After recently publishing insights from data released by ShareGrid on its 2017 rentals, we looked into the popular online rental site KitSplit to see how its list lined up—and the top results are pretty similar. KitSplit didn’t release in-depth data, but the company’s blog did note that owners listed over $100 million worth of equipment, and renters rented tens of thousands of times. Thus, its list of top 15 rental items has some significant numbers behind it.
This info is useful for those considering purchases that you may not use every day and for gaining some supplemental rental income from. Obviously, your budget and creative needs should be your primary decision-influencers, but a little side hustle never hurts. Here are the findings, by category:
Cameras
The top rented camera on both platforms last year was the Sony A7SII. KitSplit explains why: “With a full frame 4K sensor, Sony E Mount flexibility, compact mirrorless design, and amazing low-light capabilities with a max ISO of 409,600, this camera can be used with just about any lens on the market, and can fit anywhere on a film set.”
KitSplit renters departed from ShareGrid’s in that the Canon 5D Mark III & VI were the second most popular cameras (and second most popular item overall), while ShareGrid users trended toward moving away from DSLRs and toward mirrorless options.
Five other cameras found their ways on to KitSplit’s list: the ever lust-inspiring RED Epic Dragon (which, the blog notes, saw a big uptick in inventory circulation last year) and ARRI Alexa Mini, as well as the Blackmagic Design Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K, Sony PXW-FS7 II and Canon C100 Mark II.
Sigma Cine Full-Frame Zoom
Lenses
Though the Sony’s A7SII may have eked ahead of Canon in the camera category, Canon dominated lens rentals, with its L Series zooms (24-70 II, 16-35 III, and 70-200 II) ranking as the third most popular item overall.
Zeiss’s CP2 lenses also figured onto the list and, though the line was discontinued last year, KitSplit points out that the CP3s were introduced, so we can anticipate those being popular moving forward.
The Sigma Cine Lenses were the 15th most popular item overall, which doesn’t shock us, as we posted last summer about just why this glass is so popular with filmmakers.
Other Gear
There is a smattering of other gear from all aspects of production that placed on KitSplit’s Top 15 list.
One similarity to ShareGrid’s list is that the DJI Ronin-M cornered the gimbal rental market. This may be surprising given the stellar reputation and popularity of Freefly’s MoVi but remember that both ShareGrid and KitSplit are community marketplaces driven by owner-operators, so their inventory is reflective of that. With the MoVI costing more than six times the Ronin, it’s less likely to be an owner-rented item.
The ever-popular Sennheiser G3-100 Wireless Lavalier set places fourth on the overall list. Popular light rental items last year included the Astra 1×1 Bi-Color LED (“one of those lights that is on every shoot”) and LiteMat 2, in keeping with ShareGrid’s findings that LEDs are renting more than HMIs these days.
Finally, the Teradek Bolt was a popular item, which is also not a big surprise as more sets go wireless. We bet that the new SmallHD/Teradek combination monitor and wireless receiver will find its way onto the most popular rental items list at the end of this year.
Source: KitSplit blog
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