Film crew hire/Manchester/Kit rental
Film equipment hire in Manchester.Kit houses, day rates, and the crew’s own kit.
Most of Manchester’s camera, lens and lighting hire sits in one building in West Gorton, two miles from our office. Here’s who’s there, what they charge, how a first hire works, and why we often book the kit with the crew instead.
Sony FX6 kit · per day
£145–165
ARRI Alexa 35 · per day
£1,100
Damage waiver
10–18% on top
Space Studios to our office
2 miles
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. On most Manchester shoots we book a mix of the two.
Dry hire
From a kit house
Who owns it
The kit house
How it’s priced
A day rate per item or package, plus a 10–18% damage waiver unless your insurance covers it
Getting it there
Someone collects it before the shoot and returns it after, inside the house’s hire times
Who knows it best
Whoever operates it, if they’ve used that model before
Best for
A specific camera, a set of cine primes, HMIs or a big lighting package
Wet hire
With the crew’s kit
Who owns it
The camera operator, sound recordist or gaffer you’re booking
How it’s priced
A kit fee on top of the crew member’s card rate, on its own line of the quote
Getting it there
It arrives with the operator at call time, already prepped
Who knows it best
The person who owns it, maintains it and uses it every week
Best for
Interview, conference and documentary days: FX6s, radio mics, LED panels
What’s the best approach?
Wet hire is often the better deal. An operator’s own kit is already paid for, prepped and insured, so the fee doesn’t carry a kit house’s overheads, a damage waiver or a collection run. 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, apart from the crew’s day rate.
02 Day rates
What kit costs to hire in Manchester
Published dry-hire rates from Manchester kit houses: per day, before VAT and before any damage waiver. Checked on 12 October 2026.
| Item | Per day | Listed by |
|---|---|---|
| Sony FX6 kit | £145–165 | Wex, Media Dog, Direct Digital |
| Sony FX9 | £180–231 | Media Dog, Direct Digital |
| Sony FX3 | £120–147 | Media Dog, Direct Digital |
| ARRI Alexa Mini LF kit | £850 | Media Dog, Direct Digital |
| ARRI Alexa 35 | £1,100 | Media Dog, Direct Digital |
| Cine primes, five-lens set | £320–625 | Cooke SP3 and S4i, Zeiss CP.3 and Supreme, ARRI Ultra Prime sets |
| Aputure 600-series LED | £85–125 | Wex, Media Dog, Direct Digital |
| ARRI SkyPanel S60-C | £150–155 | Media Dog, Direct Digital |
| Sennheiser MKH 416 boom mic | £25–30 | Media Dog, Direct Digital |
| Radio mic kit (Sennheiser G4) | £21–25 | Media Dog, Direct Digital |
| Dana Dolly | £80–100 | Direct Digital, Media Dog |
What moves the number
The week
There’s no standard. VMI’s weekly rate is three days’ hire, Wex’s is four, and ProVision’s covers seven consecutive days.
The weekend
Collect from Wex on a Friday, return by 10am Monday, and it’s charged as one day.
The waiver
Wex adds 10% and you pay the first £250 of a claim; Direct Digital adds 15%; VMI 18% on kit up to £5,000. Your own hired-in equipment cover usually removes it.
The account
Account customers get credit terms. A first hire is often paid in full up front.
03 Who to call
Manchester’s kit houses, compared
Five of the city’s camera and lighting houses share one address: Space Studios, Vaughan Street, West Gorton, M12 5FQ. It makes a Manchester kit run quicker than most.
Space Studios · Unit 2H
Media Dog Manchester
Cameras, lenses, lighting, audio and grip: Alexa 35, Mini LF, Venice 6K, the Sony FX range, Cooke S4i and Zeiss Supreme primes, SkyPanels and Aputure.
Space Studios · Unit 3F · Panavision group
Direct Digital
Cameras, lenses, LED, grip and sound, from the FX6 up to Alexa 35 and RED V-Raptor, with Nanlux Evoke, Creamsource Vortex and Aputure lighting.
Space Studios · owned by ITV
ProVision Manchester
Camera, lighting, sound and grip: Alexa 35, Mini LF, Venice, FX9, Canon C500 Mk II, SkyPanels up to the S360-C, Creamsource, and ARRI M18 to M90 HMIs.
Space Studios · Unit 1B
Panavision Manchester
Panavision’s own camera systems and lenses, alongside third-party cameras.
Lighting and power · Panavision group
Panalux Manchester
Cinema lighting and generators, delivered direct to set on its own trucks.
Space Studios · Unit 3A
ELP Broadcast Lighting
Broadcast lighting, with a crew or as dry hire.
Downing Street Industrial Estate, M12 6HH
Wex Rental Manchester
Mid-range cameras and LED: FX6 kits and Aputure, at the lower end of the price table.
Vaughan Street, M12
Location One
Not cameras: power, lighting towers, welfare units and climate control for a unit base.
04 By department
What’s in stock in Manchester, by department
What the Manchester houses list today, and what we’d usually reach for on a brand or corporate shoot.
Cameras
Sony FX3, FX6, FX9 and Venice; Canon C500 Mk II; ARRI Alexa 35 and Mini LF; RED V-Raptor and Komodo.
Lenses
Cooke S4i and SP3, ARRI Ultra Primes, Zeiss Supreme and CP.3 sets, and the zooms that go with the FX range.
Lighting
ARRI SkyPanels from S30 to S360-C, Aputure 600d and 1200d, Creamsource Vortex, Nanlux Evoke, Astera tubes, and ARRI M18, M40 and M90 HMIs.
Grip
Dana Dollies, sliders, stands, flags and frames on the main lists; ProVision carries a fuller grip range.
Sound
Sennheiser MKH 416 booms and G4 radio kits are on every list. Most of the sound recordists we book bring their own recorder and radios.
Power and unit base
Generators from Panalux, and power distribution, lighting towers and welfare units from Location One.
05 Kit lists
Kit for the set-ups we run most
Our most-booked crew set-ups are on the Manchester crew page. Here’s the kit that usually goes with three of them.
Camera operator · sound recordist
Interview crew
Two cameras on sticks (FX6 or FX3), a cine lens kit (Arles or similar), two or three LED panels with soft boxes, a boom with a short shotgun, two radio mics, and a monitor for the client.
Three camera operators · sound recordist
Conference crew
Three cameras: two on long lenses on tripods, one on a gimbal. A feed from the house sound desk plus our own radio mics, and one softly lit interview corner.
DOP · key production assistant
A matched kit for a visiting director
Whatever they shoot at home, sourced here. For a US director in July 2025 we matched his camera and lighting package from Manchester houses, down to a Sony 50mm f/1.2 from ProVision.
“They matched the exact camera and lighting kit I use back in the States.” Matt Dunstan, director.
06 Paperwork
Your first hire: what a kit house asks for
Kit houses check new customers before anything leaves the building. When we first hired from ProVision in July 2025, they asked for:
- a certificate for the company’s insurance
- a passport for the account holder, and for the person collecting
- a document with the company’s name on it that matches the insurance, such as a utility bill or office invoice
- proof of address for the person collecting: a driving licence, or a utility bill in the same name as the passport
Other houses differ. VMI asks for 12 months’ trading, two trade references and proof of insurance before a first hire. Wex checks ID and address and can hold a deposit up to the kit’s retail value. ProVision and Media Dog want your insurance to cover full replacement value.
Book it through us and it goes on our account and our cover.
07 Delivery
Getting kit to your location
Four ways kit reaches a Manchester set, depending on what it is and who’s running it.
01
Collected
Space Studios is about two miles from our office in Ancoats. A crew member collects on the morning, or the afternoon before, inside the house’s hire times.
02
Delivered
ProVision and Panalux run their own drivers. Media Dog and Direct Digital deliver across the UK, priced per job, and Wex sends same-day couriers around Manchester by quote.
03
With the crew
Wet-hire kit turns up with its operator at call time, checked and charged.
04
From further away
Specialist kit can come up from London with VMI. Kit flying in from abroad comes in on an ATA Carnet: here’s how bringing film equipment into the UK works.
Weekends
Shooting at the weekend? Direct Digital is closed and Wex’s counter is Monday to Friday, so collect on the Friday. A Friday-to-Monday hire from Wex is charged as one day.
Send us your kit list.
Paste it into the form with your dates. We’ll price it both ways: dry hire from a Manchester house, and with the crew’s own kit. Or call us on 07412 543822.
Quick contact form
08 Questions
Hiring film equipment in Manchester: questions
How much does it cost to hire a camera in Manchester?
From Manchester kit houses, a Sony FX6 kit is £145–165 a day, an FX3 £120–147 and an ARRI Alexa 35 about £1,100, before VAT and a 10–18% damage waiver. 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, run it and return it. Wet hire comes with the person who operates it, usually its owner. Most of our Manchester bookings use both.
Is it cheaper to use the crew’s own kit?
Often, yes. An operator’s own kit is already prepped and paid for, so the fee doesn’t carry a kit house’s waiver or a collection run. For a specific camera, cine glass or a big lighting package, a kit house is usually the better route.
Do I need insurance to hire kit in Manchester?
You need cover or the house’s damage waiver. Wex charges 10%, Direct Digital 15% and VMI 18% on kit up to £5,000; ProVision and Media Dog want cover for full replacement value. Hire through us and it sits on our hired-in kit cover.
Can kit be delivered to my location?
Yes. ProVision and Panalux deliver and collect with their own drivers, Media Dog and Direct Digital deliver UK-wide priced per job, and Wex sends same-day couriers around Manchester by quote.
Can I collect kit at the weekend?
Mostly not. Direct Digital is closed at weekends and Wex’s rental counter is Monday to Friday. Collect on the Friday: Wex charges a Friday-to-Monday hire as one day.
Can you match the kit we use at home?
Yes. Send the list. For a US director in July 2025 we matched his camera and lighting package from Manchester houses, down to a single lens.
Around the crew
