21. Considering a $50K camera purchase? 3 Factors to think about
In this episode, host and cinematographer Marshal Chupa discusses the process of making logical decisions when buying camera equipment for your creative business. Marshal shares some practical advice on understanding logical costs, opportunity costs, and creative costs when buying equipment and discusses different purchasing methods like cash versus leasing. He also talks about his personal experiences about purchasing equipment and how factors like perceived value, professional level, and equipment availability can play an essential role in these decisions.
So if you’re a photographer, cinematographer, or a videographer who is looking to figure out how and when to purchase or upgrade their gear, this episode is for you. Let’s dive in!
Episode Highlights
01:08 Breaking Down the Decision-Making Categories
01:35 Understanding Logistical Costs
11:08 The Importance of Opportunity Costs
17:01 The Role of Creative Costs
18:47 The Pros and Cons of Leasing Equipment
27:48 Recap and Conclusion
🔗 CONNECT WITH MARSHAL
📸Instagram | www.instagram.com/marshalchupa 💻Website | www.marshalchupa.com 👥 Linkedin | www.linkedin.com/in/marshal-chupa-99a7921a8
📄 SHOW NOTES & TRANSCRIPT
Visit the website for the transcript and highlights from the conversation - www.shotlistpodcast.com
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
This podcast is all about helping emerging cinematographers, photographers, and directors navigate the challenges of making a life and a living behind the lens. From workflow to personal growth, creative vision to marketing, finances to production—every episode is packed with a wide range of topics to support visual storytellers in their pursuit of building a business and growing a career they are proud of.
🎧 LISTEN FOR FREE
Apple Podcasts | https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/shotlist/id1645435800
Spotify | https://open.spotify.com/show/3m5203Y5yQ7wNXQhZBOmNV?si=f46bc0e937bf40c1
RSS | https://anchor.fm/s/5cb2e948/podcast/rss
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I’d love for you to leave a 5-star review on the bottom of Apple Podcasts to help others discover the show 👊 https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/shotlist/id1645435800
📱 GET IN TOUCH
You can also drop me a DM instagram @marshalchupa or email marshal@marshalchupa.com
TRANSCRIPT
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the shot list podcast. I'm cinematographer Marshall Chupa. And today I'm We're doing something a little different. I'm going to attempt my first solo episode and we're going to do it off the cuff. This episode is going to be specifically targeted around how to make the logical purchasing and buying decision in and around camera equipment or equipment in general for your creative business to thrive.
So if you're a photographer, cinematographer, videographer. For this episode is going to be for you because I constantly come back to the same question and have the same discussion with so many people. And that is, how do I know when to purchase my first camera? How do I know when to upgrade and buy the big fancy red camera?
What are some maybe logical decision making tools that could help with that process? I know I've never found something like this personally, and I'm constantly kind of building my own template. And so I've compiled a list of. important things that help me make business decisions and I thought I'd share them with you.
So I've broken it down into a few categories and the categories are logistical costs, opportunity costs, and creative costs. What I mean by that is logistical is kind of the numbers on the spreadsheet stuff. The opportunity is what could come of your career based on this purchasing decision. And the creative costs are kind of in and around perhaps why you might be more inspired to create.
based on this purchasing decision. So we're going to start out with everyone's favorite in the creative world, and that is the spreadsheet stuff. So we're going to go logical brain, left brain, because ultimately, if you're running a business, it comes down to money in and money out. It comes down to the ROI at the end of the year on the P& L sheet.
Now, isn't that some fancy lingo that your bookkeeper and account would like? Okay, I'm going to skip all that stuff and go straight to brass taxis here. So if we're really to lay it out simply, Based on a business making decision, the first thing you should think about is what is the price of this equipment going to cost and how many days is it going to take me to rent out that piece of equipment to make my money back.
Now, I guess if you're a photographer starting out, this one has a little bit of a conflict because usually you're. DSLR or your camera is baked into your day rate. Now it becomes a little bit more apparent when you're a cinematographer or videographer that you can separate these line items on the invoice.
I would always encourage, even if you're a photographer working at the base level, and even if you're not showing it on your invoice, that you are mentally separating, renting out your camera for every shoot, because logically. You need a camera to do the work and the camera is making you money through that.
So I'm going to use the example that I know best because I'm a cinematographer and that's what I mainly focus on. And I think it's a lot more common to be renting out your gear in this kind of like commercial level DP world. So I'm going to use these examples. But again, if you're a photographer, strip it back and know that this applies to just as much as you as it does to me.
So the first logical decision making step is finding out how much the gear is going to cost. Now, I don't want to go down the tangent too much about buying used versus new, but I don't know, my rule of thumb is kind of anything that can hold value like lenses and doesn't depreciate too much, I would buy used because ultimately there's no point in paying the market price on those.
But when it comes to camera bodies specifically, technology moves so quickly that sometimes it is worth buying. new. That's a bit of a funny game. You got to play because if you can get a camera within two or three years of it coming to the market at a really discounted rate, that's also maybe worth it.
But I think a big piece to keep in mind is that the shelf life of technology, at least from what I'm seeing is kind of the two to three year window before you kind of want to flip and purchase another piece of gear. So that's another, that's a first step in thinking. perhaps about the gear. I guess the way I've broken it down here, uh, step one, I'm going to use an example of someone, maybe I'm thinking about a first AC who's trying to break in to be a DP and is considering buying a red Komodo.
I mean, that's a pretty common starter package for someone just getting started out in the industry. And if you're to look on like Craigslist or Facebook buy and sell, and you were to find a red Komodo with a lens, a couple of little lenses and a battery and some media and a monitor, I'm going to just call it 15k used or, you know, around 20k new.
So you're sitting there wondering. How the heck or am I going to come up with 15 or 20 K as well as is this a smart business decision for me to make maybe you're grinding away in your day job, making your day rates as a first AC and you're not sure if it makes sense to purchase the camera. Well, let's come up with a logical decision making process here straight back to the spreadsheet, which I know we all love so much.
It's as simple as really. Thinking about, okay, the package we're purchasing here, 15, 000, how many days can I logically rent that out next year? And how many days or what is that package going to rent out at? Now, for example, this red Komodo, you can jump online and quickly Google in my case, Vancouver Komodo, red Komodo rentals and see what people are renting out that camera for at different rental houses throughout Vancouver.
Now, you could do that in any different local market and it does change based on where you are. I noticed, uh, recently down in the States, it's a little bit crazy, people, how cheap cameras are getting rented out for. I think they're undercutting the market extremely, which I'm really scared is going to come and bleed up here into BC and Vancouver.
But again, you know, the rates are competitive based on where you're living and ultimately what you can rent it out for. So I would say as a bar to reach to look at your rental shops locally. And in this example, I'm not just looking at the rental rate of the camera. I'm looking at the package rate because mostly when you're renting out on jobs, you're not just going to be renting out the body.
You're going to need a monitor, a lens, memory card, all that stuff. So the example I've given here is you can rent out your Komodo package with lens monitor batteries for 650. A day. Uh, maybe you could ask some friends who have that package or industry people what they're renting it out for, uh, as well to get a gauge on what that might be.
Okay, so we got a 15, 000 potential purchase with a rental rate of 650 a day. So if we're doing some simple math, how many days do we need to rent it out to pay our package off? Okay, well, 15, 000 divided by 650 equals 23. So 23 days of rented rent. Okay. On jobs that we're actually going to pay for the camera, simple math.
Right? So where do we go from here? I think this becomes the complicated part as well. Well, it sounds really cool. Only takes me 23 days to pay off this camera of this 15, 000 that I'm investing. Now, the question is, really, you got to end. This is the Tricky one is like, how many days do you think you can actually rent out this camera next year?
Now that's subjective. There's no right or a real answer that you can nail down. But the best way that I've thought about it is by going back through my past year's invoices. And asking myself, how many days could I have rented out that camera if I had owned it? So, for example, I'm going to use this First AC example.
If you were working on jobs as a First AC, you wouldn't have had the opportunity to rent out the camera. So you can't really use those days. Whereas, if you had to rent a camera to shoot a music video or to help out a friend with a project, that's an excuse that you could have, if you own that piece of equipment.
Could have rented it out. So I would look at those specific days and be realistic with yourself. How many days you actually think you could get the following year while renting out that piece of gear in this example, I'm going to say that I look back on my invoices and I see in and around 10 days.
There were where I could have potentially rented that piece of gear out last year. So, simple math, if I owned that red Komodo package for 15K and I could charge 650 bucks a day, that means I would have made 6, 500 in rentals last year from that package. What does that mean? Ultimately, that's actually a really solid rate of return.
And maybe I'm giving this, uh, too high of a number of 10 days of rental, but you can see that equipment can actually make you quite a bit of money quickly. And to figure out the percentage In which your return just made, you take 6, 500 divided by the 15, 000, which actually equals 0. 43, which means you made 43 percent on your investment.
Now, I don't know about you, but if you're investing your money in the market, uh, 43 percent is pretty good. Now, of course, that's the fun stuff. Now, of course, I'm going to jump down to other factors, which I think it is important to note. If you're going to buy a piece of equipment at that price, you're going to want to insure it.
So, the piece that I didn't factor in here is the insurance cost. Now, if you were to drop that, uh, or if it was to get stolen out of your car or whatever that is, I would highly recommend always having insurance on your gear. I mean, I guess when you're playing in the lower ball, ball games of 15 grand and under, maybe it's a bit of a toss up how much insurance actually costs.
But once you're getting into big camera packages, it's absolutely a no brainer. And I think most production companies probably wouldn't even hire you if you didn't have that coverage or they are providing coverage for you when you bring that package on set. So I won't go too far down that rabbit hole, but I think a factor to keep in mind is the cost of insurance as well as damage and repair costs.
And I think that's something that a lot of people don't think about. A horror story that I've heard is someone rented out the drone and the people crashed it and essentially gave it back to him broken. And while he had insurance to cover that drone, it was gone for two months and he wasn't able to then not only not use it himself.
On shoots, but then not rented out either. So, you know, he obviously had in mind to make a quick buck by renting it out for a handful of days when really the opportunity cost in the future. It hurt him more because of the repair and rental. Sorry, the repair costs and time that it was out of commission.
So, definitely something to think about if you think about renting out your gear outside of your own uses, or if you're factoring in. More risky gear like drones. Uh, I can obviously say that things that are flying through the air have a lot more risk than things that are in your hands. So that's one factor to keep in mind.
Now, let's look at opportunity cost. Because this is something that actually is a big one, I think, when thinking about purchasing gear. And the question I would ask yourself is does this piece of equipment give you an edge compared to your peers? Now this is something that I guess is subjective as well.
But when you look at everyone else kind of in and amongst the people and the level in which you're working at and ask yourself what cameras are, I'm going to use a camera for example, what camera are they using and is it helping them level up? I think that is an important question. I guess an example of that would be, you know, when I first started out seven or eight years ago going full time, I just naturally I came from a photography background and so I had a DSLR Nikon DSLR and it had the video function on it.
So, when I was just scraping by just starting to make videos, I just use the DSLR I had. Now, it wasn't until I've had an opportunity to, this was actually, uh, start shooting for the Canadian Rally Championships here in B. C. that all the guys on, that shot this were using, uh, FS7s, Sony FS7s. So, uh, Warwick Patterson, who I went out with and did a bit of a trial run.
He said, Hey, look, if you're willing to buy one of an FS seven, you know, I'll start to bring you on to some of these shoots. So I saw that as like an opportunity to get into a bigger camera and kind of know that I could get higher level work than I was getting because I had that camera. Now, interesting thing happened once I bought the FS seven, and this is a funny one because ultimately, I think smaller cameras have gotten so good that like a smaller camera package could actually outperform an FS seven a lot.
These days, but at the time, when I look back having a big camera and showing up to set all of a sudden gave me this edge when clients looked at this big, chunky rig. If you don't have a seven, it's not a small camera. Uh, you know, you put a lens and perhaps a map box on there. And all of a sudden people are like, wow, this guy knows what he's doing.
I always think that's hilarious because it's perceived value at the end of the day. But it's the same thing. If someone rolls up in a Lamborghini, You instantly have an impression on them, whether they own that thing or they rented it for 1000 that day. You don't know, but ultimately it's the impression that they're giving of where they're at.
So I don't know. I noticed and this is again, it's an opportunity cost or it's perceived value, I guess, is what we're specifically talking about here. But yeah. When I would show up to set with an FS7, I got taken a lot more seriously than showing up with a DSLR. And there's a funny thing about that where I think it's just because, you know, Uncle Bob can have a DSLR or so and so's, like, son might have that same camera, and if you're showing up to To set and the client's like, Oh yeah, my son's got that camera too.
It just really doesn't put you in that like professional position. Uh, whereas as soon as you get into these bigger, physical, physically bigger cameras and, you know, throw a matte box on there and whatever else, um, all of a sudden the, the, you know, when you're trying to break up to that next level out of, you know, in the beginning, that seemed to set me apart enough for whatever reason, it, it did have an edge.
Now there's a second story and this is where I upgraded from the FS7 to the Red Raptor. That was a big jump and I held off and somehow built a career with an FS7 for about five years. I did all the testing. I really actually had an incredible image by the time I I was done with that camera because I had found a lot that basically made it look like an Alexa mini.
I just knew all the buttons so well. You know, I knew how to push all the dynamic range in it in post because I just, I had spent so much time with it, but there was a specific incident. I want to say incident, a specific moment, and it was on a job and I was shooting, I think it was a 2022 Skidoo content.
Or shall I say it was the campaign. So 2022 Skidoo campaign. And there was 6 or 7 different filmers on that shoot. Massive shoot. I think there was like 43 sleds going up the hill in the morning and then break off teams with a photo team and you know, the black arm team. And there was a lot of different people doing a lot of different things.
And I remember a specific moment and it was sunset. Everything was looking gorgeous. All the sleds are lined up and all of us filmmakers had like come together instead of being in our breakout groups. And I remember, I don't know who said it, but it's like, uh, I was filming something and someone said, maybe it was one of the creative directors or director said, Oh, let's get the reds on this one.
And so at that moment, I knew it wasn't because. My skill level wasn't able to capture the highest quality that he was looking for. I knew it was because the camera that I was holding my hand was holding me back because he thought that wasn't a professional enough camera or wasn't producing the highest quality of footage that they needed for that moment.
There was like a really clear moment for me where I was like, okay, I've really pushed and now I'm pushing into the next level at which I'm working at. But my camera is now. Okay. Holding me back from the next level in which I'm being seen in the industry. So that was my tipping point where I decided it was okay, time to figure out how to get into a red package or something bigger that competes on the level of all my peers that I'm basically on set with right now, because I was literally the only one without a bad camera.
There are six other red cameras there. I was the only one with an FS seven. So That was, uh, yeah, definitely a defining factor and moment for me. So, opportunity cost. That was kind of what that story is in and around. And if purchasing a bigger and larger camera creates opportunity for you, I think that's another deciding factor to keep in mind.
Now, the third one is creative costs. Does this piece of equipment allow you to level up your work? That you might not be able to otherwise creatively. So in my mind that means like, you know, with a RED camera there's like 17 stops of dynamic range and you can push it, push the color in certain ways you never could with an FS7.
Of course with a good colorist you can do a lot of things. But ultimately, um, can this tool, and I'm going to say tool, help you to get more creative juices going out of what you're actually wanting to do? So. I guess that's a second point, too, is does this piece of equipment inspire me to want to create?
Now, I know that when you've had a piece of gear for a long time, it kind of gets stagnant. You know it super well. I know this about myself as when I first purchased an FS7, I was super excited. I was like, this is incredible. The amount of things I can do with this, the slow mo features that I never had in the DSLR, you know, I was really extremely Excited and so I just created a lot more work and of course over the years that got less and less exciting and then of course boom when I made the big jump to the red camera all of those juices came flowing back with all the dynamic range it had all the slow mo features far exceeding the FS7 and just in and around what was possible creatively.
With that camera. So I would definitely take a moment and factor in your creative costs, because if this thing inspires you to build a bigger and better career, and you wake up looking at it on the shelf and what just want to go create stuff, I think That momentum is definitely a cost or a piece that you need to factor into your purchase making decision.
Okay, so now let's talk about something that I think maybe many people haven't even thought about. And that is whether to purchase equipment with cash. On hand or to lease equipment. Now this is something I really didn't know a lot about until I started diving into it and talking to some of the bigger DPS who have larger camera packages and figuring out how they got into these 75, 000, 50, 000, 75, 000, 150, 000 camera packages.
I mean, I can only assume they're not just having that kind of cash laying around. I started to ask a bit. And found out that pretty much all the guys who are working at the top, we're not paying cash for these packages. They were leasing them or at least to own kind of scenarios. So I started looking into that.
And I think ultimately, I'm going to give you an example here. I'm going to use my real life example to explain whether perhaps. Not paying cash and leasing with a percentage over the course of a few years could make actually a lot more financial sense when it comes to making a purchasing decision. The example I'm going to give you, and this is exactly the example, I'll give you the exact numbers that I am paying and have been paying.
So when I looked into purchasing this red Raptor, as well as a handful of other things, monitor and memory cards and batteries and all that. So the entire package. Uh, for the basic kit was 41, 083. Now, if you break that down, I, so I can, one tip I will give you is to basically call around to different leasing companies and ask them for their rates.
Uh, because ultimately different leasing companies are going to have different rates. You know, it's competitive market based on where the timing of things are at with banking and, and all that stuff, the rates will be different. So, you know, And an example of that is like, uh, my first lease I got at 7. 1 percent and then it was only like two or three months later that I went and got a second lease for a second camera, the red Komodo package.
And it was already, the percentage has gone up to 8. 4. So the 7. 1 percent didn't exist anymore. It was the same company I shopped around and I literally couldn't find it anymore. So rates depend on the market. Something to keep in mind. Now, what I set up was You're going to have options to three. I mean, you can do any amount of years.
The way I looked at this was how much could I afford per month and would be realistic to actually get it rented out based on the price. So what I ended up setting up was a 5 year loan. They were giving me 7. 1 percent and I I at least went to 3 or 4 different companies, built a spreadsheet, and worked out their cost now.
Another tip is like, they're never gonna give you, they're gonna hide costs in there somehow they always do. So do your best of ability to try to like not take their first percentage as a base number. Um, you're gonna have to factor in some of the costs of, you know, their setup fees and then is it, is it 0 to buy out?
There's a bunch of stuff in there, uh, that I don't wanna go too heavy into this cause and We've got too little too complex, but ultimately I would say shop around and try to do your best to navigate what the actual percentages you're getting. So my example, five year loan, 7. 1%, that ends up costing me 902 a month for five years.
If I look at the interest being paid on that, I've broken it down into a spreadsheet here. But that ends up being 7, 284 in interest I pay in five years. Now you're saying, Marshall, that's freaking ridiculous. Why would you pay 7, 200 in interest? Well, the first answer to that would be, I don't have 41, 000 of cash lying around, but I do have 900.
I can make 902 a month or believe in myself that I can make 902 a month extra to cover those costs. And like, when we come back to what? is the rate. Now, of course, my rate's a little different than the Komodo package example we were talking about. But let's just say my package runs out between 1, 000 and 1, 500.
I only have to rent out that package once a month to pay for my 902 fee. So if you strip down that 7, 284 of interest in five years, it actually becomes 1, 456 a year. So the way I look to look at that is like. You only have to pay 1, 456 extra to own a 41, 000 package and not have to front 40, 000, but only 900 people a month.
So the risk to reward factor all of a sudden kind of super succeeds. I don't even know if that's a word having to pay that interest in my mind. Now something other that just popped into my mind is the risk factor. So if you go ahead and. Dump $50,000 into a package and something happens in the industry, work dries up.
Perfect example. The writer's strike just happened. You know, I got a lot of friends laid off that kinda stuff. Uh, didn't really affect so much of, you know, the freelance industry, but let's just say that's an example. Or you're just having a really bad year, or actually you hurt yourself. There's another fun one.
As a freelancer, um, you break your leg and surprise, surprise, you can't walk around with a camera on set. So all of a sudden, this 50, 000 purchase that you made cash is sitting stagnant on your shelf and it's not getting rented out because you're not working. Now, if you were to have leased it, instead of being out 50, 000, spending everything you had in your business account and forgetting that you need to eat food.
Uh, and pay rent now, you only have you're paying 900 a month versus being out 50k that for me helps mitigate risk when it comes to the long term. So, or rather the short term. So. Um, the way my mind thought about leasing is I don't want my company to go broke investing all of this money into a piece of equipment that could technically break.
But I guess that's what insurance is for, but also that I don't know that I can get this work. I'm betting on myself that I can do it, but I don't know that I can. And the way. I can help mitigate that as if I'm only spending 900 bucks a month to risk on myself, uh, versus 50, 000 to risk, you know, have a lot longer to mess up and figure it out.
If I have a bad month, I can hopefully rejig and do something else, whether that's marketing or connecting with people or whatever that might be. To come up with a way to do better the next month, and maybe I've got three or four jobs the next month. And, and all of a sudden that one month that it didn't get rented out doesn't matter.
But whereas if I'd paid cash, I would have feel a lot more pressure to be always renting that thing out and somehow be making up that 50, 000 that I just sunk into that piece of equipment. That's just kind of how I've logically thought about leasing gear. And if you are interested in finding someone who can give you some good rates, I do have someone in mind.
So just shoot me a DM on Instagram and I'll hook you up with that guy. And before I wrap this rant up, another quick factor to maybe take in consideration is that It is possible to sub rent your camera, so this doesn't work for me, uh, living in Squamish, B. C., because technically I'm just like an hour away from driving to a rental house, but if you do live in Vancouver, you're 10, 15 minutes away from a rental house, you could park your camera there, and from what I've spoken to some people about, you can make, uh, you know, they're going to take around 30 percent commission when it comes to, um, the rental, but ultimately, that camera could continually be rented.
Rent it out instead of just collecting dust on your shelf. Now, I think there is some complications in and around like, then you need to go to the rental house to get your camera when you are renting it out and all that. Um, but it's just, it is something to keep in mind. And I do know that if you are someone who is able to purchase.
Uh, cameras when they first come out, they are in demand and you can get it on a TV show or something like that. I do know people have made a lot of money or paid off their camera very quickly because of that opportunity. Now, whether you're, I think that's kind of a unique opportunity if you are. A new camera comes on the market, and you have that cash readily available, and you probably have a connection to get that camera before anyone else.
Ultimately, if there's a lot of availability for that camera, I don't think that method works well. If you do decide to rent out your camera to others, make sure your insurance is covering that. Because I know a lot of insurance companies do not cover it, cover your gear, unless it is being, uh, rented out.
through yourself and you only so definitely something to keep in mind and as we begin to wrap things up here I just want to kind of recap as best I can on some of the decision making it's going to take or that I advise taking when thinking about purchasing equipment going back first is the logical costs and steps you should think about so How much is this package going to cost?
How much can I rent it out for? And how many days is it going to take to pay it off? Once you understand that, you can ask yourself about the opportunity costs. So does this piece of equipment give you an edge compared to your peers? Does this piece of equipment make you look more professional on set?
Again, going back to the stories of the FS7 versus the DSLR. And the red camera versus the FS7 and what creative costs does this give you? So does this allow you to be more inspired to actually pick up the camera and create something? Does it give you more technical ability to push your images further than you would have otherwise?
And then talking about purchasing. Cash versus leasing, I was definitely just take some time again, maybe if it's a 15, 000 purchase, you have the ability to earn enough income over the course of a couple of years, put some savings together, and that makes more sense for you. But if you are looking into things like larger camera packages, and ultimately some things in and around, you know, 50 in gear, I would definitely take a moment to look into the leasing side of things when it comes to.
Distributing the risk factor across multiple years versus all your money into one basket and just praying. So Hopefully you found that helpful. It was a bit of a rant and a riff and Let me know if this style of podcast is something you're interested in and something I should keep doing. This is a question that I always had as I kind of came up through the industry and constantly I'm still asking.
So if you have any input or ideas, also please shoot them to me. DM me on Instagram. Let me know some of your thoughts in and around your decision making process would be cool to chat about. If you heard something of value in this episode, please feel free to share with a friend who might be in a similar boat.
And Thanks for listening. We'll catch you next time on shot list.
