Camera Accessory Rentals

Renting Camera Accessories in NYC, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh

We’ve packed thousands of camera carts out of our three shops, and the pattern never changes: nobody blows the budget on accessories, but accessories are what sink a morning when they’re missing. The notes below come from our prep floor. They’re the same answers our techs give over the counter, written down so you can plan before you call.

What camera accessories do I actually need for a shoot?

For most narrative and commercial work, a camera package needs a matte box with a filter set, a follow focus, wireless video for the director and client, an onboard monitor for the operator, enough batteries to never wait on a charger, and double the media you think the day requires. Documentary kits run leaner: batteries, media, a top handle, and an ND solution.

Where people get burned is the connective tissue. The Wooden Camera baseplate that mates the body to the tripod plate, the right length of rods for your lens, the D-tap cable that feeds your monitor. When you book a camera package with us, we build those pieces in. If you’re cross-renting a body elsewhere, tell us what it is and we’ll spec the support around it.

How much does it cost to rent camera accessories?

Most single accessories run $10 to $75 a day. Wireless follow focus systems like the Tilta Nucleus-M and director’s monitors land between $50 and $250. Wireless video kits sit in the $150 to $400 range depending on transmitter count, and high-end recording media tops out around $1,500 a day for a 12-pack Codex kit feeding an ARRI.

Day rates only tell part of the story, though. Accessories almost never rent alone, and a package quote nearly always beats line-item math. Send us the job through the quote form and we’ll price the cart as a cart.

Do you test this stuff before it goes out?

Yes, every order, every time. Bolts get paired and range-walked in the warehouse. Monitors go out with current firmware so your LUTs actually load. Batteries are cycled and retired on a schedule instead of when they start dying on set. Follow focus motors get run across a lens before they’re cased.

That last one matters more than it sounds. A motor that slips at the prep table costs five minutes. The same motor slipping during a take costs the take, and sometimes the actor’s patience with it.

Wireless video, an onboard monitor, or both?

Both, usually, because they solve different problems. The onboard monitor is for the operator pulling the shot. Wireless video feeds everyone else: the director, the client at video village, the focus puller working off a camera support rig instead of riding the body.

A practical rule from our counter: one transmitter and two receivers covers most jobs. Add receivers when agency people show up, since the fastest way to lose a set’s rhythm is six people crowding one seven-inch screen. If your job leans on critical focus at long lens lengths, ask us about pairing the wireless kit with a bigger focus monitor. That combination gets requested by name more than any other accessory bundle we stock.

Batteries and media, or: what ruins mornings

Two boring categories, responsible for most of the panicked 7am calls we get. Batteries first. Know your camera’s mount, gold mount or V-mount, and rent for the camera you’re actually flying. A loaded ALEXA eats amperage that would run a mirrorless body for a week. Flying commercial? Batteries under 100Wh go in carry-on; anything bigger should stay with us and meet you as a delivery.

Media is simpler and less forgiving: bring double what the schedule says, because reshoots are expensive and cards are not. Match the card to the codec you’re recording, not just the slot it fits. Our techs label every card and reader as a matched set so the DIT isn’t playing mix-and-match at the cart.

One last thing

Accessories are where a rental house earns its keep. Anyone can hand you a camera. We’d rather hand you the camera, the glass, the support, and a cart where every cable has been wrapped by someone who’s had to find the bad one at midnight. Browse the gear above, poke through the full catalog, or just tell us what you’re shooting and let our crew spec it with you.