Screen Africa caught up with South Africa’s leading equipment rental companies to take a look at the current trends. We asked the industry experts to tell us what their top ten rental products are. Here is the outcome of these insights…
Top two cameras: Sony A7S MK II and Canon 5D Mk IV
• Sony A7S MK II
The A7S II is the best video shooting stills camera available at the moment. The resolution is kept to 12 million pixels to allow better light gathering power and improve video quality. It produces video close to that of the professional-level, but is much smaller and lighter and can record 4K footage internally. – www.techradar.com
Available for rental from:
- Puma Video
- Cam-A-Lot Rentals
- Digitalfilm Service
- Magic Lightbox Company
• Canon 5D Mk IV
The 5D Mark IV is Canon’s first full-framer that can continuously focus in Live View during stills capture, and because of the way Dual Pixel AF works, focus is generally very accurate, even with fast lenses. It’s surprisingly good at sticking to the original subject (or face) you initiated focus on, and it’s easy to specify your subject by tappping on it on the touchscreen in ‘Face Detect+Tracking’ mode. – www.dpreview.com
Available for rental from:
- Puma Video
- Cam-A-Lot Rentals
- Digitalfilm Service
Most rented products
• LED Wall Washers
The LED Wall Washer is an energy saving, RGB LED based, wash fixture. Incorporating 36 RGB Power LEDs, the LED Wall Washer produces full colour 16.7M true 24 Bit colour changing effects for architectural and decorative illumination.
Available for rental from:
- Southern Lighting Solutions
- Puma Video
- Cam-A-Lot Rentals
• Arri Sky Panel
The ARRI SkyPanel S120-C is twice as long as the S60, but weighs nearly the same. Its larger light aperture makes a great soft light even better. Retaining the same features and colour tuneability as its smaller counterparts, the S120 consumes less than 400 watts, yet it is slightly brighter than the S60-C and has an outstanding efficacy of 90 lumens per watt.
Available for rental from:
- Southern Lighting Solutions
- Magic Lightbox Company
• Sony PXW-X160
The Sony PXW-X180 is a superior professional camcorder for run-and-gun shooters. Its versatile all-in-one package provides beautiful images and a multitude of recording options to fit your workflow.
Available for rental from:
- Puma Video
- Cam-A-Lot Rentals
• Litepanel Astra
The Astra Soft Bi-Color’s impressive output rates the highest among most soft LED panels, illuminating a wider area effectively with just a single fixture and competing with strong exterior light sources.
Available for rental from:
- Southern Lighting Solutions
- Magic Lightbox Company
• Sony FS5
If you are an event videographer, news gatherer, documentarian, marketing agency or studio, then this camera is for you. The expanded flexibility of having onboard XLR inputs, a grip that makes handheld shooting easier and a linearly adjustable ND will make catching the right moment easier, allowing for better results. – www.videomaker.com
Available for rental from:
- Puma Video
- Cam-A-Lot Rentals
• Kino flo Diva-Lite LED
Is the Kino Flo Diva-Lite LED the most affordable light in the market? No, but it does offer a good value. Out of the three lights in the marketplace we looked at, it offered the most for your money. The stand-out part of the Diva-Lite LED is how easy it is to control and the quality of their light. All in all, we were very happy with the quality and intensity of the light produced.
Available for rental from:
- Puma Video
- Southern Lighting Solutions
• ARRI 1.2kW Compact
Where a lightweight Fresnel spotlight using daylight characteristics with compact size and high efficiency are needed, ARRI Daylight Fresnels are the preferred choice. ARRI’s elegant modular construction, using corrosion-resistant aluminium extrusions and lightweight die castings, offers great structural strength and weather resistance. Together with ARRI flicker-free electronic ballasts, the rugged compact range is ideal for all types of location lighting.
Available for rental from:
- Southern Lighting Solutions
- Magic Lightbox Company
• DJI Mavic Pro
The DJI Mavic Pro is a small yet powerful drone that turns the sky into your creative canvas easily and without worry, helping you make every moment an aerial moment. Its compact size hides a high degree of complexity that makes it one of DJI’s most sophisticated flying cameras ever.
Available for rental from:
- Digitalfilm Service
• RED Raven Camera Kit
The latitude you have with R3D combined with the increased dynamic range that HDRX offers make it hard not to love this camera and the RED codec. With 16.5 stops of dynamic range, it’s hard not to love this camera. – www.videomaker.com
Available for rental from:
- Digitalfilm Service
• Sony UWP-D11 Radio Mics
The UWP-D11 belt-pack wireless microphone package offers the sound quality of digital audio processing combined with the reliability of analogue FM modulation. The UWP-D11 package offers wide frequency coverage with up to 72 MHz bandwidth (depending on region) across a wide range of channels, with a choice of models to choose from.
Available for rental from:
- Cam-A-Lot Rentals
- Magic Lightbox Company
