What Camera Configuration Advice Costs and What Moves the Price

Producers often ask us for a figure before they can say what they want advised. That is fair, but camera configuration advice is not a fixed product. Two studios with the same number of cameras can need very different amounts of work, depending on what is already in the room and what has to change. So we would rather explain what drives the cost than quote a number that falls apart once someone visits the gallery.

This note sets out, in the order we usually discuss them, the things that raise or lower the price of advice on camera selection, rigging, shading and matching. It does not cover our other services, which have their own notes. The exact figures for each service sit on the prices page, and a written quotation follows any enquiry.

If you read only one paragraph, read this: the cost follows the amount of equipment to assess and the amount of time we spend with it, not the size of your organisation.

The first driver is simply how many cameras are involved. Advising on a two-camera interview set is a short piece of work. A six-camera studio with a mix of pedestal, jib and handheld positions takes longer, because every position has its own rigging question and its own relationship to the others for matching.

Number is not the whole story, though. Cameras of the same model are quicker to match than a collection bought over several years from different makers. A mixed fleet means more time comparing colour response, sensor behaviour and lens characteristics, and that time appears in the quotation.

We ask you to list each camera, its lens and where it sits before we price anything. A rough sketch of the floor plan is enough. It saves us guessing and saves you paying for a margin we would otherwise have to add.

• Number of camera positions
• Whether the cameras are the same model
• Mix of fixed, moving and handheld positions

Where the work happens changes the price more than people expect. In a permanent studio we can return to the same room, test over a couple of sessions and leave you with settings that hold from week to week. A one-off live event leaves no second chance, so the preparation is heavier and the notes have to be firmer.

Travel is the other factor. We are based in Cambridge, so work nearby costs less in time than a venue across the country. We state travel separately in the quotation, so you can see what is advice and what is getting there.

A temporary rig in a hall or theatre also brings constraints we cannot control: power, cable runs, sightlines and the hours the venue allows. Where these are unknown, we suggest a short planning call first, which is a small fixed cost and often prevents a larger one.

Shading and matching is where the hours go. A light check that the cameras look broadly alike in a neutral setting is quick. A full match under your actual lighting, across skin tones, set colours and the range of conditions you shoot in, takes real time at the camera control units.

You decide how deep to go. Some teams need a dependable baseline they can maintain themselves, and we write it up as a short procedure. Others want us on the floor while they shoot a full rehearsal. Both are reasonable, and they are priced differently.

If your lighting is about to change, tell us. Matching done before a new lighting plan is installed often has to be repeated, and it is cheaper to schedule the two pieces of work in the right order than to pay for the same match twice.

• Baseline check or full match
• Attendance during a rehearsal
• Repeat visits after lighting changes

A quotation for camera configuration advice covers the agreed time assessing and adjusting the set-up, a written summary of what we found and what we recommend, and a short list of settings or rigging notes your crew can follow afterwards. It does not include buying equipment, hiring it or fitting it, and we do not take a commission from any supplier.

If our recommendations lead to work that someone else has to carry out, such as moving a mounting point or running new cable, that cost is theirs and sits outside our fee. We will, where it helps, describe the work clearly enough for your own engineers or a contractor to price it.

Written guides for your crew are a separate service from advice, though the two often go together. If you want the findings turned into a laminated checklist or a training sheet, that is Technical Writing and Guides, quoted on its own so you only pay for what you ask for.

You start with an enquiry through the contact page. Tell us the number of cameras, the kind of production and any date you are working to. We reply with questions if we need them, then send a written quotation that states what is covered, what changes the price and the total in pounds.

Once you confirm in writing, we book the work. After it is done, we send an invoice and you pay by bank transfer. Nothing is bought or paid for on the site itself, and there is no card payment or instant confirmation, because each job needs a conversation first.

Cancellations and refunds follow our payment and refund policy, which you can read before you confirm anything. If the scope turns out different from what was quoted, we tell you before doing the extra work, not after, and you decide whether to go ahead.