Blog / News VMI Bristol is 6 years old 1 April 2021 — by Gary Davis VMI Bristol celebrates six years since it was set up and in that time, Gary, Jon and the rest of the Bristol team have established it into a mainstream camera rental supplier for natural history and commercials/documentary productions in the South West. [Image: VMI Bristol camera floor, Matt Heath] Our mission remains the same as it was in 2015, which is to service the exacting needs of Bristol’s world class content creation community. After launching in a city centre location, we quickly moved into our own building and expanded to take on more staff. The ensuing success of VMI has meant that even the enforced industry shutdown of 2020 did not result in either VMI London, nor VMI Bristol shedding any staff. VMI Bristol includes a dedicated camera test room and lens projection and includes an equipment fleet tailor-made for the Bristol market. [Image: VMI Bristol Camera Test Room with Jon Noad] We keep our own stock of EF and PL cameras, lenses, lighting and grip as well as being able to access the entire range of equipment held at VMI in London. Bristol also stocks a fleet of Canon ME20 super low-light cameras and Phantom VEO super-slow-motion cameras plus a range of specialist lenses, suited to natural history filmmaking. Phantom VEO 4K 1000fps Canon ME20 4m ASA Black Arm Canon CN20 50-1000 Fuji 85-300 Cabrio DSMC2 Helium & Gemini Importantly, as we’ve grown alongside the surge in demand for blue chip documentaries fueled by international streaming platforms like Netflix and Apple TV+, we’ve not lost touch with the region’s creative community. When clients come to VMI Bristol, I feel proud that we are able to become part of the team helping to make the best quality production for screen and I know that our team really enjoy getting to know clients and being involved in the whole process, from order to fulfilment. Gary Davis, April 2021Branch Manager, VMI Bristol