Changes to the hire of Club Equipment

As you may already know, the club has a range of Equipment available for hire by members (through Jeff Thomas), comprising:

• Studio Lighting Equipment with backdrops.
• And a Mini Studio Setup – for table top photography.

The above was previously available for £5 per stint.

Although the Studio lighting doesn’t get used very often,  as is typical of life, when someone wants it for a special job, it’s often already loaned to someone whose just gone away on a month’s cruise (for instance). So the committee have been reviewing the management and usage of this equipment and have and made the following changes:

The Studio Lighting and Mini Studio equipment will now be charged at £5 per week. However, to encourage its usage, the first two weeks fee will be waived if the equipment is returned within that period. If you need it for longer, you can pre-book the extended period at a charge of £5 per week. So the pricing will go as follows:

No Extended Period Pre-Booking:

• Up to 2 weeks (14 days) free.
• 3 weeks (15 – 21 days) £15 – you’ll pay the full 3 weeks fee. This charge is to encourage return within the agreed period.
• 4 weeks (22 – 28 days) £20.
• 5  weeks etc, just keep adding a £5 per week.

Pre-Booked, Extended periods:

• Up to 2 weeks (14 days) free.
• 3 weeks £5 total.
• 4 weeks £10 total.
• 5 weeks £15 total.
• Etc, just keep adding a £5 per week.

It should be remembered that even at £5 per week, this is a very cheap option for loaning this type of equipment. Note that hire durations may be restricted based on other members’ prior booking requests.

There is also the facility to loan:

• Books from our library, at no charge (See Alec Stewart) and
• The club’s calibration equipment – for colour managing and setting up your monitors, projectors and printers, for £5 per borrow. This is available through Alan Shepherd who can also guide you through the calibration process if necessary.

New Calibration Equipment?

The Club’s Calibration Equipment is the top of the line, but it is getting old and is incompatible with some of the latest operating systems, especially for the Mac. It does however, still work with the club’s laptop and projector. The committee is now considering buying new equipment capable of calibrating monitors, projectors and printers (creating profiles) that will be compatible with the latest computers, including Macs. This new equipment will cost approx. £320.

As a club we always encourage members to continuously improve their images and digital workflow. Calibration is an essential step towards this goal.

However, before we spend this amount of club funds we need to justify potential usage and establish how many people would consider utilising this sort of equipment, (help would be available if needed, so don’t get put off by the technical nature of this equipment).

Please let Steve Littlewood know by E Mail or word of mouth in club, if this is something you wish the club to have, or you’d personally utilise. As with the current equipment, there would be a fee of £5 levied for a week’s loan. Bargain! Based on previous calibrator usage, the equipment should pay for itself within 3-4 years.