Renting out my gear.

[Flatworm 0]

A friend of mine who runs a live aboard dive boat on the Great Barrier Reef out of Cairns, has asked me to rent my gear to him for this years far northern charters where he runs a trip from Cairns to Thursday Island and return. I own a Nikon D810 in a Nauticam housing with Inon strobes, 16-35mm wide angle lens plus a 105mm macro as well as other gear.

 

I don't think he has any knowledge of this system nor of housed DSLRs in general so I wouldn't think his uw photography would be of a very high standard,

 

I know that he usually shoots with a compact camera and doesn't edit his images much if at all. If I were to consider this how much would be a fair price do you think?

[Jock 14]

Renting out UW-Photo gear?

 

You are tempting the gods...

 

Maybe you know Bob Halstead? He wrote „NEVER LEND YOUR CAMERA GEAR TO ANYONE IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCES (This is the Gods’ absolute favourite, the gear is certain to stuff up)“ - and I think most forum members will fully agree.

Here you can find the full essay:

 

http://www.divebuddy.com/blog/11135/cant-take-joke-dont-take-up-underwater-photography/

[Pajjpen 63]

dont! Just don’t do it. Im getting anxiety just reading about it haha.

[blibecap 29]

I have done this before and had success. First of all, you have to treat this as a business transaction not loaned to a friend. You can find sample contracts on the internet and you need to have one. Figure out what your replacement cost for all items rented would be. In my case that was $4000. Then get that amount in deposit, not a check but actual cash deposit. Then the rent was $400 a week. I then spent about an hour of time with the renter going over the procedures and cautions and operation of the system. Once the system is returned check it all out and go through your normal testing procedures and post-trip procedures, clean it up well. Your contract should state that you have 30 days to return the deposit less any cost for damages or cost for missing items. I did this 3 times before there was a problem and I had to keep some of the deposit. I later sold the system to the renter.

 

Bill

[DanielD 6]

I don't think he has any knowledge of this system nor of housed DSLRs in general...

 

That alone is a pretty risky thing. The question is, if as you say he doesn't give much of a sh** about his equipment an photography, do you believe he'll treat you equipment with the necessary care and diligence? You can not assume he'll see the equipment with your eyes but instead just see it as a tool that he'll give back anyway. I'd be having problems even giving my gear to my diving buddy for one dive that I would accompany. Even though everyhting is insured and technically I can not loose any money if he breaks it. Just the feeling of handing over something I put so much energy into getting would make this dive a nightmare.