When you look to rent a camera package in New York, Los Angeles or otherwise, the camera package will consist of multiple rental items that all need to be compatible with each other. In this article, we’ll go through the parts – such as the camera body, the lens, wireless video system, monitoring and power – and understand compatibility, adapters and general rigging considerations. This will prepare you for your next interaction with a rental house like Camera Rentals NYC – and make sure you can master both package rentals and piece-meal rentals out of multiple rental inventories for your next shoot!

Understanding the Parts of a Camera Rental Package

Most camera rental houses break up their rental inventory into multiple sections. See the infographic below to understand which parts go where. We’ll dive into each part and understand the considerations that go into renting that specific item.

Components of a Camera Package - Overview Infographic
Components of a Camera Package – Overview Infographic

Keep in mind that as you read on, compatibility is key when you are piece-meal renting and supplementing existing gear rather than having the rental house give you a custom package. Not every lens will be compatible with every camera body; not every wireless video system can be plugged into every monitor.

We’ll give you a breakdown on each of the following main components of a cinema camera package:

Here are the components visualized on our Alexa 35 Rental Package:

This is a high-end camera rental package built around an Alexa 35, inclusive of wireless video systems, monitoring systems, lenses and camera support, each labeled in an English language schematic.
This is our highest-end camera rental package built around the Alexa 35, inclusive of wireless video systems, monitoring systems, lenses and camera support, each labeled in an English language schematic.

The Camera


The Camera as part of a Cinema Camera Package.

The camera is the heart of any rental package – this is where the image is being recorded, and practically all other parts mount into it. The simplest systems consist of just a camera; in our rental arsenal we believe in modularity, so we don’t carry fixed lens cameras. Good camera packages come with camera cages and top handles in order to allow for various mounting options while protecting the camera body. Most of our cameras can be combined with most of our lenses – sometimes with lens adapter mounts – but there are exceptions.

Always watch out for what sensor size a camera has – Super 35, “Full Frame”, or Micro 4/3 (MFT) – and that the lens you’re renting is designed to project onto that sensor size. Learn more about the concept of sensor size on Wikipedia.

Mounts onto: Tripod, 15mm or 19mm Rods, Shoulder Rig, Gimbal SystemsCarries: Battery Plate, Lens, Lens Adapter, Rails, Handle, EVF / Electronic Viewfinder

The Lens

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The Lens as part of a Cinema Camera Package.

The lens is the second most important piece in a camera package. Many packages work as just the simple combination of camera body and lens. There are 4 major distinctions of lenses: Autofocus vs. Manual focus lenses, Prime vs. Zoom lenses, Spherical vs. Anamorphic lenses, and lenses with optical stabilization and without. Most lenses that support autofocus are primarily photo lenses and usually also allow for manual focus, but might not be compatible with wireless follow focus systems unless they’re “cinevized”, i.e. have focus gears attached, like our cinevized Canon 70-200mm L-Series zoom lens. At Camera Rentals NYC, we believe in maximum flexibility: all our lenses have seamless focus gears – either natively or as custom modifications, regardless if they also support autofocus or are strictly manual.

Keep in mind that “true” cinema lenses have a better focus throw – i.e. more precision for remote follow focus systems – than modified photo lenses. Also, heavier cinema lenses will often need a lens support, which connects the lens to 15mm or 19mm for added stability.

Mounts onto: Camera, Lens Adapter Mount, Lens SupportCarries: Matte Box, Wireless Follow Focus

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Lens Adapters


The lens adapter mount as part of a Cinema Camera Package.

Lens Adapters are the core of matching camera and lens mount systems. There are a myriad of different lens mount standards – Canon EF, Sony E, ARRI PL, MFT – you name it. We are big believers of trying to match glass – lenses – with as many different camera bodies as possible, so the cinematographer has maximum ability to choose what their creative outcome will be. Every adapter mount will have a camera side, and a lens side; a Sony to EF Mount Adapter for example will allow a Sony camera to accept a Canon (EF Mount) lens. Some adapters like the one in this example are electronic – they can transmit focus and optical stabilization information – and others are purely mechanical.

There’s a new class of adapters that have become recently fashionable: Adapters that include a variable ND filter on the inside, like our MOFAGE POCO adapter for the RED Komodo accepting PL mount lenses. Before renting a lens for your camera (or vice versa), mention to the rental house what models you’re trying to match – we can always help with that. And when in doubt, bring your camera (or lens) with you when you pick up a rental with an adapter, and make sure that all items are compatible with each other before leaving the rental house. Learn more about these adapters and camera mounts on Wikipedia.

Mounts onto: Camera, LensCarries: Lens

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Matte Box & Filters


The Matte Box and filters as part of a Cinema Camera Package.

Matte Boxes are ways to shield incoming stray light from your lens, protect the lens from scratches, unwanted impact or other mechanical damage as a barrier, and hold trays for filters of all kinds. Matte Boxes come as rod-based (usually 15mm diameter) or are clamp-on. For Clamp-on Matte Boxes, make sure that the matte box clamp diameter matches the lens front’s outer diameter; Matte Boxes like the Tilta T-MB12 have exchangeable clamps to match different sizes. For rod-based Matte Boxes, make sure that your rental comes with a “donut”, a soft rubber or fabric ring that ensures no light enters between the Matte Box and the lens.

There are Neutral Density filters to darken the incoming light, there are polarizing filters to remove reflections (and other polarized light) from reflective surfaces like glass or water, and a variety of diffusion filters like the BlackProMist ⅛ to soften a digital camera and create a look reminiscent of film stock. Many filters can be screwed directly to the lens, others are for Matte Boxes – make sure to check which mounting options the filter offers before renting.

Mounts onto: Lens, 15mm or 19mm rodsCarries: Filters

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Rails, Rods, Handle & Shoulder Rig


Rods and Shoulder Rig as part of a Cinema Camera Package.

Rods are essential components of a cinema camera package. They are not really used in a photo context since smaller size matters for photography, and power needs are much lower – but for cinema rigs with heavy external batteries, large Matte Boxes and big builds, they form the essential component of every good camera package. They usually come in their 15mm version in either Aluminum or carbon fiber; in some cases they’re made of steel and for bigger rigs, 19mm rods provide extra stability (but with the trade-off of adding weight).

These rods either mount to the camera through a cage – most of our rental packages are designed this way – or in other applications, they can come as part of a shoulder rig. We design our packages in a way that rods usually stay connected to the camera, which allows for faster switching between shoulder rig, tripod or gimbal operation. Our camera rental packages come with the rods included, and we usually don’t rent them out separately.

A shoulder rig is a form of camera support that allows for a 3-contact-point operation, improving on stability compared to pure hand-held operation (the shoulder contact prevents unwanted tilting, the increased size leads to more inertia of the rig and dampens small unwanted movements). When renting a shoulder rig, make sure you choose a rig that’s rosette or NATO-rail based, which will allow you to lock the rig in a configuration that you want without needing to worry about wiggling parts or loosening connections.

Rails mount onto: CameraRails carry: Handle, Onboard Monitor, Wireless Transmitter
Rods mount onto: Camera, Shoulder RigRods carry: Lens Support, Matte Box, Wireless Follow Focus Motors, Battery Plate / Power Splitter, Teleprompter
Handle mounts onto: Camera, RailsHandle carries: Onboard Monitor
Shoulder Rig mounts onto: Shoulder Rig carries: Camera

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Tripod

[Camera graphic]
The Tripod as part of a Cinema Camera Package.

Tripods are the most essential item in the camera support department. They come in many flavors – light-weight and flexible or heavy-duty, short or long, different levels of weight support and hydraulic dampening of movements, bowl-based or flat bases. Some rental houses rent legs, spreaders and fluid heads separately – we usually rent each tripod as a complete package so you don’t need to worry if a set of tripod legs is compatible with a given tripod head.

Make sure to only rent cinema tripods with fluid heads for camera operating; you can get relatively affordable ones and it’s never worth to use a tripod that underperforms for the camera rig you’re looking to operate. The keyword here is “payload” – a heavier camera rig will require a tripod with matching or exceeding payload capability. Also, ensure that leveling the camera is an easy and fast process, like with our Manfrotto Gitzo rental tripod that has an extra leveling head included between the fluid head and the tripod legs.

Mounts onto: –Carries: Camera

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Batteries


The Battery as part of a Cinema Camera Package.

When using a digital cinema camera, it and all of the electronic accessories (onboard monitor, wireless video transmitters, wireless follow focus, etc.) need a power source. Usually, this is in the form of a battery. There are three types of batteries that cinema cameras use: internal batteries, onboard batteries, and block batteries. Internal batteries, while useful when keeping your rig small and lightweight, don’t last very long and aren’t the most efficient on longer shoots. Block batteries are the exact opposite, they last incredibly long and are useful when not moving around much on a tripod. Onboard batteries are the perfect in-between, balancing portability with longevity.

The most common types of onboard batteries are Gold Mount and V-Mount. Similar to cameras and lenses, onboard batteries and battery plates each have their own designated mount that must match to be used on the camera. When using onboard batteries, there are two important measurements to know and keep track of: wattage and voltage.

Onboard batteries come in different wattages, or sizes; common ones are 90Wh and 150Wh (or “watt hour”). The bigger the wattage, the bigger the battery, so even though a 150Wh battery will last much longer than a 90Wh battery, it will also be heavier which isn’t ideal if you want to keep your rig as small and lightweight as possible.

The other important measurement is voltage. Most onboard batteries for most cameras are about 12v (or “volts”), but the most common exception is the ARRI Alexa 35, which needs to be powered by batteries capable of about 24v, like the Core SWX Helix Max batteries that are capable of both 12v and 24v.

Mounts onto: Battery Plate, SharkfinCarries: Power Splitter

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Battery Plate / Power Splitter


The Battery Plate as part of a Cinema Camera Package.

As previously mentioned, batteries need to be connected to a battery plate with the same mount. If you have a camera with a Gold Mount plate, you can’t use V-Mount batteries to power it. Sometimes, the battery plate is attached directly to the camera body by the manufacturer, like with the RED Komodo, but at times it’s made to be attached to the camera rig by the operator or AC, usually using 15mm Rods, like with the ARRI Alexa Mini.

Sometimes, it’s helpful to attach another accessory called a “sharkfin,” which essentially turns one battery plate into two, allowing you to use two onboard batteries at once and swap batteries without powering down the camera, saving time and increasing efficiency.

When using a smaller cinema camera, like the Sony FX3, instead of there being a battery plate, there’s a slot made for a smaller internal battery. To use a Gold Mount or V-Mount battery with this type of camera, you use a “dummy battery”, which is a cable that goes from the battery slot into a D-Tap port on a Gold Mount or V-Mount battery, redirecting power. The advantage to using a “dummy battery” is that it allows you to use larger batteries that increase the run-time of the camera. However, it also increases the size of the rig, so it might not always be the most efficient depending on what you’re filming.

Typically all Gold Mount and V-Mount batteries will have a D-Tap port on them, but what about when you have multiple electronic accessories that need to be powered by the same camera battery? In this case, you’d use a power splitter. Similar to a power strip you’d use for a wall outlet at home, a power splitter is a cable that turns one D-Tap port on a battery into multiple.

Mounts onto: Camera, Video Village Monitor, Wireless Hand-held Director’s MonitorCarries: Batteries, Sharkfin, Wireless Transmitter / Receiver

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Onboard Monitor


The Onboard Monitor as part of a Cinema Camera Package.

Even though some smaller cameras already have an LCD screen you can use to change settings and preview your image, it isn’t the most efficient tool to use when framing up a shot and checking focus. An onboard monitor is a larger, 5 to 7 inch monitor externally attached to the camera to get a much better look at what your camera is capturing.

One of the best and most reliable brands for onboard monitors is SmallHD, which makes the SmallHD 702 (7 inch) and SmallHD 502 (5 inch) monitors. These monitors have a wide array of tools you can overlay onto your image to help properly expose, frame, and focus your shot.

Monitors are commonly attached to the top handle or to the left side of the camera using an articulating arm, which allows it to be repositioned quickly and easily. To connect it to your camera body to get a video feed, you can use an HDMI cable, like with the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K, or SDI cable, like with the RED Komodo. HDMI ports are more common on smaller camera systems while SDI ports are more common on larger cinema cameras.

While these monitors can be powered by smaller batteries, like the Canon LP-E6, the most common and efficient way to power it is through the camera’s onboard battery, using a D-Tap cable to connect the two. Using the same battery means you only have to swap one kind of battery when you’re shooting, saving time, and makes the rig more lightweight.

Mounts onto: CameraCarries: Batteries

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EVF / Electronic Viewfinder


The EVF / Electronic Viewfinder as part of a Cinema Camera Package.

On larger cinema cameras, like the ARRI Alexa Mini, there is no LCD screen to view settings and preview your image. Instead, there is an electronic viewfinder, or EVF. Similar to optical viewfinders on smaller stills cameras, you use a viewfinder by putting your eye directly to a rubber cup to view a much smaller version image, enlarged using a diopter.

Some camera people prefer to operate using an EVF while others prefer using an onboard monitor, each has their advantages. Since putting your eye directly up to an EVF blocks out much of the light, using it makes your image much easier to view when shooting in brightly lit environments, like outside on a sunny day. Given its location on the left of the camera body, it also allows for easier viewing when using a shoulder rig.

However, to see your image best, you have to close one eye completely and there’s often more of a learning curve to operating with the EVF since it might feel a little unnatural. Due to this, it might be most comfortable to use an onboard monitor instead if you aren’t used to using one.

Mounts onto: CameraCarries: –

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Wireless Video Transmitters & Receivers

[Camera graphic]
The Camera as part of a Cinema Camera Package.

When on a bigger set with a bigger crew, one of the things that sets it apart is the amount of people who need to see what the camera operator is filming. If you have a focus puller, hair and makeup artist, director, or client, these are all people who need access to a monitor with real-time feed to do their best work.

Even though you can use long SDI (also called BNC on-set) or HDMI cables to connect external monitors to the camera, this usually isn’t ideal. Especially if the camera is somewhere tight and far away, making it harder to access, or moving around a lot on a shoulder rig or gimbal, making it easily tangled and a tripping hazard. Instead, people will often opt for a wireless video transmitter & receiver. 

A transmitter, mounted onto the camera, wirelessly sends a video signal to the receiver, mounted onto a monitor. Similar to an onboard monitor, each transmitter and receiver are connected to the camera and monitor respectively with short SDI or HDMI cables (depending on the specific model). As with any electronic accessories, these too must have a power source. Some models also allow you to connect one transmitter to multiple receivers, which is especially useful if you have multiple external monitors. To power them, you can use cables to connect the transmitter and receiver into D-Tap ports or, depending on the specific model, you can connect them directly to a battery plate, sandwiching them between the plate and a gold mount or v-mount battery.

The most popular and reliable brand for wireless video transmitters and receivers is Teradek, which makes the Bolt 750 4K LT 3G-SDI/HDMI and the Bolt 300 HD-SDI. One of the biggest differences between the two is that the Bolt 750 has a further range than the Bolt 300, meaning that the receiver can be further away from the transmitter and still display video feed (the Bolt 750 has a range of 750 ft and the Bolt 300 has a range of 300 ft). Another key difference is that the Bolt 750 supports a feed of up to 4K, while the Bolt 300 only supports a feed up to HD, or 1080p.

Transmitter mounts onto: Camera, Battery PlateTransmitter carries: –
Receiver mounts onto: Video Village Monitor, Wireless Hand-held Director’s Monitor, Battery PlateReceiver carries: –

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Video Village Monitor

[Camera graphic]
The Camera as part of a Cinema Camera Package.

When working on commercial projects with clients or on a narrative film with department heads, something especially useful to have on-set is a video village monitor. Typically a larger, 13 to 17 inch monitor mounted on a stand like the SmallHD 1703. It usually lives somewhere a little farther away from the camera, called video village, so it stays out of the way of the crew and doesn’t have to keep being moved around to avoid being in the shot.

If you’re working with a gaffer, hair and makeup artist, production designer, or script supervisor, having a designated monitor for them to look at is useful for them to keep an eye on their work and make any changes without being asked or having to stand right next to the camera, making the set run more efficiently. If you have a client on-set, having a video village monitor is useful for them to see the product, and will make you look more professional as well.

Mounts onto: Monitor StandCarries: Wireless Receiver, Battery Plate

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Wireless Hand-held Director’s Monitor

[Camera graphic]
The Camera as part of a Cinema Camera Package.

Even though a video village monitor is useful for the crew and clients, it’s not ideal for a director to use when needing to be in close proximity with actors and the DP. Something small and mobile is usually more efficient, like a wireless hand-held director’s monitor.

A director’s monitor is typically a smaller, 5 to 7 inch monitor with a wireless receiver attached to side handles and a neck strap for easy carrying. Designed to be with the director at all times, this allows them access to the image at all times wherever they are.

Mounts onto: –Carries: Wireless Receiver, Battery Plate, Side Handles / Neck Strap

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Wireless Follow Focus

[Camera graphic]
The Camera as part of a Cinema Camera Package.

On larger sets, an essential position in the camera department is the 1st AC, or focus puller, whose primary responsibility is to ensure that the lens is focused on the subject of the image at any given point. One of the most efficient ways to do this is using a wireless follow focus, like the Tilta Nucleus-M. 

This is usually paired with a stand-mounted monitor similar to a video village monitor for the 1st AC to see that the image is in focus, like our 1st AC station available for rental. Even though you can double up and have the 1st AC’s monitor be the video village monitor, this usually isn’t recommended since there are certain overlays or “tools” on a monitor used by the focus puller that can distort the image.

A wireless follow focus consists of two parts: a hand unit and motor(s). The hand unit, which has a knob for focus control (as well as other controls for iris and zoom), is either mounted to the monitor, monitor stand, or held by the 1st AC. By mounting one to three geared-motors to the rods at the base of a camera, and lining them up with the gears on the barrel of a cinema lens, they can connect to the hand unit wirelessly and the 1st AC is able to control focus, iris, and zoom remotely. These motors are connected to each other and are all powered by one D-Tap cable; the hand unit is powered by internal batteries.

This control is especially useful when pulling focus for a camera operator that is moving around a lot with a shoulder rig or gimbal, since the 1st AC can just worry about keeping the image sharp and not about staying right next to and keeping up with the operator.

Hand Unit mounts onto: Monitor / Monitor StandHand Unit carries: Internal Batteries
Motors mount onto: 15mm or 19mm RodsMotors carry: Lens

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Gimbal Systems

[Camera graphic]
The Camera as part of a Cinema Camera Package.

When operating the camera for shots with more complex movement, or at locations that don’t allow tripods, a gimbal can be especially useful. Once it’s properly calibrated, a three-axis gimbal allows for smooth motion while moving.

A popular choice for three-axis gimbals is the DJI RS 2 Pro, which is well-suited for smaller cameras like the Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 4K.

Mounts onto: –Carries: Camera

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Teleprompter

[Camera graphic]
The Camera as part of a Cinema Camera Package.

If you’re working with on-camera talent that needs to read off a script and while looking directly into the camera, a teleprompter is immensely helpful. Using something like an iPad that has software to display scrolling text, a teleprompter reflects this onto the lens so that it can be read in real-time on-camera. Using a teleprompter makes working with real people on-camera who aren’t experienced as talent and might have trouble memorizing lines and maintaining eye contact with the camera.

Mounts onto: 15mm or 19mm RodsCarries: iPad

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