What Does Production Equipment Cost?
If you’re just starting out or considering video production for your business, you’re probably wondering what equipment is most important and more importantly, “what does production equipment cost?” Although the total cost of video production equipment has come down over the years it’s still not cheap by any means.
Professional video production equipment costs can really add up, especially if your business will not produce videos regularly. If this sounds like your case, be sure to consider whether the cost of production equipment is something you want to endure or if possibly hiring a professional is a better option.
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Essential Production Equipment
Whether you’re just starting out or planning video production for your business, you’re going to need to cover the bare essentials. Essential equipment needs include:
- A Camera
- A tripod
- A lighting Kit
- A backdrop
- An External recorder
- A Microphone
- A Shotgun Microphone
But, “what does production equipment cost?” That’s the true question here and the one we’re trying to solve.
Production Equipment Costs
Costs can vary for production equipment based on the type of equipment you purchase, the quality and style of the equipment, and various other factors. For example a professional video camera can have a price tag as low as $1,000 or even just $500 for some handheld models. Likewise a more advanced video camera that includes special 4K features and various lenses may cost more than $5K. It’s really not uncommon for a camera to cost $10K or $15K or more.
Equipment such as a tripod will have significantly lower costs involved such as a few hundred dollars for most tripods. However, when you factor in the fact that a typical shoot will involve at least 2 cameras and 2 tripods, now you’ve doubled your investment into equipment.
Additional production equipment costs are as follows:
- A lighting Kit – Costs can range from $100 to $10,000 or more.
- A backdrop – Costs can range from free to a few hundred dollars.
- An External recorder – Costs can range from $200 to $2,000 or more.
- A Microphone – Costs can range from $150 to $1,500 or more.
- A Shotgun Microphone – Costs can range from $250 to $2,500 or more.
Production Equipment Costs by Setup
On the most basic setup a bare bones production can start with about $2,000 to $3,000 in equipment investment. Keep in mind that this will be a very basic setup and that you certainly won’t get advanced movie quality footage from a $2K setup, but you can capture what you need to get started and work your way up.
A more advanced production equipment package will run about $10,000 upfront in costs but will provide substantially more equipment for your needs. With a 10K budget you can afford bigger cameras, cooler accessories such as a gimbal (which may cost as little as $1K or more than $8K) or camera stabilizer (which may cost as little as $500 or as much as $50K depending on your budget and needs) and more advanced gear in general. You’ll also be able to incorporate some lenses that will help you improve your footage.
Likewise, if you can invest $20K or more into your video production equipment then theres a good chance that you’re worried less about budget and more about quality. If this is the case, a budget of this amount will allow for more advanced equipment, speciality add ons and cool gadgets and gizmos that a lower budget camera crew simply won’t have access to.
Regardless of your budget, production equipment costs can quickly add up if you’re not careful. Now that you know the answer to your question, “What does production equipment cost” you can work to determine whether the investment into equipment and a team that can operate the equipment to produce your video content is really worth the effort or if it is perhaps better to hire a professional to handle the job? To get more details, give Beverly Boy Productions a call today! We’ll help you decide what option is ideal for your needs.