$/day for all of this, or 1500$ for an entire week (7 days). This price would include insurance, but not taxes.

For the base XL2 with 20x lens and tripod, I was thinking about 120$ a day, 700$ a week. Depending on what the customer would want to add to that from the list of accessories, price would be adjusted, not really sure how much for each accessory yet.

Are these prices realistic according to you guys? I know I'd need to write a renting contract and would need to get insurance for this, but I think there's a market, albeit small, around where I live for this kind of business.

Thanks for your help, I hope to get feedbacks pretty soon!

--Gabe

Most rental houses have a larger discount rate. "Five for three" or "Seven for Five" is not uncommon. Five days rental for the price of three, seven for five or sometimes even four. Four weeks for the price of three... that sort of thing. Three day 'weekend' rates are not uncommon either, pick it up after noon on friday, return it by noon on monday allows for three 'days' of shooting for the price of two.

What is not uncommon here (Quebec) is 7/4 (7 days for the price of 4) and 1 day weekend (complete weekend for the price of one day).

Before HDV - $275 was pretty close to an XL2/DVX only rental rate...
So, for your "filmmaker" package - I'd say it was a big bargain!

Lonnie