Ive heard many people say rent the equipment, that way its not your responsibility to upgrade and fix blah blah blah but at the same time I can see having it being a plus due to easy access and no time constraints. Let me here what you guys think and your own experiences.
Thanks

Renting is quick and convenient, but buying can be more satisfying and can actually save money in the long run.

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Personally, I hate renting. And in my mind that goes hand in hand with buying "just for now" items.
Why pay 5,000 dollars over three years when you can spend 3,000 in one year and have it available to you forever.
that's my take on it.

" . . . Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . but as for me and for my house, we will serve the Lord." - Joshua 24:15

Furthermore, it's nice to always have equipment available to you, in case something comes up or something.

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well it depends on what your doing! i mean, come on, renting may not seem great, but it is the professional thing to do, and all of us will probably have to do it someday if we intend to make it into the industry.

if you want to send something off to, say, cannes or sundance, they arent going to take you as seriously if you spent $3000 on a minidv cam. if, however, you had spent about $5000 renting a high-def cam or a higher-end dv cam like the SDX-900, then you would be MUCH BETTER OFF. theres places around me here (silicon valley area) that rent these cameras for $300-500 per day, and if you rent them for several days, the price per day drops by more than 50%. you really get your moneys worth. granted, its nice to own stuff, but face it, if you make a "real" movie, chances are you arent going to be able to shoot it on an "affordable" format. would i ever rent a cheap minidv cam? not for a major project. (i did rent one once for an event when one of my cams was down.) but spending $25,000 for that SDX-900 or $70,000+ for a Varicam or CineAlta is not going to happen. rent it for $10,000 or less. if your organized, it can be done.

bottom line: owning stuff is nice, but you gotta place quality of the film above all else. i, like most guys, love to own trinkets... cameras included. but really... if your serious about it, and need something high quality, then renting is the professional, affordable, and convenient way to go.

So, Danny Boyle wasn`t serious when he decided to shot most of "28 Days Later" on MiniDV using Canon`s cams

J/K

All in all, my vote goes to owning if you can afford - in the end, story is what matters the most, execution comes in second and let`s face it - most of today`s three chip high end cameras are capable of pleasing us

Enjoy.

Thanks for all your help guys, ive been saving some here and there for a cam lately but before I buy the farm I just wanted to make sure there wasnt some obvious and better renting route to go.

haha, well danny boyle wanted that specific look. and its much easier to afford 3 minidv cameras (especially when you are already a famous director and have a $7,000,000 budget) than it would be for a student to purchase a high-def cam. and not everyone is out for that xl-1s look.

granted, this topic was most started for someone thinking about renting a dv cam... and in that case, i apologize for ranting. but it applies to pretty much anything, not just cameras. if you rent something expensive, your going to get more for your dollar than renting something cheap. if you rent a $70,000 camera for $500 a day, but rent a $4000 for $120 a day (these are prices from the largest renting house in the area) then it is obviously a waste to rent that cheaper camera. so don't do it unless you have to. (like i had to when i needed an extra cam for an event.)

but i still believe that if your goal is to create something professional and/or something to put you on the map and/or something to send off to one of the large festivals... rent high-end equipment.

if you talk about a mini DV consumer cam, buy it if you have the money. But for everything else: RENT RENT RENT. Rent lights, rent film cameras (you don't want t pay 50000+ for such things)

Rent dollies, rent jibs, rent....everything

Also, make no mistakes about it, if 28 Days Later was Danny Boyles first film it would have been a much tougher sell. Danny Boyle has enough clout in the industry to shoot on anything he wants and still get it distributed, you most likely do not. If you plan on shooting on film then renting is almost a must. Buy what you can afford, rent the rest.

Cammo

the problem is, filmstuff (including lights) are so insane expensive...there is no way around. I often go to B&H photo to look around and the equipment is so tempting....but even a reflector board with 4 different sides costs ya 70 bucks...professional lights go up to several thousand...it is just not worth it.