Hire a DIT in Manchester. Every card checked, copied twice, and accounted for.
Digital imaging technicians and data wranglers for shoots across Greater Manchester and the North, booked from our office in Ancoats. They copy and verify every card, check the pictures while the crew can still fix them, and hand the rushes over safe. £527 a day, the APA/Bectu card rate, paid to the DIT in full.
- 54 five-star Google reviews
- 48 hrs from enquiry to confirmed crew, on most Manchester bookings
- £10m employers’ liability on every crew member we book
- 2,800+ freelance crew on our books
Photos: Here Now Films, Vitaly Gariev, Samsung Memory and Aleksandrs Karevs
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.
- 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
How our rates work, and the two ways to book: crew rates in Manchester.
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 shoot, or have us take the production on.
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 brand film on ARRI Alexa Mini LFs, with dailies for the client that night. Times are an example; the call sheet sets the real ones.
- 07:30 Set up the station A cart near set but out of the way: 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, look.
- 10:30 First cards Offloaded with checksum verification to two drives, then checked: focus, exposure, noise, 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, uploaded for the client and the editor.
- 19:30 Wrap Last cards in, the third copy made, drives labelled and handed over with the report.
Which kind
DIT, wrangler or loader?
Three jobs that overlap, and get called different things on different sets.
DIT Pictures, settings, backups and dailies Card Up to £527
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 days 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 Manchester.
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.
Best when the client or editor is somewhere else.
What it’s for
What people book a DIT for in Manchester
Cinema camera shoots
ARRI, RED or Sony Venice, where an hour of RAW can run to terabytes.
Multi-camera days
Conferences and events with three or more cameras rolling.
Clients who want dailies
The day’s pictures with the look applied, the same night.
Shoots you can’t repeat
Athletes, CEOs and one-off events.
Rushes to London
Drives on the train from Piccadilly, or proxies to the cloud.
Recent work
DITs on our jobs
Full production · Germany and Horsham · 2026
A DIT across two countries
A DIT with a lab station on a two-country shoot for a chip maker: prep, travel and shoot days in Germany, then a school in Horsham, with the rushes verified and handed to the edit.
Our own edit
From set to our edit, the same day
When we’re cutting the film, the drives come straight to our post-production team and the edit starts the same day. Our guide to DIT and data in Manchester has the full workflow.
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 storage
- An hour of Sony FX6 4K at 25p is about 112 GB; an hour of ARRIRAW 4.5K about 1.9 TB.
- Three copies, checksum-verified, one off site: tell us whose drives they go on.
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.
£527 a day
APA/Bectu card: Up to £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.
- Most Manchester bookings confirmed within 48 hours
- 50% by card at booking, 50% on the final rushes
- Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours
Or call us on 07412 543822.
Reviews
What clients say about our crews
Straight from our Google Business Profile.
Book a DIT in Manchester.
Tell us the cameras, the formats, how much you’ll roll and where the rushes need to go. Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours. Or call us on 07412 543822.
Check availability
The whole crew
Every role in Manchester, booked the same way
One brief, one quote, every role on its own line. Our day rates in Manchester, paid to the crew member in full:
Production 05
- 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 Manchester. Or start from a set-up: interview crews and units in Manchester.
Production support
Everything around the crew
A DIT sits between the camera and the edit. Here are the guides for everything around them, each its own line on the quote.
Questions
Hiring a DIT in Manchester: questions
How much does a DIT cost in Manchester?
The APA/Bectu card puts a DIT at Up to £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 and 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.
Do I need a DIT for a corporate shoot?
Usually not for a one- or two-camera interview day: a camera assistant with verification software does the job. Book a DIT for RAW, three or more cameras, same-night dailies, or people you can’t film twice.
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.
How many copies of the footage should we make?
Three, each checksum-verified, with one kept off site: Netflix’s baseline and the 3-2-1 rule. Cards aren’t reformatted until two verified copies exist.
Can you get rushes to our editor the same day?
Yes: by hand on the train to London, by same-day courier, or as proxies uploaded while you shoot. Or the drives come to our own edit.