The past year has been a pleasing one for Nates, the equipment rental house in
Randburg. The core of its business has been built around the Sony FS700s and its
flagship Sony F55.
“We found these cameras were often in demand for music and corporate videos,’
says managing director Martin Smookler. “We have also seen an upsurge, at the
beginning of this year in the number of production units coming to us to gear up for
drama productions, which is an encouraging sign both for us and for the industry as
a whole.’
This year, the rental facility’s recently acquired Sony A7Ss are in increasing
demand. This mirrorless, lightweight camera, complete with a full 35mm sensor, is
part of the new wave of prosumer cameras that seem set to supplant DSLRs as we
know them and is fantastic in low-light settings. It comes just ahead of the
imminent release of other 35mm digital SLR cameras to be released from Nikon
and Canon.
In addition to Nates’ business development and equipment acquisitions, Smookler
has also announced a major new development in the company: its new strategic
partnership with Glow Hire, another rental facility based in Illovo, Johannesburg.
Nates will now be powered and driven by Glow Hire, which, up to now, has
predominantly focused on equipment for still photography. “Glow Hire is the largest
photographic equipment hire company in Johannesburg and we intend to leverage
off their skills and expertise on the photographic and video side, to further enhance
our film gear offerings. There are many synergies that overlap between the two
companies and we are all confident that this step will be beneficial to all our
clients,’ says Smookler.
Fundamental to both companies is a strong focus on service that brings clients back
again and again, whether they are dealing with the individual hiring a single lens for
the weekend or a full-length feature film unit over multiple months.
“At the core is always service, service and more service,’ says Smookler. “We
pride ourselves on our client services, our meticulous attention to detail and our
strategic partnerships. We know how stressful productions can be and we aim to
take the gear stress out of that equation.’
For Glow Hire, the merging of Nates into its operations is a natural progression of
its efforts to offer more opportunities to clients to “further develop their creative
natures in the ever converging markets of photography and cine-motion.’
Glow Hire and Nates Audio Visual are looking forward to a bumper year for their
new joint operation and for the industry as a whole.
