Vintage film Camera Hire - Just for fun

[burgo]

Hi everyone just doing a bit of market research so I hope you could help me out.

As a part of my photography business I do hire out digital cameras and I have been thinking of offering film & vintage film cameras as a part of my hire out service. These would all be in full working order of course and include 35mm, medium & large format cameras. I can also offer a lab service with this as well to develop films and convert to digital files. This would most likely only appeal to photographers not the general public.

So I have a question for photographers, if this was offered in your area and not too expensive, would you consider hiring an older or vintage film camera for some experimentation?

If so, what models would really peak your interest.


Would be interested in your comments.

 

[480sparky]

I'd love to toy around with a No. 10 Cirkut.

 

[tirediron]

With film gear being so cheap and plentiful on the used market (I picked up a mint Nikon F5 for ~$300 not long ago) I really can't see that there would be enough market interest to make it worth while. It's an interesting idea...

 

[djacobox372]

The development and scanning service would interest me, but the cameras are cheap enough to just buy.If I was considering a business like this I would consider renting the less expensive 35mm cameras for free, provided they purchase your development services. You could also consider free rental of the more expensive medium and large format cameras, and just work the extra cost into what you charge for development. The prices online for pro development of 120 and 4x5 are so high that you could make a nice profit, even if you weren't charging for the camera rental.

 

[Toad00]

If you where in my area I woul forsure come and check you out and see, I would love a place where ou can have a opportunity to play with a camera I just might now have the money for just to see what thy can produce in my hands. I can honestly say If te price was right, I would try and do anything to try to take cooler more different approach to my photo portfolio.

 

[burgo]

I agree with some older film cameras they are pretty cheap to buy (particularly the mass produced ones like your canon AE-1) and so I wouldn't obviously use those. But some like the hasselblads 500c/cm or an Mamiya RB67, or a Leica M3 rangefinder or an R Series 35mm are not so cheap that you would consider just buying one for the hell of it.

I like the idea of offering a hire and development/scan package all in one. That could be worth a look and certainly with your cheaper 35mm film cameras you could do a free hire on top of development/scan kind of deal. That is good thinking.

It would certainly only apeal to a niche market as most general public would look at these cameras and scratch their heads.