Directory
Where the kit comes from.
Hire houses, the specialists, the sellers and the labs. Checked in September 2026; a company that has closed is taken off, not left with a caution.
Camera and lenses
Bodies, glass and the package a drama preps from.
24-7 Drama (opens in a new tab) · Camera crew on returning drama and high-end television.
Camera rental house working across London, Manchester, Birmingham and Dublin, with ARRI, Sony Venice and a wide lens inventory, and approved supplier status with the BBC and ITV. Ring them for a long-running drama that needs the same package held for months.
Aimimage (opens in a new tab) · Camera crew on drama, factual and commercials.
Camden-based camera hire with bases in Manchester and Birmingham, covering ARRI, Sony, Canon and Blackmagic plus vintage and anamorphic glass. Ring them when the shoot moves between London and the regions and you want the same kit list at both ends.
ARRI Rental (opens in a new tab) · Camera crew on features and high-end television.
ARRI's own rental operation, with the large-format ALEXA 65 and the exclusive DNA, ALFA and Heroes lens lines. Ring them when the job needs 65mm or a lens set nobody else holds.
Brownian Motion (opens in a new tab) · Camera crew and VFX supervisors needing specialist rigs.
Camera and lens hire in K Block at Pinewood that also builds VFX capture rigs — camera arrays, bullet-time and VR setups. Ring them when the shot needs a rig built rather than a camera pulled off a shelf.
Feral Equipment (opens in a new tab) · Camera and grip crew on jobs that need something built.
North West London facility hiring camera, lighting and grip, with a workshop that fabricates bespoke rigs for POV, overhead and vehicle shots. Ring them when the storyboard has a shot that no off-the-shelf rig will get.
Films at 59 (opens in a new tab) · Camera crew on natural history, factual and drama out of the West.
Bristol kit hire arm of the Films at 59 facility, with a Cardiff base as well. The obvious first call for a natural history or factual shoot originating in Bristol.
Lights, Camera, Scotland (opens in a new tab) · Smaller productions and self-shooting crews in Scotland.
Edinburgh camera, lighting and grip hire with 24-hour collection and drop-off, trading as Antler Films Ltd. Useful for a documentary or corporate job in the central belt that needs kit out of hours.
NI Camera Hire (opens in a new tab) · Small and mid-budget productions across Northern Ireland and the Republic.
Belfast rental house on Botanic Avenue covering camera, lenses, audio, lighting and stabilisation, delivering across the island. The practical option when a job in Northern Ireland does not justify freighting kit from London.
No Drama (opens in a new tab) · Camera crew working in the North and Scotland.
Independent rental house with branches in Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle and Liverpool, run by people who came off the camera truck. The first call for a northern or Scottish shoot that wants kit prepped locally rather than trucked up the M6.
One Stop Films (opens in a new tab) · Camera and lens crew on features, drama and commercials.
Camera rental house at 3 Mills Studios in East London, built around a deep spherical and anamorphic lens collection including vintage glass, plus 35mm and 16mm film bodies. Ring them when the look is coming from the lenses and you want a proper test session.
Panavision UK (opens in a new tab) · Camera department on features and high-end drama.
Panavision's UK arm, supplying camera bodies and the Panavision lens range that only comes from them. You go to them when the DoP has specified Panavision glass or wants a lens test on a large-format package.
Pixipixel (opens in a new tab) · Camera crew on commercials, stills and drama.
Independent house with bases in Hoxton and Tottenham doing camera, lenses, lighting, grip, test suites and generators from one order. Handy when a commercial needs camera and a large lighting order out of the same building.
Shoot Blue (opens in a new tab) · Camera crew on commercials, drama and branded work.
Independent Acton house doing camera and lighting out of one door, trading since 2004. Useful when you want the camera and the lighting on one order and one delivery.
Sunbelt Rentals Film & TV (opens in a new tab) · Camera, lighting and grip departments on features and high-end television.
The former Movietech camera business, now part of Sunbelt's film and TV division alongside PKE Lighting and William F. White. Worth a call when you want camera, lighting, power and grip on one account rather than four.
VI Rental (opens in a new tab) · Camera and lighting crew on factual, natural history and drama.
Bristol-headquartered camera and lighting hire with offices in Cardiff, London and Manchester and kit hubs in Africa. Ring them for a long-haul natural history shoot where freighting from the UK is the problem you are trying to avoid.
VMI (opens in a new tab) · Camera crew on features, drama, docs and commercials.
Long-standing independent West London rental house running ARRI, Sony, RED and Canon packages, plus high-speed and low-light specials. Worth a call when you want a carbon-neutral supplier on the paperwork and a package built to a budget.
XO Rental (opens in a new tab) · Camera crew on broadcast, multi-camera and location units.
North London house supplying camera, lenses, lighting, grip, audio and power as one package, and a patron of the ACO. Useful when a multi-camera studio job and a location unit need to come from the same inventory.
Lighting and electrical
Fixtures, distro, generators and the truck.
MBS Equipment Company (opens in a new tab) · Gaffers and best boys on features and high-end television.
Film and television lighting rental out of Colnbrook near Slough, part of a network extending into Ireland and Central Europe. The obvious call for a Pinewood, Shepperton or Longcross-area job wanting a full lighting order close to the lot.
Panalux (opens in a new tab) · Gaffers and rigging crews on features and high-end drama.
Panavision's lighting division, holding fixtures, control, dimming, distribution and generators at scale. The call when a stage rig needs hundreds of fixtures and the dimming to run them.
Pixipixel (opens in a new tab) · Gaffers and sparks on commercials, stills and promos.
Large lighting inventory across two London sites, including Briese, Profoto and HMI alongside LED, plus generators. The practical choice on a stills-and-motion crossover where the lighting list is the bigger half of the order.
Shoot Blue (opens in a new tab) · Gaffers on commercials, drama and branded content.
LED, HMI, tungsten and battery fixtures with the modifiers and distribution to go with them, from the same Acton building as their camera stock. Useful on a small unit where one van collects everything.
Sunbelt Rentals Film & TV (opens in a new tab) · Gaffers, riggers and production managers needing lighting and power together.
Holds the former PKE Lighting inventory out of Manchester alongside its camera and grip business. Ring them when the job needs lighting, generators and site power from one supplier with a national depot network.
Universal Production Services (opens in a new tab) · Rigging gaffers and production on studio-based features.
US production services group with a London operation covering lighting, rigging and transport alongside stage space. Worth a call on an inbound studio production already using them in the States.
Grip and rigging
Dollies, track, cranes and the department that moves the camera.
ARRI Rental (opens in a new tab) · Grip crews on large-scale features.
Alongside camera, ARRI Rental holds dollies, the Hexatron crane range, remote heads and specialist rigs. Worth ringing when camera and grip are coming from the same house and the rig is unusual.
Feral Equipment (opens in a new tab) · Grips and DoPs needing bespoke rigging.
Grip stock — tripods, stabilisation, tracking systems — plus a workshop that makes rigs to order. Ring them when a standard clamp or mount will not hold the shot.
Freestyle Grips (opens in a new tab) · Smaller units and second units needing a grip who brings kit.
A qualified working grip supplying his own van and equipment with the labour attached. The sensible option on a small shoot that needs a grip and a modest grip package rather than a truck.
Sunbelt Rentals Film & TV (opens in a new tab) · Grip departments wanting grip and lighting on one order.
Runs the Alpha Grip inventory — dollies, track, cranes and rigging — inside the same division as its lighting and camera stock. Sensible when the production office wants one account handling grip, lighting and power.
The Grip Company (opens in a new tab) · Key grips and rigging crews on features and high-end drama.
Grip house at Fifield near Windsor run by working grips, holding MovieBird, Technocrane and Supertechno cranes, dollies, track, rigging and car rigs. The call when the shot needs a crane and the crew to rig it.
Universal Production Services (opens in a new tab) · Grip and rigging crews on studio productions in London.
Supplies grip alongside lighting and rigging from its London base. Useful where a production is already taking their lighting package and wants grip on the same delivery.
Remote heads and stabilisation
Remote systems, motion control and camera cars.
Camera Revolution (opens in a new tab) · Camera crews on stabilised and underwater work.
Shepperton-based supplier of stabilised heads — Libra, Scorpio, Matrix, Ronin 2 — with suspension mounts, track systems, body rigs and underwater housings. The call when the camera has to stay level on something that will not.
DLP Remotes (opens in a new tab) · Camera crews needing remote heads or a tracking vehicle.
Specialist camera services company at 3 Mills Studios supplying ARRI SRH and 360 heads, FOMA Antares, Motocrane, Panther towers and camera tracking vehicles, operated. Ring them when the shot is a moving vehicle or a head that needs an operator who knows it.
Helicopter Film Services (opens in a new tab) · Camera crews needing a gyro-stabilised system on the ground.
As well as flying, HFS hires and operates gyro-stabilised camera systems, mounts and video links for vehicle, boat and cable work. Ring them when the stabilised head is going on a car or a vessel rather than an aircraft.
Mark Roberts Motion Control (opens in a new tab) · Commercials and VFX units needing repeatable moves.
Designs and hires motion control rigs — Milo, Titan, Bolt — plus robotic heads and arms. Ring them when the shot has to be repeated frame-accurately for a comp or a product pass.
Mo-Sys (opens in a new tab) · Virtual production supervisors and broadcast engineers.
UK manufacturer of camera tracking (StarTracker), remote heads and robotics, and the VP Pro software behind many LED volume shoots. The call when the job needs the camera's position known to the engine, not just a stable head.
The Grip Company (opens in a new tab) · Key grips specifying a head to go on a crane.
Holds remote heads including the ARRI 360 EVO and Motocrane Titan alongside its crane inventory. Worth ringing when the head and the arm under it should come from the same supplier and be rigged together.
Aerial
Drone and helicopter units, and the people licensed to fly them.
Aerial Camera Systems (opens in a new tab) · Broadcast and sport producers needing specialist aerial and remote cameras.
Long-established specialist camera supplier, strongest on sport and live events, covering aerial, cable and minicam systems. Ring them when the aerial shot has to cut live into a broadcast.
DLP Remotes (opens in a new tab) · Camera crews wanting a drone from the same supplier as the ground rig.
Runs DJI Inspire 3 drone setups alongside its remote heads and tracking vehicles. Useful when a drone shot has to match a ground move and you would rather one company owned both.
Flying Pictures (opens in a new tab) · Aerial coordinators on features, commercials and live broadcast.
Aerial filming outfit with a West London head office plus Winchester and Sheffield, operating helicopter gimbal systems and heavy-lift drones. Worth ringing when the sequence needs both a helicopter and a drone in the same schedule.
Helicopter Film Services (opens in a new tab) · Producers and DoPs planning an aerial unit.
London-based aerial unit running helicopters, drones and gyro-stabilised camera systems, with thirty years on major features. The call when the aerial day needs an aircraft, a mount and the permissions handled as one job.
SFX, greens, armoury and action vehicles
The departments a producer forgets until prep.
999 Hire (opens in a new tab) · Picture vehicle coordinators needing emergency service vehicles.
Surrey supplier holding one of the larger collections of retro and modern police cars in the South, with in-house customisation and graphics. Useful when a scene needs several marked cars matched to a period.
Arcadia SFX (opens in a new tab) · SFX supervisors on features, drama and promos near the western studios.
Physical and pyrotechnic effects outfit working close to Pinewood and Shepperton, including mechanical builds and miniatures. Worth ringing when the effect is mechanical and has to run live to camera repeatedly.
Artem (opens in a new tab) · Production designers and SFX supervisors on physical effects.
Physical effects house since 1988 with sites in Greenford, Glasgow and Oldham, doing floor effects, rigs, animatronics, model making and scenic props with in-house fabrication. The call when the effect has to be built rather than hired.
Bapty (opens in a new tab) · Armourers, props and production on anything involving weapons.
Armoury specialists for film, television and theatre, supplying weapons, armour and police kit with on-set armourers and coordinators. The default call when a script has firearms and you need the paperwork and the person on set.
Cars on Film (opens in a new tab) · Picture vehicle coordinators on period and police work.
Restores and supplies genuine police cars and action vehicles from Bristol, London and Manchester, and holds a waste carriers licence so vehicles can be destroyed on camera. Ring them when the script calls for a period police car or a car that will not survive the scene.
Cohort Film Services (opens in a new tab) · Armourers and military advisers on contemporary and period work.
Film armoury supplying firearms spanning four hundred years plus military and police costume, equipment and props, with armourers who travel. Ring them when the production also needs the uniforms and radios, not just the weapons.
FilmSFX (opens in a new tab) · SFX supervisors needing pyrotechnics and licensed storage.
Surrey-based special effects company with a separate Norfolk armoury and explosives store, covering pyrotechnics, bullet hits, atmospherics, fire and snow. Ring them when the job needs licensed explosives handled properly.
Key Greens (opens in a new tab) · Production designers and art department on set landscaping.
Film set landscaping specialists with thirty years behind them, handling vegetation selection and full set planting. Worth ringing when a stage or backlot has to read as a real landscape.
Living Props (opens in a new tab) · Set decorators and production designers needing greens.
Supplies and dresses live and artificial greenery for film and television, trading since 1991, with supervising greensmen on the team. The call when the set needs planting and someone has to keep it alive through the shoot.
Millennium FX (opens in a new tab) · Make-up designers and producers needing prosthetics or creatures.
Aylesbury workshop making prosthetics, animatronics and special make-up effects for film, television and theatre. Ring them when a character needs building rather than making up.
Motorhouse Hire (opens in a new tab) · Picture vehicle coordinators sourcing something specific.
Vehicle sourcing and on-set coordination from Berkshire, Bristol, Cardiff and Bolton, with camera rig builds and workshop support, and a founding member of the Picture Vehicle Guild. The call when the vehicle is rare and someone has to find it.
Perdix (opens in a new tab) · Armourers and producers needing firearms and actor training.
Home Office authorised supplier of effects firearms since 1986, offering script breakdown, risk assessments, actor firearms training and worldwide shipping. The call when weapons are travelling with the production.
Real SFX (opens in a new tab) · SFX supervisors on drama and features across Wales and the West.
Cardiff-based physical effects company with bases in Manchester, Birmingham and at The Bottle Yard, covering pyrotechnics, atmospherics, water, gimbals and model making. The obvious call on a Welsh drama needing floor effects.
TLO Film Services (opens in a new tab) · Picture vehicle coordinators and first ADs.
Picture vehicle supplier at Eton Wick covering hero cars, background fleets, precision driving vehicles, camera tracking vehicles and action-prepped cars. The call when the vehicle has to be driven hard on camera.
Where you buy, not hire
Retailers and resellers. Different business, different conversation.
Cirro Lite (opens in a new tab) · Gaffers and rental houses specifying particular fixtures.
UK distributor for Kino Flo, Dedolight, Luminys and others, in Park Royal. Note they supply rental stock only to rental houses on sub-hire, not direct to productions — so you specify through them and hire through your usual house.
CVP (opens in a new tab) · Anyone buying kit, or wanting to handle it before they commit.
Professional video and cinema dealer with showrooms in Brentford and Fitzrovia, including lighting and virtual production demo sets with cameras rigged to try. Go there to buy, to get a repair, or to put your hands on a camera before ordering it — they are not a rental house.
ProAV (opens in a new tab) · Facilities and owner-operators buying new or used.
Hemel Hempstead dealer with a showroom for hands-on demos, selling new and used broadcast and video equipment. Useful when the budget only stretches to used kit and you want it checked by engineers first.
Production Gear (opens in a new tab) · Owner-operators and facilities buying broadcast kit.
Welwyn Garden City dealer selling broadcast and professional video equipment, UK-sourced and warranted, with monthly open days. Worth a call when you want a straight sale and honest advice rather than a hire quote.
Wex Photo Video (opens in a new tab) · Crew buying their own kit, and anyone trading up.
Fourteen stores across the UK selling cameras, lenses and accessories, with demo gear in branch, trade-in and finance. Go there when a freelancer is buying their own body or glass rather than hiring it.
Labs, dailies and post
Film processing, scanning, dailies and the grade.
Cinelab Film & Digital (opens in a new tab) · Producers and DITs shooting film, and anyone needing dailies.
Slough film laboratory and digital dailies facility handling processing, scanning, grading, DI, archive restoration and film deliverables under one roof. The call when the production is shooting on film and needs the lab and the dailies joined up.
Digital Orchard Group (opens in a new tab) · Archive producers, restoration projects and film shoots needing scans.
Film scanning and restoration at Pinewood and Chalfont St Giles, up to 6.5K, with dailies, QC and digital film-out, working alongside the Kodak lab on the same lot. The call when the negative is old, fragile or needs to go back out to film.
Films at 59 (opens in a new tab) · Post supervisors on natural history, factual and drama.
Bristol post facility with a Cardiff site, strongest on specialist factual and natural history alongside drama and children's. Ring them when the show has a long post schedule and a lot of archive or specialist footage to handle.
Gorilla (opens in a new tab) · Post supervisors on Welsh and UK broadcast work.
Cardiff Bay post house, the largest in Wales, with over a hundred Avid suites, UHD and HDR grading, audio and VFX, staffed round the clock. The obvious call when the production is based in Wales and the edit should be too.
Kodak Film Lab London (opens in a new tab) · Camera crews and producers shooting negative.
Kodak's own lab in the Ken Adam Building at Pinewood, processing and scanning Super 8, 16mm, 35mm and 65mm colour and black and white, with same-day development on film in before noon. Ring them when the rushes have to be seen the same day.
MediaCity Post (opens in a new tab) · Post supervisors on northern broadcast productions.
The post arm of the former dock10 at MediaCity in Salford, covering edit, grade, audio and virtual studio work alongside the stages. The call when a northern production wants studio and post on the same campus.
Molinare (opens in a new tab) · Producers and post supervisors on drama, features and factual.
Soho post facility doing full DI, grading and finishing for television drama, features and broadcast factual. Worth a call when the grade and the deliverables want to sit in the same building in central London.
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