Du-All Camera Corp

Excellent gear selection at the best prices. DuAll prices its gear lower than every single other one in New York City. Same exact gear at lower prices. Well not exactly same gear. And thankfully so. There is not a stockpile of Phantoms and $ 100,000 cameras and all the latest brand new accessories that are actually no more effective than their predecessors. Or a massive lighting and sound selection, but they could probably hook up anything if you ask. And if you want an Arri Alexa or Mini or anything «below,» well you have actually come to the right place. The same is true for a bunch of new accessories and all the older ones (best) and the most necessary lighting and sound gear.
Midtown sucks, for city residents, but it is close to subways and Penn Station and there’s a freight elevator.
Great service and expert, expert, expert knowledge informed by filmmaking history and technique and optical expertise. It’s probably not the best place for single item pick ups and so on, but if you’re trying to shoot analog with some primes that actually weigh something or high-​end digital, or basically anything that requires a full setup… duhhhh. New Reds, Sony’s cinema stuff, DSLRs. Video, whatever, anything.
There are not dozens of employees; it is not a circus. So careful planning is advised, but I believe that is always advised in all aspects of film production. Ask any question down to the intricacies of the spring-​loaded rail of the film gate, gear history, and digital formats and you’re in luck. All lens mount adapters, personalized service, fix and service anything, and best rental terms and prices.
Oh and have I mentioned that it’s a family business, like one with real history? Duhhhhhh. High-​end classy experts.

They have a lot of great equipment and antique equipment like 16 mm and super 8 mm cameras. I wasn’t impressed with the service. There were only three guys there and although they were really nice and helpful, there were times when there were more clients walking in and not enough hands to help. I was there for about 6 – 7 hours and needed help with a bartek ff that had trouble staying on a 15 mm rod. They were nice enough to give us a Arri ff-​4 as back up free of charge. Overall, they had their good and their bad, but I’m willing to give them a chance again.

I love these guys! I’ve rented with them 3 times so far, and I’m always impressed with how fast they are with getting everything together and making sure I’m happy with what I have. I wouldn’t want to rent from anyone else. :)

I brought some of my old c-​mount lenses in today to drop off for general servicing. The prices are really reasonable and the staff were super helpful. I will definitely keep coming here for future services of my vintage lenses.

I rented the Cannon C100 for a shoe-​string budget music video shoot. Du-​All put together a great package. Cannon C100 body, base plate, rails system, 3 batteries (Fully charged) 2 charging docks, and 4 32GB cards. At $ 175 for the entire weekend, that price couldn’t be beat. I’ll defiantly be renting from them again soon.

I’ve rented gear from Du-​All three times now and am never going anywhere else again.
The owners know everything about all the equipment AND take the time to show you if you ask. I’ve scoured Manhattan and Brooklyn and their prices are extremely competitive, plus after Hurricane Sandy I couldn’t get into the city to return a camera for a week and they didn’t charge me more than the one day I officially rented. Delightful!
This place is tops, absolutely tops.

I turned to Du-​All during Sukkot in 2012 when I needed to rent some lenses in a pinch and Adorama was closed for about a week. I’ve rented from here two more times with no issues and low prices and a relaxed but effective policy. If you are five minutes late with your return, they won’t charge you for the extra day like Adorama. If your card doesn’t have enough credit to hold the entire replacement value of rented equipment, they are more than accommodating to reasonable negotiation of the credit hold. I will continue to rent from Du-​All Camera for these reasons while working on independent productions.

I bought equipment from Du-​all and the experiences could not have been better. It is almost impossible to find Super8 and 16 mm film cameras in such great shape as the ones serviced and sold by Du-​all. These guys are true experts and they know their products inside and out, from top to bottom. I had a few technical issues with the camera I purchased from them, brought it in, they looked at it, tested it — and knew exactly what was wrong. They stand behind all of the work that they do and I plan to use their telecine services in the future. For film equipment, servicing (35mm, 16 mm, and esp. Super8) this place definitely stands out.

I personally will never rent again from Du-​All for unethical business practice.
$ 542.92
$ 43.55
$ 348.40
$ 934.87. This is how much I effectively paid for renting a Sony EX-​1 for a day in October 2010. I never got down to writing this review before as I was going back and forth between NY and LA.
It was a last minute rental and I had given my credit card to secure the rental. I was charged $ 542. 92 for a broken LCD. We had used my personal EX-​1 as A CAM and used Du-all’s EX-​1 as B CAM. The camera was on sticks all through the shoots and was returned by me.
I left the premises without them inspecting the return in my presence. It happens at a lot of rental houses where they ask to leave the return but lesson learnt. Never leave the premises till the gear is checked and signed off for you.
None of the back and forth with du-​all on this helped. If they were forthright, they would have sent me the receipt towards the repair of the camera rented to us but that was never possible since I know in my heart of hearts that we didn’t damage the gear.
Follow the following steps to safeguard yourself from potential fraud,
Plan ahead and don’t rush for last minute rentals
Always have the rental insurance.,
Always check the gear before moving it off the premises
always ensure that the gear is signed off before you leave the premises even if it means staying back a few hours.

I have rented from Du-​All many times, and feel compelled to supply a review following the first one posted here. It would be a shame for someone to pass on contacting them based on this review alone. The reviewer seems justifiably angry about a bad set experience. I empathize. Anyone who works in the industry knows that sometimes equipment doesn’t work. However, it’s not always the fault of the rental house when something like this happens. Also — it’s good practice to not only test/​check any piece of equipment (rented or otherwise) before a shoot, but also to research the exact model you are renting so that you are familiar with its operations and capabilities. Most hard-​working, reasonable people know this.
My experience with Du-​All has been entirely positive. The staff proved helpful and patient and willing to converse at times when I didn’t have a good grasp of how to use a particular piece of equipment. But maybe that’s because I’m nice, and respectful, and take responsibility for my own projects as well as the difficulties that always pop up when shooting something — especially with a «last minute» project.
While I obviously wasn’t in the room and don’t completely excuse the behavior *if* it’s a valid claim… if a staff member illustrated «a bad attitude» maybe it was because the previous reviewer walked in angry and looking for a fight. Which he then took to the internet, instead of actually dealing with the situation in a mature way.
I would recommend contacting Du-​All if you’re looking for reasonable prices and good service. No business is perfect, however the staff and ownership at this rental house has always been helpful and attentive when I have worked with them — which is many more times than once.

I’ve worked on productions that rented from here before and the equipment never seemed that well taken care of, but this was my first experience renting there myself. I chose them because it was a last minute rental and they happened to be the closest to pick up from and another place I called didnt have any wireless lavs left. The wireless lav mic they rented to me was incredibly old, had no scan function (a real dealbreaker especially in NYC), and used the now illegal wireless 700mhz+ range. I complained about this when I returned the product and they pretended to be ignorant of the issue and didnt even pretend to offer me a refund even though i was not able to use the item. Their employee’s bad attitude along with the 30+ minute line I had to wait in makes this place a no-​go for future business. Throw in the fact that their equipment is unreliable and ancient and there is no real reason to go here ever.