Bad rental experience

[Mr Blackstock]

I thought I knew of most ways in which a person could break a camera, but my recent experience befuddled even me. 8O

I rent out Super8 cameras, quite a variety, some for $100 a week, some rent free.

http://mishkin.yolasite.com/camera-hire.php

I rented out my Canon 1218 for a week. I get a call a day later that the camera will not focus closer than 8 feet, efectively the focus is jammed. I grab another camera to replace the faulty one, a Canon 814 electronic, travel for 40 minutes to the filming location. When I get there, I discover the camera person had unscrewed the end lens from the camera, and while trying to screw it back on, had cross threaded the lens, and just kept making it worse! :roll: Anyway, I leave the 814 for them to finish the shoot and leave.

Getting home I had to labour for around 45 minutes to extract the lens, and will have to spend another 2 hours repairing the threaded lens, then clean the glass, reassemble, then shoot a cart through it to test the focus points. Needless to say I kept the bond amount.

Luckily the renter was o.k with the end result, I felt for him, but the 1218 is my favorite camera, and he was a nice guy. Lesson being after all this? I will have to write up a bullet point manual as I do not think many people research hoe to use cameras before they rent or buy them.

So far this is the worst, and renting is still fun, and at least the cameras are getting used...

[Andreas Wideroe]

Hey! Good on ya mate!

Great to have the cameras in use. I really never imagined that a person renting a camera would start to unscrew the lense! 8O Wow...

How about an instruction video that the renter can download to his iPhone or whatever? Just a thought ..

Btw, are you a professional camera technician or a self learnt one?

Andreas

[Mr Blackstock]

Hello,

I am currently working on a type of manual or cheat sheet covering all my cameras. It will not be as detailed as the origonal manuals, just covering the important details for each camera, like where to put batteries, where to put film, how to adjust exposure... It surprises me how many people do not research something before hiring a camera.

The thought of making a video for an iphone never occured to me, I think I will stick to the manual, it should encourage people to read at least a little bit.

I am not a camera technician, just self taught through trial and error, thankfully not too much error. I have recently gotten into lens repair and replace, which is easier than I thought. But mostly I get cameras that are no longer working and get them running without too much fuss. It always amazes me how resilient Super8 cameras are considering the amount of abuse or lack of use they get in their lifetime.

It is harder than you think to let someone wander off with your camera, very nerve racking.

cheers, Gareth