Renting a remote control package
 

For my corporate work I chage $150 per day for my PD-150. That's based on three days one week and then three days again the following week.

I'm considering adding a VX-2000 to the setup this year along with a single-camera remote system if I purchase one from Grizzley. This would allow me to live switch between two cameras that feeds the projection system. Would $275 to $300 per day sound reasonable?

It sounds low.

You're more than doubling your equipment used and the setup time will be a lot more, so you should charge with that in mind.

You should also add a second person who can run the mixer and the remote camera while you serve as the dedicated camera operator (or vice versa).

I would think it would cost around $600 a day or more for that.

I know your in a medium sized community and your client may not pay that. Also, is it really worth the extra effort and time if you can't even double your rate to do it? Maybe just adding in a switcher so you could fade to black or a graphic would be a simpler solution. It would add some polish and be easy to set up and run. And you could probably increase your rate to $300 just for adding the switcher.

Ben

I didn't want to give the wrong impression about my charges. I take a lot of equipment to these annual meetings. The $150 per day just covers my PD-150 ... just in case anyone thought that's all I was charging. I'm also hauling around monitors, DVCAM deck, MX-30, and a boat-load of cables. ;-)

My hope was that I could add a little more production value to by adding the remote and actually continue to run everything myself. The only thing I use the camera for (the same would be for the second camera) is to cover the speakers who basically stay stationary at the podium with a head and shoulders shot on a projection system.

However ... Ben, I agree that it's too low. I'm going to re-evaluate the situation to determine a) whether I can do this without an additional camera person, and b) whether it's going to be worth my time and their money.

Thanks

Scott

(Nice to see someone from the same area. I'm actually doing more photography these days.)