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HIRE Power - part 2 of 1 2

Published 01/06/2012

HireaCamera's customer base is, according to its MD, split roughly 50:50 between regular hirers and new customers. "Our most regular customer has hired 154 times from us now, over about four years," Guy acknowledges. "We have a loyalty scheme that we offer to regulars - a bit like British Airways. We have a blue, a silver and a gold card, for after five, 10 and 15 hires. It gives you a 5%, 7.5% or 10% discount off all hires. "There are around 250 customers who have worked their way up to gold status at the moment who automatically get 10% off every single hire, plus a memory card, tape or battery - they can choose exactly what they want and that's worked extremely well."

One of HireaCamera's further 'hooks' for SWPP members is what it terms 'Flyaway Thursdays'. This offers 25% off whatever stock is available for hire that coming weekend. Obviously this is a good opportunity for photographers to try out kit they've been wanting to get their hands on, at a reduced rate. "It also appeals to students and enthusiasts who aren't bothered when they try equipment, they just want to try it," reasons Guy.

"We get people contacting us first thing on Thursday or even Wednesday afternoon to see if they can jump the queue. But let's say when the Nikon D4 is available, for the first two months we'll have up to 20 people calling on the Thursday morning even though it's booked out solidly." But the message is 'keep trying', as there are rental bargains to be had.



Among the other bits of kit generating hire interest at the time we spoke were the new Canon releases, including the EF mount C300 cine camera, the EOS-1DX DSLR, plus the more portable fixed lens Canon PowerShot G1X.

Sony cameras are also popular. HireaCamera already stocks the Sony Alpha A77 and was due a new batch of NEX-7s at the time of writing. In support their Sony E-mount range was also being expanded to include 24mm Zeiss, 30mm and 50mm primes along with the new LA-EA2 Alpha lens adaptor. HireaCamera's Alpha lens stock includes nearly every Zeiss and G lens.

With 'significant' advance bookings, the Nikon D4 is obviously another significant pull. A sizeable investment in new Nikon lenses has been made to support both the D4 and the D800.

"With those cameras I think for the first time we're going to be finding a lot of people hiring out Nikons for video," opines Guy. "With hire of the Canon 5D and the 7D we've got a 50:50 split between people using them for stills and using them for video.

"But we've had a lot of people hiring out Nikon F-mount lenses with adapters to go on 5D and 7D. So you can imagine that having a camera to which you can bolt them straight on is going to be very attractive. I think Nikon really have a fighting chance now, although we haven't seen what Canon have in their arsenal re: a 5D Mark II replacement. Plus we've got more people from the camcorder side investigating the DSLR market than ever, because the compromises are becoming less and less. But we are continuing to stock camcorders as well, to include the Canon C300. "That's a great one for us; as we've got so many EF lenses we're very nicely placed and we're finding we're getting a lot of production companies, including the BBC, who never came to us before, wanting lenses to work with those cameras."

In terms of how to go about hiring, interested parties can call up direct, or check online, the latter allowing you to effectively 'grab' all the equipment required and enter dates to have it delivered and collected, at which point a total cost will be provided. HireaCamera is unusual in that it offers its own insurance policy allowing customers to avoid parting with a huge deposit or taking out a specific policy. Typically on a lens it's £6 for up to a week.

An availability request goes straight through to the office, and if something isn't available an alternative will be suggested, or another available hire date given. "Either way we will end up speaking to customers because that's the way we do business," says Guy. "There's always things people won't have thought of regarding equipment or delivery. And there are always things we can do to add to the experience."

To find out even more, direct your browser to: www.hireacamera.com

Please note that a 15% discount is being offered to SWPP members for a single hire upon quoting code HCIM12. HireaCamera is additionally running its usual Easter offer of the four days over Easter for the price of two.

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1st Published 01/06/2012
last update 21/07/2022 08:46:24

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