Film crew hire/Edinburgh/Kit rental
Film equipment hire in Edinburgh. Kit houses, day rates, and the crew’s own kit.
Edinburgh’s kit hire is spread across small houses rather than one big one: cinema cameras and grip on Causewayside, lighting in the centre with zero-emission delivery, Wex Rental’s click-and-collect on Haddington Place, an independent out west towards the airport, and sound, power and rigging on North Leith Sands. Bigger camera packages come from Glasgow or London. Here’s who’s where, what they publish, what a first hire asks of you, and when we book the kit with the crew instead.
Sony FX6 · per day, Wex Rental
£145
ARRI Alexa 35 · per day, Causewayside
£900
A week at Format
Charged as 3 days
Low Emission Zone · older van
£60 penalty
On this page
01 Wet hire or dry hire
Two ways to get kit: from a kit 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 use a mix of the two.
Dry hire
From a kit house
Who owns it
The kit house: G&G Swing on Causewayside, Format in the centre, Lights Camera Scotland out west, Wex Rental (collected on Haddington Place), or Progressive Broadcast in Glasgow
How it’s priced
A day rate per item, plus VAT. Format charges a week as three days and Wex as four. Wex adds a 10% damage waiver unless your own policy covers hired kit; Format wants your own cover for the full replacement value
Getting it there
Collected the day before (from 4pm at Wex, in the afternoon at Progressive in Glasgow) or delivered: Format delivers across Scotland, and G&G Swing’s van package includes the first 50 miles
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 a tracking vehicle
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
Who knows it best
The person who owns it, maintains it and uses it every week
Best for
Interview and conference days in offices on George Street or St Andrew Square, or at the EICC: FX6s, radio mics, LED panels, a gaffer’s van
How we book it
For AlTi Tiedemann Global’s fireside chat at Many Rooms in Battersea, London, in March 2026, we booked a DOP, sound and a gaffer with their van, with the kit on its own line. For GMR Marketing’s 34 days at Team USA House in Paris, two camera operators ran their own Sony FX6s and travelled with the kit by van. On an interview day, wet hire is often the better deal: the kit is already paid for, prepped and insured by the person who owns it, and nobody spends the afternoon before collecting it. In Edinburgh the two can meet: G&G Swing prices its kit for dry hire and takes 25% off camera and lighting hired wet. When a sound recordist or gaffer travels in from elsewhere in Scotland, the north of England or London, 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 Edinburgh
Published dry-hire rates from three houses that hire in Edinburgh, per day. Checked October 2026.
| Item | Per day | Listed by |
|---|---|---|
| Sony FX6, with cards, batteries and a Rode mic | £145, or £580 a week | Wex Rental |
| Sony FX30 | £115 | G&G Swing |
| Nikon ZR | £125 | G&G Swing |
| Blackmagic Pocket 4K | £90 | G&G Swing |
| ARRI Alexa 35 | £900 | G&G Swing |
| Arriflex SR2, 16mm | £350 | G&G Swing |
| Atlas Orion Silver anamorphics, six lenses | £500 | G&G Swing |
| Cooke SP3 primes, five lenses | £290 | G&G Swing |
| ARRI Hi-5 wireless focus hand unit | £350 | G&G Swing |
| Aputure Storm 1200X | £150 | Format |
| ARRI M18 HMI | £125 | Format |
| ARRI SkyPanel S60-C | £100 | Format |
| Aputure 600D | £70–90 | Format (600D Pro), G&G Swing (LS 600D) |
| Astera Titan tubes, set of eight | £250 | G&G Swing |
| Godox Knowled MG1200Bi | £150 | G&G Swing |
| Sennheiser MKH 416 with a boom pole | £30 | Format |
| Sennheiser EW100 G3 radio mic | £15 | Format |
| Sony 17-inch OLED monitor | £80 | Format |
| Vaxis Storm 3000 wireless video, one transmitter and two receivers | £200 | G&G Swing |
| Grip van: grip, frames, flags, rags and stingers | £500 | G&G Swing, with 50 miles included, then 55p a mile |
What moves the number
The week
Format charges a week as three days. Wex charges seven days as four and 10 to 14 days as seven, so its FX6 is £145 a day or £580 a week. G&G Swing’s van package comes down 15% over three days and 30% over five. Ask for the week when you ask for the day: on four shoot days in the City of London and Uxbridge in September 2025, a three-day kit deal and one van for the crew and the kit kept the job £498 under budget.
The weekend
Format counts a Friday collection and a Monday return as one day. So does Wex, collected any time on the Friday and back by 10am on the Monday, and its Haddington Place store opens on Sundays. Lights Camera Scotland works from a home address, so kit can often go out and come back out of hours or at the weekend.
Wet hire
G&G Swing’s prices are for dry hire, and it takes 25% off camera and lighting hired wet. Many DOPs and gaffers own their kit outright; it goes on the quote as its own line, so you can compare.
The insurance
Wex adds a 10% damage waiver unless you show proof of your own cover. Format wants hired-in cover for the new replacement value, shown with every hire; Lights Camera Scotland a copy of your policy before it books you in; and Progressive in Glasgow specialist cover at full replacement value, plus continuing hire charges.
The hire day
Format counts a 24-hour period. Wex releases kit from 4pm the day before and wants it back by 10am on the last day. Progressive in Glasgow doesn’t charge the collection and return days: kit goes out the afternoon before and comes back the morning after.
03 Who to call
Edinburgh’s kit houses, from Causewayside to Leith
Edinburgh has no single kit district. The cinema camera list is on Causewayside, lighting is in the centre, Wex hands over booked kit on Haddington Place, an independent hires from a home address out west, and most of the sound, power and tracking specialists are in Leith. Every house below was checked on its own site or Film Edinburgh’s production guide in October 2026.
In the city
Causewayside · 33 Causewayside, EH9 1QF
G&G Swing
Camera, lighting and grip for commercials and drama, owned and operated by a director and a cinematographer: an ARRI Alexa 35 and a 16mm Arriflex SR2, Atlas Orion anamorphics and Cooke SP3s, Astera Titan tubes and Knowled MG1200s, and a grip van with the frames, flags and rags. Hired dry or wet.
Central Edinburgh
Format
A lighting and grip house started in 2026 by a working photographer: Profoto flash, ARRI HMIs up to the M18, a SkyPanel S60-C and Aputure up to the Storm 1200X, with frames, textiles, grip and power, plus Sachtler tripods, radio mics and a Sennheiser 416. It delivers across Scotland and the north-east of England by zero-emission transport.
Haddington Place · Unit 4, 39 Haddington Place, EH7 4AG
Wex Rental
Wex Photo Video’s Edinburgh store is a click-and-collect point for Wex Rental: you book online, then collect and drop off here. Cameras from Sony, Canon, Nikon, Panasonic and Fujifilm, among them the Sony FX6 with its cards, batteries and a Rode mic. Allow three days for kit to reach the store.
Leith · Units 1–2, North Leith Sands, EH6 4ER
Live Systems
An event production and hire house, established in 2000: stage lighting from ETC Source Fours to moving heads, PA, radio mics and comms, truss, staging, haze, video and projection, and power distribution from 16 to 125 amps, single or three phase. Its Instagrid One battery units give up to 3.6kW each where there’s no mains. It lists FirstStage Studios among its clients.
Out west, towards the airport
Between Corstorphine and Barnton · 15 Parkgrove Crescent, EH4 7RW
Lights Camera Scotland
Edinburgh’s independent camera and lighting hire, with over 300 items: Sony FX6, FX30 and FS7 bodies, Sony lenses, Aputure up to the Storm 1200X, Godox Knowled mats, Matthews grip, a Magliner Junior, monitors, radios and power. Its site lists an FX6 kit, with four 128GB cards and three batteries, at £130, and corporate lighting packages at £150, £300 and £800 before VAT.
Sound, power and tracking
EH7 · 3–5 East Telferton
The Warehouse Sound Services
Sound hire with or without people: broadcast radio mic systems, in-ear monitors, battery-powered PA for playback, mixers, microphones, boom poles and a large stock of Motorola walkie-talkies, with the consumables for location sound.
Leith · 23 Albert Road, EH6 7DP
Tower Productions
Super-hushed generators from 6kVA to 1,100kVA, with cable and power distribution supplied, installed and certified to BS7909, site lighting, towerlights and heaters, for locations and studios across Scotland.
East Lothian · Castleton Farm, North Berwick
Barbour All Terrain Tracking
Two purpose-built tracking vehicles: the VampyreBATT, which seats up to six and takes stabilised heads and cranes up to a Technocrane 30, and a road-legal Can-Am Commander for Steadicam, handheld and remote heads. Off-road vehicles and drivers for remote locations, too.
Leith · 16/3 Timberbush, EH6 6QH
Aerial Frontiers
Tracking vehicles from a 4×4 ATV and motorbikes to an Audi A3 for tracks and closed roads, with a Cineflow arm and Movi Pro or XL gimbals for Alexa Mini, RED and Alexa LF packages.
In Glasgow
Glasgow · 11 Fairley Street, G51 2SN
Progressive Broadcast
An independent facilities house supplying Scottish TV and film since 2008: ARRI Alexa 35 and Mini LF, Sony FX9, FX6 and F55, PL and LPL lenses with Sirui anamorphics among them, ARRI HMIs, monitors, DIT kit, multicam and OB, with a test space to check it all before it leaves. Its kit list names the dramas shot on its kit: Vigil on an Alexa 35 with Signature Primes, Payback on an Alexa 35 with Angénieux Optimo zooms.
Out of date
Film Edinburgh’s production guide still lists Wex Photo Video at 110 Jane Street in Leith. Wex’s own store page gives Unit 4, 39 Haddington Place, and says it’s click and collect only, so book online before you go.
04 By department
What’s in stock in Edinburgh, by department
What the Edinburgh houses list today, what comes from Glasgow or London, and what we’d usually reach for on a brand or corporate shoot.
Cameras
An ARRI Alexa 35, a 16mm Arriflex SR2, a Nikon ZR and FX30s at G&G Swing; FX6s at Wex Rental and Lights Camera Scotland; the Alexa 35 and Mini LF, an FX9 and an F55 at Progressive Broadcast in Glasgow. Neither G&G Swing’s list nor Lights Camera Scotland’s has a 35mm camera, so 35mm comes from London.
Lenses
Atlas Orion Silver anamorphics, Cooke SP3s and Nikon AI-S primes at G&G Swing; Sony lenses at Lights Camera Scotland; PL, LPL, EF and E-mount primes and zooms, vintage glass and Sirui anamorphics at Progressive Broadcast in Glasgow, which has a test space to check them.
Lighting
An ARRI M18 HMI, a SkyPanel S60-C and Aputure up to the Storm 1200X at Format; Astera Titans, Knowled MG1200s and a Nanlite Forza 720B at G&G Swing; Aputure and Knowled at Lights Camera Scotland; stage and event lighting at Live Systems and at Black Light on West Shore Road; ARRI HMIs at Progressive in Glasgow.
Grip
G&G Swing’s van of grip, frames, flags and rags, with a Proaim dolly, a six-foot Ronford Baker slider and an O’Connor 2575D head; Matthews grip and a Magliner at Lights Camera Scotland; frames, booms and autopoles at Format. Tracking vehicles come from BATT in East Lothian and Aerial Frontiers in Leith.
Sound
Broadcast radio mics, boom poles and walkie-talkies at The Warehouse; a Sennheiser 416 and EW100 lapels at Format; radio mics and comms at Live Systems. On the Canongate, Pegasus Sound and Light hires current and retro sound and lighting kit as props, for a party scene.
Power, playback and data
A Sony 17-inch OLED at Format; a SmallHD Cine 18 and Vaxis wireless video at G&G Swing; Instagrid battery power at Live Systems; super-hushed generators from Tower Productions; DIT kit, multicam and OB at Progressive in Glasgow.
05 Kit lists
Kit for the set-ups we run most
Our crew set-ups are on the Edinburgh 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 low-footprint and premium interview set-ups. For WordAppeal’s International Women’s Day interviews in Wimbledon, London, in February 2025, a DOP and a camera operator shot on a Sony FX6 and an FX3, in 4K log.
The gaffer’s van
LEDs, stands, flags, cable and distro, in a van that comes to set with the gaffer. For AlTi Tiedemann Global’s fireside chat at Many Rooms in Battersea, London, in March 2026, we booked a gaffer with their van and a spark to rig to the gaffer’s plan, every line itemised on the cost sheet. Any van we book for an Edinburgh shoot meets the Low Emission Zone.
Grip · tracking
Grip package or tracking vehicle
Dolly and track, sliders, stands, flags and frames for moving shots in an office or a hall, or a tracking vehicle for a car on the road: BATT in East Lothian runs the VampyreBATT and a road-legal Can-Am, and Aerial Frontiers in Leith rigs a Cineflow arm. If the shot needs a council road closed for under five days, that’s a Film Edinburgh application with at least two weeks’ notice, £675 plus VAT (checked October 2026).
A 35mm or 16mm package
Film is prepped at a London house by the camera crew who’ll run it. We shot Cohere’s AI for Empowerment on 35mm on an Arricam LT in four countries in 2026, the Lizard in Cornwall among them, with the behind-the-scenes on Sony FX6s and an FX3. On that clifftop no generators were allowed, so the unit ran on portable power stations. What shooting on 35mm taught us.
06 Paperwork
Your first hire: what an Edinburgh house asks for
Kit houses check new customers before anything leaves the building. Here’s what the houses in and around Edinburgh publish.
- Format: an account application with two trade references and proof of ID, and perhaps a deposit. First hires are paid in full in advance; credit accounts come with 30-day terms. Proof of hired-in cover for the new replacement value, with every hire.
- Lights Camera Scotland: a copy of your insurance and, the first time, a copy of your driving licence, then valid ID when you collect.
- Wex Rental: a booking made online before you collect, and a 10% damage waiver unless you show proof of your own insurance.
- Live Systems: its conditions of hire, which it sends on request.
- Progressive Broadcast, Glasgow: an application with two trade references, checked through the Xhire anti-fraud network with government ID; most accounts are approved within a couple of hours. Cover at full replacement value plus continuing hire charges, and the first three hires paid up front.
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. National detail is in our guide to film equipment hire in the UK.
07 Delivery
Getting kit to your location
Five ways kit reaches an Edinburgh set.
01
Collected
A crew member collects the day before, inside the house’s hours: from 4pm at Wex on Haddington Place, out of hours by arrangement at Lights Camera Scotland, and the afternoon before at Progressive in Glasgow. Crews flying in can pick up from Lights Camera Scotland on the way: its own FAQ puts it about 13 minutes by taxi from Edinburgh Airport. Checked October 2026.
02
Driven in
Edinburgh’s Low Emission Zone covers the city centre around the clock, and there’s no charge to pay your way in: a petrol van must meet Euro 4 and a diesel Euro 6, and one that doesn’t is sent a £60 penalty, then £120, £240 and £480 for repeats within 90 days (checked October 2026). The location decides, so a kit run to a city-centre set needs a compliant van, and we only book vans that meet it. More in our Edinburgh logistics guide.
03
Delivered
Format delivers across Scotland and the north-east of England by zero-emission transport, which meets the zone by definition. G&G Swing’s van package includes the first 50 miles, then 55p a mile. Live Systems delivers across Scotland and the UK at a fee, and Wex ships rental kit to customers in Scotland. At the location, a parking dispensation lets a working vehicle stop on a yellow line, £16 a vehicle with at least 24 hours’ notice, and a suspended pay bay costs the pay-and-display rate for every hour it’s out of use (checked October 2026). How parking works.
04
On the street
Kit on council land goes on the Film Edinburgh application. A cherry picker on the road is £63 a day per location and a crane £126 a day; vehicle access to Calton Hill or Princes Street Gardens is £140, in a 4×4 insured for off-road driving; all plus VAT, 2026–27. A small crew on the street with nothing closed off still tells Film Edinburgh first, keeps the pavement clear and stays off crossings and junctions. Checked October 2026. Locations and permits in Edinburgh.
05
By train, by air, or from Glasgow and London
A camera kit can travel with its crew: Waverley is about four hours ten from London King’s Cross on LNER’s fastest trains, and the tram gets in from Edinburgh Airport in under 35 minutes. Glasgow Queen Street is about 45 minutes away on the fastest trains, though a Glasgow kit package comes by van or courier. Film cameras come from London. Kit flying in comes on an ATA Carnet: here’s how bringing film equipment into the UK works.
Weekends
Shooting on a Saturday or a Sunday? Wex’s Haddington Place store hands over booked kit seven days a week, 11am to 5pm on Sundays, and Wex charges Friday to Monday as one day. Format counts the same Friday-to-Monday hire as one day, and Lights Camera Scotland often hands kit over out of hours. Progressive in Glasgow hands kit over on weekdays, so a weekend shoot collects on the Friday afternoon.
In August
The Fringe, the International Festival and the Tattoo fill the Old Town every August, and when Baby Reindeer filmed mid-Fringe, Film Edinburgh encouraged a reduced crew on the Royal Mile. A smaller crew means a smaller kit list, and in August we book the kit, the vans and the parking further ahead. August in Edinburgh.
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 an Edinburgh house, and with the crew’s own kit. Or call us on 07412 543822.
Quick contact form
08 Questions
Hiring film equipment in Edinburgh: questions
How much does it cost to hire a camera in Edinburgh?
On the published lists we checked in October 2026, a Sony FX6 is £145 a day at Wex Rental, or £580 a week, before VAT and its 10% damage waiver. G&G Swing on Causewayside lists an FX30 at £115 a day and an ARRI Alexa 35 at £900, as daily dry-hire prices. Add your own insurance for the kit. Book the camera with the operator who owns it and the kit fee is its own line on the crew quote.
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 kit house, lighting on the gaffer’s van, and the sound recordist’s own kit. In Edinburgh, G&G Swing takes 25% off its camera and lighting prices when they’re hired wet.
Where are Edinburgh’s kit houses?
Spread across the city. G&G Swing hires cinema cameras, lighting and grip from Causewayside; Format hires lighting and grip from central Edinburgh; Wex Rental hands over booked kit at its store on Haddington Place; Lights Camera Scotland hires camera and lighting kit from between Corstorphine and Barnton, towards the airport; and Live Systems, on North Leith Sands, hires sound, lighting, rigging and power. Bigger camera packages come from Progressive Broadcast in Glasgow, or from London.
Do I need insurance to hire kit in Edinburgh?
Yes, or the house’s waiver. Format wants hired-in cover for the new replacement value, shown with every hire; Lights Camera Scotland wants a copy of your policy; Wex adds a 10% damage waiver unless you show proof of your own insurance; and Progressive in Glasgow wants cover at full replacement value, plus continuing hire charges. Book the kit through us on a crew hire and it’s covered by the 2% insurance on the quote; a large rental may need extra cover, as its own line.
Can I collect kit at the weekend?
Yes. Wex’s Haddington Place store hands over booked kit seven days a week, 11am to 5pm on Sundays, and charges Friday to Monday as one day. Format counts a Friday-to-Monday hire as one day and can arrange collection out of hours. Lights Camera Scotland works from a home address, so kit can often go out and come back at weekends. Progressive in Glasgow hands over on weekdays, so collect from there on the Friday.
Does a kit van have to meet Edinburgh’s Low Emission Zone?
If it drives into the city centre, yes. There’s no daily charge and no way to pay to enter: a petrol van must meet Euro 4 and a diesel Euro 6, and one that doesn’t is sent a £60 penalty, then £120, £240 and £480 for repeats within 90 days, around the clock (checked October 2026). We only book vans that meet it, and Format delivers by zero-emission transport.
Can I hire an ARRI Alexa in Edinburgh?
Yes. G&G Swing on Causewayside lists an ARRI Alexa 35 at £900 a day, dry, with Atlas Orion anamorphics and Cooke SP3s to go on it. For a second body, or a Mini LF, Progressive Broadcast hires Alexas from Glasgow and can courier most of its kit across the UK.
Can I hire kit near Edinburgh Airport?
Lights Camera Scotland, between Corstorphine and Barnton, puts itself about 13 minutes by taxi from the airport, with 24-hour collection and drop-off possible, so a crew flying in can pick up on the way. The tram reaches the city centre from the airport in under 35 minutes, and Wex Rental’s store on Haddington Place hands over kit booked ahead.
Does specialist kit have to come from London?
For digital, rarely: the Edinburgh and Glasgow lists cover most interview, corporate and brand shoots. Film is the exception. Neither G&G Swing’s published list nor Lights Camera Scotland’s has a 35mm camera, so 35mm comes from a London house, prepped there by the crew who’ll run it, then driven north. For 16mm, G&G Swing hires an Arriflex SR2.
Around the crew
More for Edinburgh shoots
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.
