Film crew hire/Cornwall/Kit rental
Film equipment hire in Cornwall. A rental house in West Cornwall, a film school’s stores, and the crew’s own kit.
Cornwall’s kit hire is small and spread out. The Cornish Camera Co. hires cameras, lenses, lighting and grip from West Cornwall, by Penzance, with a published day rate for almost everything; Falmouth University’s film school stores at Penryn hire to outside productions on 24 hours’ notice; and much of the rest arrives with the crew. Film cameras and big lighting packages come from London or Bristol. Here’s who has what, what it costs, what a first hire asks of you, and how kit gets to a clifftop.
Sony FX6 · The Cornish Camera Co.
£150 a day
Sony FX6 kit · Falmouth University
£200 a day
Notice · Falmouth’s film school stores
24 hours
Hired-in cover · first hire
Yours, proved before the shoot
On this page
01 Wet hire or dry hire
Two ways to get kit: from a rental house, or with the crew
Dry hire means you rent the kit and run it yourself. Wet hire means it comes with the person who operates it. Most shoots we crew in Cornwall use a mix of the two.
Dry hire
From a rental house
Who owns it
The rental house: The Cornish Camera Co. in West Cornwall, Falmouth University’s stores at Penryn and Falmouth, or a house in Bristol or London
How it’s priced
A day rate per item, plus VAT. Neither Cornish house publishes a damage waiver: The Cornish Camera Co. wants your own hired-in insurance, and Falmouth your public liability documents
Getting it there
Collected from West Cornwall or Penryn the day before, or driven down from Bristol or London, with the van and the mileage on the quote
Who knows it best
Whoever operates it, if they’ve used that model before
Best for
A specific camera, cine primes or anamorphics, HMIs, a dolly, or film
Wet hire
With the crew’s kit
Who owns it
The DOP, camera operator, sound recordist or gaffer you’re booking
How it’s priced
A kit fee on its own line of the quote, apart from the day rate. Our 10% booking fee and 2% insurance go on it, as on everything we book
Getting it there
It arrives with the operator at call time, prepped and charged, whether they live in Cornwall or travel down
Who knows it best
The person who owns it, maintains it and uses it every week
Best for
Interviews, events and brand days from Truro to St Ives: FX6s, radio mics, LED panels, a gaffer’s kit
How we book it
On our Cohere day on the Lizard in June 2026, The Cornish Camera Co. in West Cornwall supplied a lens and a kit assistant. On an interview or event day, wet hire is often the better deal: the kit is already paid for, prepped and insured, and nobody drives to West Cornwall or Penryn to collect it. When a sound recordist or gaffer travels down from Bristol or London for a Cornish shoot, their kit travels with them, with the mileage on the quote. Dry hire wins when the job calls for something specific, and then the crew run what we hire. Either way, kit sits on its own line of the quote.
02 Day rates
Camera and kit hire prices in Cornwall
Published dry-hire rates from the two places that hire kit in Cornwall, per day, before VAT. Checked October 2026.
| Item | The Cornish Camera Co. | Falmouth University |
|---|---|---|
| Sony FX6 | £150 | £200, as a kit |
| Sony FX9 | £285 | Not listed |
| Sony A7S III | £100 | Not listed |
| DJI Ronin 4D | £400 | Not listed |
| Bolex H16 16mm | Not listed | £150 |
| Cine prime set | £150: Canon CN-E (six lenses), SIRUI anamorphic or Contax Zeiss Super Speed | With the camera kits |
| Angénieux EZ zoom, PL mount | £250 | Not listed |
| Easyrig Vario 5 | £130, with a Stabil arm | £150 |
| Dolly | £80, a Key West track and dolly kit | £250 for a PD1 studio dolly; £100 for a Jackal rickshaw; £30 for an Indie Dolly |
| Aputure LS 1200d Pro | £130 | Not listed |
| Aputure 600-series LED | £110 to £120 | £200, as a kit |
| HMI | £70, an ARRI 1.2K kit | £200, an ARRI M18 |
| Astera Titan tubes, set of eight | £250 | Not listed |
| Sound Devices 633 sound kit | Not listed | £180 |
| Radio mic, Sennheiser G3 or G4 | £30 | £30 |
| Generator | £80, a 6.6kW silent petrol unit; £50, an 1800W inverter | Not listed; an EcoFlow power bank is £60 |
What moves the number
Kit or item
Falmouth prices its FX6 and its Aputure 600C lights as kits. The Cornish Camera Co. lists almost everything on its own line, down to batteries and monitors, so a like-for-like quote adds them up.
The insurance
Neither publishes a damage waiver. The Cornish Camera Co. wants hired-in cover at least equal to your final estimate for every day the kit is with you, and proof before the shoot; Falmouth wants your public liability documents before you collect.
Payment
Falmouth takes payment in full on collection, online or on a university credit account. The Cornish Camera Co. asks new clients to pay in advance, then offers 30 days from invoice once it knows you.
Late or not collected
Falmouth charges a full day per item for a late return, and nothing if a booking isn’t collected. Call as early as you can to change one.
Graduates
Falmouth takes 40% off for its own graduates in their first year out, 20% in the second and 10% from the third year on (checked October 2026). Worth asking if your crew studied there.
03 Who to call
Cornwall’s kit hire, from West Cornwall to Penryn
One rental house in West Cornwall, the university stores in Penryn and Falmouth, then the houses upcountry. Every one below was checked on its own site in October 2026.
In Cornwall
West Cornwall · by Penzance, with a studio in Newlyn
The Cornish Camera Co.
Camera and lighting hire owned and operated by Chris Yacoubian, who still works in broadcast. Sony FX9, FX6 and A7S III bodies and the Ronin 4D; Canon CN-E, SIRUI anamorphic and Contax Zeiss Super Speed prime sets and four Angénieux EZ zooms; Aputure, Nanlite and Astera LEDs, ARRI tungsten, HMIs up to 2.5K and Strand vintage lamps; tripods, a mini jib, track and dolly; comms, monitoring, generators and a beach cart. It offers crew as well as kit, and a small studio in Newlyn.
Penryn Campus · Treliever Road, TR10 9FE
Falmouth University: the film school stores
The School of Film & Television’s stores hire to outside productions, subject to availability: a Sony FX6 kit, a Bolex H16 16mm camera, ARRI M18 HMIs and Aputure kits, a PD1 studio dolly and a Jackal rickshaw, an Easyrig, a Ronford Baker slider, a Sound Devices 633 kit, MKH 416s, radio mics and Teradek wireless video. The school hires out its studios and post suites too: our Cornwall studios guide has them.
Falmouth · Woodlane, TR11 4RH
Falmouth Campus Stores
Smaller kit for artists and makers: a Sony A7 III kit at £75 a day, a Canon C100 Mk II kit at £100, a GH5 kit at £35 and a GoPro HERO10 at £20, before VAT, on its 2025 list (checked October 2026), with older analogue and specialist kit on request.
Penryn · Falmouth’s Institute of Photography
Falmouth’s photography stores
The Institute of Photography’s stores hire Profoto D2 and B2 two-head flash kits at £50 a day each, for a stills shoot running beside the film, and eight photography studios.
Upcountry
Bristol · Clifton, and The Bottle Yard
Films at 59 Rental
Cameras, lenses, monitors and wireless video, grip, drones, gimbals, lighting, sound and power, from Barley House in Clifton and a base at The Bottle Yard Studios.
Bristol · The Bottle Yard Studios
Grip Services
Grip for film and TV, and a range of camera tracking vehicles: low loaders, A-frames, mules, quads and rickshaws.
London
The London houses
For a film camera package, a large lighting rig, remote heads and the biggest lens sets. Our guide to film equipment hire in the UK lists the houses city by city.
Out of date
Older Cornish kit lists, our own among them, send people to Fat Llama and call the West Cornwall house “Cornwall Camera Co”. Fat Llama now redirects to Hygglo, a peer-to-peer platform renting kit from individuals rather than a rental house. The house is The Cornish Camera Co., and Falmouth University has three stores hiring to outside productions, not two.
04 By department
What’s in stock in Cornwall, by department
What the Cornish lists show today, what comes down from upcountry, and what we’d usually reach for on a brand or corporate shoot here.
Cameras and monitoring
Sony FX9, FX6, FS7 and A7S III, the DJI Ronin 4D, SmallHD monitors and Teradek wireless video at The Cornish Camera Co.; an FX6 kit, a Bolex H16 and Super 8 cameras at Falmouth’s film school; mirrorless bodies and a C100 Mk II at Falmouth Campus Stores. None of the Cornish lists has an ARRI, a Sony Venice or a 35mm camera, so those come from London.
Lenses
Canon CN-E cine primes from 14mm to 135mm, SIRUI anamorphics, a cine-modified Contax Zeiss Super Speed set and four Angénieux EZ zooms in PL mount at The Cornish Camera Co., with a Laowa 24mm probe lens and Sony and Canon stills glass. At Falmouth, lenses come with the camera kits.
Lighting
Aputure and Nanlite LEDs up to an LS 1200d, Astera Titan tubes, ARRI 1.2K and Quartzcolour 2.5K HMIs, Dedolights, ARRI tungsten up to 2K and Strand 123 and 223 vintage lamps at The Cornish Camera Co.; ARRI M18 HMIs and Aputure 600C and Storm kits at Falmouth.
Grip
Sachtler and Ronford Baker legs, an Easyrig, a Libec mini jib, a slider, a Key West track and dolly kit and a Tilta car mount at The Cornish Camera Co.; a PD1 studio dolly, a Jackal rickshaw, Indie Dollies, a Libec jib and a Ronford Baker slider at Falmouth. Cranes, remote heads and camera cars are booked upcountry, with the crew who run them.
Sound and comms
Sennheiser G3 and G4 and Rode radio mics, Rode shotguns, an Eartec headset kit and Motorola walkie-talkies at The Cornish Camera Co.; a Sound Devices 633 kit, MKH 416s and G3 or G4 radio mics at Falmouth.
Power and the beach
V-lock battery kits, a 6.6kW silent petrol generator, an 1800W inverter generator, a folding cart with a beach wheel kit and an Ikelite underwater housing at The Cornish Camera Co.; an EcoFlow power bank at Falmouth. Cornwall Council’s code for film makers asks for silent generators as much as possible.
05 Kit lists
Kit for the set-ups we run most
Our crew set-ups are on the Cornwall crew page. Here’s the kit that usually goes with them. It’s its own line on every quote, the crew’s own or hired in, with our 10% booking fee and 2% insurance on it.
Two-camera interview
Two Sony FX6s, cine primes or fast zooms, two or three LEDs, radio mics, a shotgun and tripods: the kit behind our interview set-ups.
The gaffer’s kit
LEDs, stands, flags, cable and distro, on a van that comes to set with the gaffer. Lighting crew are among the roles Cornwall is short of, so a gaffer often travels down from Bristol or London with the van, and the mileage and the hotel are on the quote before anything is booked.
Grip · swing
Grip package
Track and dolly, a slider, a mini jib, stands, flags and frames. The Cornish Camera Co. lists a Key West track and dolly kit at £80 a day and a Libec mini jib at £100; Falmouth’s PD1 studio dolly is £250 (checked October 2026).
A 35mm package
Film comes from London. For Cohere on the Lizard in June 2026, the Arricam LT package, with an Angénieux Optimo zoom and rehoused Canon K-35 primes, came from Panavision in Greenford. The 1st and 2nd AC travelled down, and the negative went to Cinelab in Slough.
06 Paperwork
Your first hire: what a Cornish house asks for
Rental houses check new customers before anything leaves the building. Here’s what the Cornish stores publish.
- The Cornish Camera Co.: a new client application form, two trade references, proof of hired-in insurance for at least the value of your final estimate, covering every day the kit is with you, and its terms agreed. It likes to meet before the shoot, and asks new clients to pay in advance.
- Falmouth University’s film school stores: at least 24 hours’ notice, ID and proof of address, your public liability documents before collection, and payment in full when you collect. Your own electrical kit must be PAT tested, and a smoke machine needs the Technical Facilities Manager’s approval first.
- Falmouth’s Institute of Photography: at least two working days’ notice, and card payment in person on the day.
Book kit through us and the house deals with us: we sort the paperwork and pay the hire. On a crew hire, the 2% insurance on the quote covers the kit we hire in for you, along with employers’ liability for the crew we book. A large rental may need extra cover, as its own line on the quote. More in our guide to insurance for a UK shoot.
07 Delivery
Getting kit to a Cornish location
Five ways kit reaches a Cornish set.
01
Collected
A crew member collects the day before, by arrangement with the house. The Cornish Camera Co. is in West Cornwall and Falmouth’s film school stores are on the Penryn campus, so on a shoot at the other end of the county the collection is a drive of its own: put it on the schedule. The Cornish Camera Co.’s hire period starts at delivery or collection, so ask which when you book.
02
Down the A30
Kit from Bristol or London comes by van, the last of it on the A30, which Visit Cornwall calls mostly dual carriageway. It warns of heavy traffic in peak season, in the school holidays and at weekends, and of sat-navs that send drivers down narrow lanes, so follow the road signs (checked October 2026). The Tamar Bridge toll is charged eastbound only, on the way out. More in our Cornwall logistics guide.
03
By train
A small camera kit can travel with its operator. London Paddington to Truro takes 4 hours 21 minutes on the fastest trains, and to Penzance 5 hours 4; the Night Riviera sleeper runs six nights a week, Paddington to Penzance (checked October 2026).
04
To the set
Cornish locations often start where the road ends. On Cornwall Council land, FilmApp’s terms allow no vehicles on the property without specific permission, and on our Cohere day on the Lizard vehicles couldn’t reach the set at all, so the kit went in on beach carts and over a stone wall. A parking dispensation for vehicles essential to filming is £20 a day per vehicle from Cornwall Council, with at least five working days’ notice (checked October 2026). Locations and permits in Cornwall.
05
From London or abroad
Film cameras, big anamorphic sets, remote heads and large lighting packages come from London, prepped at the house by the crew who’ll run them. Kit flying in comes on an ATA Carnet: here’s how bringing film equipment into the UK works.
Weather
Camborne averages about 155 days a year with a millimetre of rain or more, and a mean wind of over 10 knots (Met Office 1991 to 2020 averages). Ask for rain covers with the lights and weights with the stands, and keep a weather day on the quote.
On a protected site
On a Site of Special Scientific Interest the conditions can rule out generators and anything pegged into the ground, as they did for us on the Lizard. Check the land before you write the kit list.
Send us your kit list.
Paste it into the form with your dates and the location. We’ll price it both ways: dry hire from West Cornwall, Falmouth or upcountry, and with the crew’s own kit. Or call us on 07412 543822.
Quick contact form
08 Questions
Hiring film equipment in Cornwall: questions
How much does it cost to hire a camera in Cornwall?
On the published lists we checked in October 2026, a Sony FX6 is £150 a day at The Cornish Camera Co. and £200 as a kit at Falmouth University’s film school stores, an FX9 £285 and an A7S III £100 at The Cornish Camera Co., all before VAT. Both want your own hired-in insurance. Book the camera with the operator who owns it and the kit fee is its own line on the crew quote.
Where can I hire film equipment in Cornwall?
The Cornish Camera Co. in West Cornwall, by Penzance, is the county’s rental house: cameras, lenses, lighting, grip, sound, power and a small studio in Newlyn. Falmouth University hires to outside productions from three stores: the film school’s at Penryn, the Institute of Photography’s, and Falmouth Campus Stores. For a longer list, Films at 59 and Grip Services are in Bristol, and the big houses are in London.
Can anyone hire kit from Falmouth University?
Outside productions can, subject to availability. The film school’s stores want at least 24 hours’ notice, ID and proof of address, your public liability documents before collection and payment in full when you collect. Falmouth graduates get 40% off in their first year out, 20% in the second and 10% after that (checked October 2026).
Do I need insurance to hire kit in Cornwall?
Yes. The Cornish Camera Co. wants hired-in cover at least equal to your final estimate, for every day the kit is with you, and proof before the shoot; Falmouth wants your public liability documents. Book it through us on a crew hire and the 2% insurance on the quote covers the kit we hire in for you; a large rental may need extra cover, as its own line.
What’s the difference between wet hire and dry hire?
Dry hire is the kit on its own: you collect it from the house, run it and bring it back. Wet hire comes with the person who operates it, usually its owner. Most crews we book use both: cameras from a rental house, lighting on the gaffer’s van, and the sound recordist’s own kit.
Can I hire a generator in Cornwall?
Yes: The Cornish Camera Co. lists a 6.6kW silent petrol generator at £80 a day and an 1800W inverter at £50 (checked October 2026). Cornwall Council’s code asks for silent generators as much as possible, and some sites rule them out: on the Lizard, our Cohere shoot ran on portable power stations.
Can specialist kit come down from London or Bristol?
Yes. None of the Cornish lists has an ARRI, a Sony Venice or a 35mm camera, so film and high-end cinema cameras come from London, along with remote heads and the biggest lighting packages, prepped at the house by the crew who’ll run them. In Bristol, Films at 59 hires cameras, lighting and grip, and Grip Services at The Bottle Yard hires grip and camera tracking vehicles.
Can you hire the kit for us with the crew?
Yes. Send the kit list with the dates and the location. We open the account, sort the paperwork, pay the house and put it on the quote at the house’s price, with the same 10% booking fee and 2% insurance as the crew. Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours.
Around the crew
More for Cornwall shoots
02
Locations and permits
Cornwall Council, the National Trust, Natural England, the Duchy, the harbours and the drone rules.
03
Studios and set builds
Falmouth University’s studios, converted barns and pop-up spaces, and the stages in Bristol.
04
Props and wardrobe
Falmouth’s wardrobe store, props from upcountry, replica weapons, stylists and HMU.
05
Logistics
The A30, the sleeper, Newquay airport, narrow lanes, tides, weather days and crew hotels.
