Hire a DIT in Edinburgh. Every card checked, copied twice, and on its way to the edit.
Digital imaging technicians and data wranglers for shoots across Edinburgh and the Lothians, from the stages at FirstStage Studios in Leith to conference days at the EICC. They copy and verify every card, check the pictures while the crew can still fix them, and get the rushes to the edit, whether that’s across the city or four hours down the line in London. £527 a day, the APA/Bectu card rate, paid to the DIT in full.
- 54 five-star Google reviews
- 2 hrs for our team to read your brief, in working hours
- £10m employers’ liability on every crew member we book
- 2,800+ freelance crew on our books, across the UK
Photos: Here Now Films, Vitaly Gariev, Samsung Memory, Aleksandrs Karevs and Lex Brogan
The role
What a DIT does on your shoot
A DIT (digital imaging technician) looks after the pictures between the camera and the edit. They work with the DOP on the camera settings and the look, check every take for focus, exposure and noise, run the verified backups, and often make the dailies the client watches that night.
The footage is the only thing a shoot makes. Copying it in Finder gives no checksum, so a corrupted file can go unnoticed until the card has been formatted and the original is gone. A DIT makes sure that never happens.
On an Edinburgh shoot the DIT also plans how the rushes travel, before the first card comes off camera: a shuttle drive on the train from Waverley, or proxies uploaded through the day to an editor in another city or another time zone.
- Verified copies. Checksum-verified software such as Silverstack or ShotPut Pro, never drag and drop.
- Two copies, then three. Two verified copies before a card is reformatted; a third off set by the end of the day.
- Pictures checked. Focus, exposure and noise spotted while the crew are still there to reshoot.
- A chain of custody. A report for every card, with an MHL file of checksums travelling with the media.
What’s included
What the day rate covers
In the day rate
- An 11-hour day, including an hour for lunch
- Offloading every card with verified copies
- Spot checks for focus, exposure, sound and timecode
- The media log and checksum reports
- Working with the DOP on the camera settings and look
- The drives handed over at wrap
On top, each on its own line
- Our 10% booking fee and 2% insurance, on the whole quote
- The DIT station or cart, at a day rate
- Drives, at cost, or bring your own
- Dailies, transcodes and colour, if the brief needs them
- Shuttle drives to the edit, by train or courier, at cost
- Travel from outside Edinburgh, mileage, and a parking dispensation or suspended bay where the day needs one, at cost
How our rates work, and the two ways to book: crew rates in Edinburgh.
Two ways to book
Crew hire or full production: who’s the producer of record?
One question sets the price: who’s the producer of record? Book a DIT for your own Edinburgh shoot, or have us take the production on, with the rushes delivered to the edit.
Crew hire
You run the shoot.
10% + 2% booking fee and insurance, on everything we book for you: crew, kit and travel.
We do
- Find, book and brief the crew, and pay them
- Book kit, travel and hotels too, if you want them
- Send the full price before anything is booked
- One person to call all day
- Employers’ liability for the crew we book, and insurance on kit we hire in
You do
- Run the shoot, or your producer does
- The plan, the schedule and the call sheet
- The location, its permission and its public liability
- Responsibility for the production: you’re the producer of record
What the 2% insures: employers’ liability for every crew member we book, and the kit we hire in for you. Nothing else on the shoot. A large kit rental may need extra insurance, as its own line on the quote.
Full production
We’re the producer of record.
15% + 5% production fee, plus insurance and contingency, on the whole production budget. Quoted as a production.
We do
- Our producer plans it with you and runs the day
- Locations, permits, kit, studio, travel and hotels, booked and paid in our name
- Insurance for the whole shoot, public liability included, plus the risk assessment and the call sheet
- One contract and one invoice, so overseas teams need no UK company
You do
- The creative calls
- Signing off the plan and the budget
What the 5% pays for: our production insurance across the whole shoot, £10m public liability included, and the contingency.
Not sure which you need? If your own producer or director will run the day, it’s crew hire. If you want us to take the production on, it’s a full production quote.
On the day
A day with a DIT, call to wrap
A two-camera advert on ARRI Alexa Mini LFs, on a stage at FirstStage Studios in Leith, with dailies for the agency that night and the edit in London. Times are an example; the call sheet sets the real ones.
- 07:30 Set up the station A cart at the edge of the studio floor, out of the traffic of the set: power, a calibrated monitor, card readers, three drives.
- 08:00 Camera check Settings agreed with the DOP and checked on both cameras: format, frame rate and look.
- 10:30 First cards Offloaded with checksum verification to two drives, then checked: focus, exposure, noise and timecode.
- 11:00 A note to camera A soft take spotted on B camera. The focus puller knows before the next set-up.
- 13:00 Lunch Cards cleared back to camera only once two verified copies exist.
- 16:00 Dailies Proxies with the look applied, uploading to the agency and the editor while the crew shoot on.
- 19:30 Wrap Last cards in, the third copy made. A shuttle drive goes on the train from Waverley to the edit; the masters stay with the production until it has arrived.
Which kind
DIT, wrangler or loader?
Jobs that overlap and get called different things on different sets, plus the way to start the edit before wrap.
DIT Pictures, settings, backups and dailies £527 a day, card rate
Works with the DOP on the camera and the look, checks every take, runs the backups, and makes dailies.
Best for RAW, ARRI or RED, three or more cameras, or same-night dailies.
Data wrangler Backups and the log Quoted on the brief
Takes the cards, copies them with verified backups, and keeps the log. On bigger shoots, the DIT’s assistant.
Best for multi-camera conference days at the EICC, without a colour pipeline.
Loader with verification On small shoots Card £355–448
The 2nd AC offloads cards with verification software between set-ups. See clapper loaders in Edinburgh.
Fine for one camera; not for a multi-camera RAW day.
Camera to cloud Proxies as you shoot Quoted on the brief
Proxies sent from the camera to Frame.io through a Teradek or the camera itself, so the edit can start before wrap. It needs a connection, which we check at the recce: in a venue or an office block, a wired line booked before the day.
Best when the client or editor isn’t in Edinburgh.
What it’s for
What people book a DIT for in Edinburgh
Cinema camera shoots
ARRI, RED or Sony Venice on the stages at FirstStage Studios in Leith, home to The Rig and Department Q, where RAW fills drives fast.
Conferences and events
Three or more cameras rolling through a day of sessions at the EICC, where the Pentland Auditorium seats up to 1,200.
Agencies who want dailies
The day’s pictures with the look applied, on the agency’s screens the same night.
Shoots you can’t repeat
Chief executives in New Town offices on St Andrew Square and George Street, researchers at the universities, surgeons between lists, one-off events.
Overseas productions
Teams who fly into Edinburgh Airport, under 35 minutes from the city centre by tram, with their own director and DP, and fly home with verified drives.
Recent work
DITs on our jobs, and how we crew Edinburgh
Production service · Chelsea, London · November 2023
A DIT in a hospital boardroom
Swanson Studios, a US production company, filmed interviews for a medical technology company over three days in Portsmouth, London and Oxford. The London day was in the main boardroom at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on Fulham Road, with the deputy chief executive, consultant surgeons and the lead nurse on camera. Parking there is a challenge, so the call sheet sent the kit through the loading bay. The client shot on two REDs, and the brief for our DIT was the RED media and sound ingested, double backups, and H.264 proxies.
How we crew it · Edinburgh
Rushes from Waverley to the edit
When the edit isn’t in Edinburgh, we plan how the rushes travel at the recce. Proxies go up through the day if the building will give us a wired line. The shuttle drive goes on the train: from Waverley it’s about 45 minutes to Glasgow, 3 hours 10 direct to Manchester Piccadilly and 4 hours 10 to London King’s Cross on the fastest trains (checked October 2026). The masters stay with the production until the copy has arrived and been checked. The DIT comes from in or near Edinburgh first; when the brief or the date needs someone else, from elsewhere in Scotland, the north of England or London, with the travel on the quote before anything is booked.
Before you book
Things to know
The day
- 11 hours, including an hour for lunch.
- Overtime at card rates, agreed with you before it happens.
- Prep and travel days are quoted separately.
Drives and the train
- An hour of Sony FX6 4K in XAVC-I is up to about 112 GB at 25p, and up to about 225 GB at 50p (Sony’s maximum bit rates).
- Three copies, checksum-verified, one off site: tell us whose drives they go on.
- A shuttle drive can go on the train from Waverley. Send a copy, never the only one.
In the city
- A DIT who drives the cart into the city centre needs a car or van that meets the Low Emission Zone. There’s no charge to pay your way in, only a £60 penalty for one below Euro 6 diesel or Euro 4 petrol (checked October 2026), so we check before we book.
- At the EICC, tell us the suite: power and a corner for the cart are agreed with the venue before the day.
Paying and changes
- Nothing to pay until you confirm the DIT.
- 50% by card when you book, 50% on receipt of the final rushes.
- Every line on the quote: day rate, booking fee, kit, travel.
- Cancellation terms are on every quote.
What our insurance covers
- Employers’ liability for the DIT we book: £10m.
- Kit we hire in for you is insured. A large kit rental may need extra insurance, as its own line on the quote.
- Nothing else on a crew hire. Public liability, the location and your own kit stay with you, and your venue will want your certificate. When we’re the producer of record, our policy covers the shoot.
- Film Edinburgh asks for at least £10m public liability on every application, with a risk assessment where the shoot needs one (checked October 2026).
£527 a day
APA/Bectu card: £527 a day for a DIT.
| Day rate, 11 hours | £527 |
| Booking fee, 10% | £52.70 |
| Insurance, 2% | £10.54 |
| One day, before the station and drives | £590.24 + VAT |
The 2% is employers’ liability for the DIT we book, and cover on kit we hire in. What it covers
You won’t pay anything until you confirm the DIT.
- 50% by card at booking, 50% on the final rushes
- Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours
- Every line on the quote before anything is booked
Or call us on 07412 543822.
Reviews
What clients say about our crews
Straight from our Google Business Profile.
Book a DIT in Edinburgh.
Tell us the cameras, the formats, how much you’ll roll, and where the rushes need to go, in Edinburgh or beyond. Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours. Or call us on 07412 543822.
Check availability
The whole crew
Every role in Edinburgh, booked the same way
One brief, one quote, every role on its own line. Our day rates in Edinburgh, paid to the crew member in full:
Production 06
- Director From £500
- Producer From £450
- Production manager £504–627
- 2nd AD £355–448
- Production assistant £400
- Runner £245
Camera 07
- DOP From £850
- Camera operator £529–656
- Focus puller £461–575
- Clapper loader £355–448
- Steadicam operator From £950
- Gimbal operator £529–656
- Drone operator From £750
Data and playback 02
- DIT This page £527
- Video playback £334–518
Sound 01
- Sound recordist £550
Hair, make-up and costume 02
- Hair and make-up £398
- Costume £519–694
Art department 02
- Art director £675–878
- Set builders £341–512
Post-production 01
- Editor From £350
How our rates work: crew rates in Edinburgh. Or start from a set-up: interview crews and units in Edinburgh.
Production support
Everything around the crew
A DIT sits between the camera and the edit. Here’s how the rest of an Edinburgh shoot works around them, from kit and permits to the train out of Waverley.
01
Kit rental
Kit houses in Leith and out towards the airport, the crew’s own kit, and what comes from Glasgow or London.
02
Locations and permits
Film Edinburgh, Historic Environment Scotland, Waverley, the kirkyards, the trams and the drone rules.
03
Studios and set builds
FirstStage in Leith, smaller studios for interviews and product, and set builds.
Questions
Hiring a DIT in Edinburgh: questions
How much does a DIT cost in Edinburgh?
The APA/Bectu card puts a DIT at £527 for an 11-hour day, and we pay that in full. On top go our 10% booking fee and 2% insurance: £590.24 + VAT for the day. The DIT station, drives and any shuttle drives are priced separately.
What does the insurance on a crew booking cover?
Two things. Employers’ liability for every crew member we book, up to £10m, and insurance on the kit we hire in for you. That’s what the 2% pays for. A large kit rental may need extra insurance, as its own line on the quote. The 2% doesn’t insure the rest of the shoot: public liability, the location, your own kit and anything you book yourself stay with you, because you’re the producer of record. If you’d rather we were, it’s quoted as a full production, and our insurance covers the whole shoot, public liability included.
What’s the difference between a DIT and a data wrangler?
A data wrangler copies and logs the cards. A DIT does that and works with the DOP on the pictures themselves: settings, the look, checks and dailies. For a one- or two-camera interview day in a New Town office, a camera assistant with verification software is often enough. For a multi-camera conference at the EICC, book a wrangler at least.
Can you get rushes from Edinburgh to our editor the same day?
Usually. Proxies can upload while you shoot, if the building gives us a connection, so the edit can start before wrap. A shuttle drive goes on the train from Waverley: about 45 minutes to Glasgow, 3 hours 10 direct to Manchester Piccadilly and 4 hours 10 to London King’s Cross on the fastest trains (checked October 2026), so a copy of the morning’s cards that leaves at lunchtime reaches a London edit the same day. The masters stay with the production until the copy has arrived.
What does a DIT need from an Edinburgh location?
Power, a corner for the cart out of the traffic of the set, and a way in for the kit. In the Old Town that way in can be a close or a turnpike stair rather than a loading bay, so we check it at the recce; at the EICC or a hotel, we agree power and a room with the venue before the day. If the DIT drives into the city centre, the vehicle has to meet the Low Emission Zone, which runs around the clock: there’s no charge to pay, and a car or van below Euro 6 diesel or Euro 4 petrol is sent a £60 penalty, then £120, £240 and £480 for repeats within 90 days (checked October 2026). A parking dispensation lets the DIT’s vehicle stop on a yellow line, £16 with 24 hours’ notice.
Where do Edinburgh DITs get their kit?
Most bring their own cart, drives and readers, priced on the quote. Edinburgh’s kit houses include Lights Camera Scotland, between the city centre and the airport, which hires carts and power as well as cameras, and Live Systems on North Leith Sands. Wex Rental hands over booked kit at its Edinburgh store on Haddington Place; allow up to three working days for delivery to the store. Bigger packages come from Glasgow or London.
Are your DITs local to Edinburgh?
We’re a crew agency with 2,800+ freelance crew on our books across the UK, so we can scale from one wrangler for a morning to a full data team for a week. We book DITs who live in or near Edinburgh first. When the brief or the date needs someone else, they come from elsewhere in Scotland, the north of England or London, and the travel is on the quote before anything is booked. Our base is in London, at 124 City Road, with bases in Manchester, Bristol and Cornwall.