VMI – Taking Stock

It has been ten days since RD took over at VMI, and what a whirlwind it has been. A lot of people have got in touch with me across the industry, primarily asking me about my motivation for buying VMI and how I see it working with RD. Would I be changing the brand name? Would we be fully merging with the studios? What do we see as the future of the industry in the face of AI? Don’t all DOPs own their own equipment these days?

To answer these questions, I need to go back just over a decade.

I first encountered VMI back in 2013. I remember pulling up and being blown away by the size of the operation. People, cameras, and lenses all moving to and fro in a well-oiled machine. As I jumped back into a van and drove away with a RED camera (I think), I chatted with the rest of the crew. Everyone knew VMI, and everyone really respected the people and the equipment.

In there lies reason number 1 for buying VMI. It has an incredible brand that I genuinely think is known by almost everyone in the world of film, television and commercials. There aren’t many family-run businesses in the creative industries that have survived for 50 years. Through the Bassett family ownership, VMI has become embedded in the minds. That’s no easy task in an industry where businesses are born, burn brightly for a year or so, and then disappear over the horizon, with a disturbing amount of regularity. A reputation like VMIs has been built on its people, their hard work and their diligence. In Barry, Ian, Kevin, Stuart, Michael and Mike, VMI had people who worked extremely hard (through many ups and downs) and, more importantly, cared passionately about their clients. That brand identity of caring passionately about the DOPs, 1st ACs, and Line Producers is shared at RD Studios and is something I intend to build upon with VMI over the coming months and years.

I believe that whilst AI is going to have a seismic impact on all businesses, I don’t believe that the act of making a film or a commercial or a TV show will be killed off because of it. People will continue to want to watch real actors in shows that have been filmed for real. Just because a show can be made entirely on green screen, we haven’t seen a complete collapse in studio sets being built, or people going out on location and shooting for real. Some of the joy in watching a show is the understanding that humans set out with an aim of making something.

Whilst brand and people are the cornerstone of VMI, the thing that blew me away most when I sat down with the management team to review VMI was actually the fleet of equipment that it holds It is truly an incredible array of equipment, and I think many people don’t realise just how deep our fleet is. We can manage around 6 dramas running concurrently. There is more below about our equipment

It’s an incredible, extensive list of equipment that really does stand our rental business apart. We have one of the largest camera and lens fleets in Europe, with a total value approaching £12mn

Let’s start with cameras:

ARRI

VMI owns the full ARRI line: Amira, Alexa Mini 4:3, Mini LF and Alexa 35.

The Alexa 35 has rapidly become the cinematic benchmark camera for UK and European, dominating the recent award-winning categories for film (Hamnet, Train Dreams) and being used for television shows like Apple’s ‘The Studio’. The Mini LF is also still the go to choice for many DOPs, it’s the body Roger Deakins shot 1917 on and was used by Greig Fraser on both Dune films. 

I have also been surprised at how resilient demand is for our four original Alexa Minis and our six Arri Amiras, both of which offer the fantastic Arri look at a very competitive price point. For any aspiring documentary, corporate or short film maker, these are still a fantastic option that will give you outstanding cinematic results.

SONY

We stock multiple VENICE and VENICE II bodies. The dual ISO is a huge driver of demand for the Venice cameras, and their low-light performance and the Sony codec are well-received for post-production workflows.

 Roberto Schaefer used VMI Venice on Creation Stories, Rodrigo Prieto used it for the night exteriors on Killers of the Flower Moon and it was used on last year’s F1 movie. Adriano Goldman shot seasons of The Crown on VENICE. The cockpit and aerial work on Top Gun: Maverick, the benchmark for compact camera rigging on a major feature, was achieved with Sony VENICE and the Rialto extension system. So if you’re a production that needs multi-cam VENICE then let us know.

We also own a deep and wide range of the entire Sony fleet. We have the Sony FX3, FX6, FX9, alongside a large number plus a deep run of A7S camera along with wildlife camera traps. 

Worth knowing: Gareth Edwards’ The Creator was shot almost entirely on a Sony FX3 with a 75mm Kowa (see below), with the FX9 used for studio work. Proof of how far this form factor can hold its own on the biggest screen.

RED

Now owned by Nikon, the RED camera range remains popular among a large number of DOPs, and at VMI we stock a wide range of their cameras. For any operator who wants to come and run some tests, looking at how the different RED cameras perform we are very happy to oblige.

We stock the DSMC3 V-Raptor 8K, V-Raptor RHINO, KOMODO, GEMINI and KOMODO-X, plus DSMC2 Helium 8K. As an example of the RED being used on major productions you will see the quality of the output in Jacques Jouffret, ASC, work on American Primeval.

Canon

We own a range of Canon C500 II, C300 III, C70.  Fantastic cameras that are regularly preferred by DOPs, primarily because of the colour science. We see these cameras widely used across UK factual output for BBC and Channel 4 and are a preferred camera for streamers due to achieving all of the streamers specifications. Our cameras are setup to full production spec with expansion units and OLED viewfinders, 

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High-speed

One of our great specialisms is our offering in the high-speed space. In fact, we are probably the largest provider of high speed cameras in the UK.

We stock Five Freefly Ember S5K bodies. The Ember is the new generation of compact high-speed cinema camera, shooting up to 800fps at 5K in a body small enough to live on a gimbal or a drone. With five of them we can multi-camera high-speed sequences, run them as crash-cams, or rig them where a Phantom physically won’t fit. 

We also stock  Vision Research Phantom VEO-4K bodies. The Phantom is the flagship high-speed cinema camera, and the VEO-4K shoots up to 1000fps at 4K. Phantom is the camera behind almost every premium high-speed sequence in modern feature work and advertising. Owning three is rare anywhere outside dedicated high-speed houses. The Phantom offers a huge amount of latitude in the codec and is sometimes preferred when post production requirements allow (along with budget allowing for it).

Between the Phantoms and the Embers, we own one of the deepest high-speed packages in the UK. Sport, advertising, music video, fashion, science factual — anything that needs to slow time down has a route through us now.

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The bit that really got me excited about taking over  VMI is the incredible list of lenses that they own which I have now combined with the RD Rental lens list.

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ARRI Signature Primes

Two full sets of ARRI Signature primes are available across the group. 18, 25, 29, 35, 40, 47, 58, 75, 125, 150mm. All T1.8.

These are the lenses behind 1917, Longlegs and Bridgerton. By owning two full sets, we can provide for any multi-cam drama setup or alternatively for commercials that demand a premium look.

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Cooke Anamorphic SF/i, 2x and 1.8x FF

Two full sets of Cooke Anamorphic lenses. The lenses behind Babylon, Vice, A Star Is Born and Yorgos Lanthimos’s Kinds of Kindness, Peaky Blinders. The lens series that has defined contemporary anamorphic cinema for the last decade.

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Cooke S4i Primes

Continuing our Cooke theme, we have sets from 12mm to 180mm. This is one of the most sought after lens sets, and is the lens films like The Grand Budapest Hotel and John Wick. The Cooke S4i are the standard prestige drama set for the past fifteen years, and you can see them used on television shows like Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The Last of Us, Euphoria and many more.

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Rehoused Original Cooke Panchros / Cooke Panchro Classics / Cooke FF Panchros / Cooke Mini S/4i set

We also have a wide range of Cooke Panchros. For any DOP who wants to review how the classic panchros compare with a rehoused original set, or wants to look at them alongside our other Cooke lenses VMI offers a fantastic testing opportunity We also stock a set of Cooke Minis; six lenses that give you the Cooke look at a budget level that works for smaller productions. Smaller and lighter than the full S4i set, designed for B-camera, Steadicam and gimbal use. Used widely as a B-camera package alongside full Cooke S4i sets across UK drama. Adam Lyons used the Full Frame Panchros and Arri Mini LF on DI Ray.

We also own the Cooke SP3s, which are perfect for the Ronin 4D or other e-mount systems. So any DOP who is considering using Cooke lenses should come over to VMI to test what setup works.

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Canon K35s

Canon K35s, The original Canon cineglass from the 1970s. One of the most sought-after sets that was famously used to shoot Alien in 1979 (unclear if it was our specific set but we’re saying it was). It’s a look that is unlike any other lens, and the set we stock has new TLS housing to ensure that they sit alongside modern focus pulling equipment. Used to shoot, Handmaid’s Tale, Normal People, The Crown and the Oscar nominated Perfect Days (2023) amongst others.

We also own a rare K35 zoom, a brilliant accompaniment to the full lens set (a 25-120mm).

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Zeiss Supreme Primes

Eleven focal lengths from 21mm to 135mm. All T1.5. Made by hand in Oberkochen, Germany.

The Supremes are the modern Zeiss benchmark. Large format coverage, very fast, gentle rather than clinical sharpness, beautiful skin tones, and small enough to live happily on a Steadicam or handheld rig.

The reputation comes from the work. Steven Meizler used Supreme Primes on The Queen’s Gambit, which won him an Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography. More recently, they were used on Apple TV’s Foundation by Tico Poulakakis, CSC.

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Zeiss Supreme Radiance

The Zeiss Supreme Radiances are a part of the same lens family, but with Zeiss’s T* blue coating. Purpose-built to give cinematographers controllable, repeatable blue flares with a slightly warmer overall colour rendition.

Under normal lighting they behave like standard Supremes. Aimed at a hard source they bloom into a controlled blue flare.

Rodrigo Prieto, cinematographer of The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon, shot the Radiance launch film “R&R” on this set and is a public advocate for them. James Kniest used them on Mike Flanagan’s The Midnight Club for Netflix.

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Sigma FF and S35 High Speed Primes and Zooms

A full set of Sigma FF High Speed primes from 14mm to 135mm, plus the Sigma S35 18-35mm and 50-100mm T2 zooms. The DP’s “fast and clean” everyday workhorse, used widely across commercials, music videos and indie features.

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Angenieux

We own eight Angenieux Optimo zooms across the group, including a rare 42-420mm Anamorphic. The gold standard cinema zoom and the premium offering in the Angenieux range. Used on the HBO show Succession by Patrick Capone. Rodrigo Prieto used the 24-290 on Killers of the Flower Moon. The Optimo class is standard issue across high-end episodic and feature work. There isn’t a serious DP who hasn’t put one on a camera.

We also own the Angenieux EZ Series The complete EZ set — EZ-1, EZ-2 and EZ-3. The EZs have become hugely popular over the last few years, primarily because they switch between native S35 and Full Frame with a quick mount change using the 1.5x Extender. One body of glass, two formats. Credits include Napoleon, Gladiator II, The Night Manager and Squid Game.

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Fujinon Premista FF zooms

The 28-100 . Used on House of the Dragon Season 1. Our flagship full-frame zoom. Also used on George Miller’s latest, Three Thousand Years of Longing, lensed by John Seale, AM, ACS, ASC

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The Big Canon zooms

Canon Cine-Servo PL zooms across the group. Multiple CN20x50, plus CN10x25 and CN7x17.

Servo zoom, iris and focus all controllable from the handgrip. What you need for live broadcast, multi-camera sports, entertainment and any factual job where you need to pull focus and zoom in shot. The CN20x50 is a 50-1000mm T5.0 zoom, more reach than most telescopes. Across the four units we own, this represents one of the deepest big-zoom packages in the UK.

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Atlas Orion Anamorphics

The Atlas Orion 2x Anamorphic primes deliver classic cinemascope character at a price point a working DP can actually justify. VMI offers two sets, Set A (40, 65, 100mm) and Set B (32, 50, 80mm).

Linus Sandgren chose them as the lead lens for Don’t Look Up and used a customized set for Babylon, paired with ARRICAM LTs on 35mm film, and has spoken publicly about their sharpness at T2 and their “crisp, clean blue streak flares.” Greig Fraser used them on The Batman. Larkin Seiple used them on Everything Everywhere All At Once. Robbie Ryan used them on Yorgos Lanthimos’s Kinds of Kindness. Plus serial credits on The Boys, Yellowjackets, Midnight Mass and American Gods, and Ariana Grande’s “thank u, next” music video.

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Atlas Mercury Anamorphics

A 1.5x full frame anamorphic set at half the size and weight of a Cooke or Master Anamorphic. Built so you can put anamorphic glass on a gimbal, drone, in a car interior or anywhere a 2x prime simply won’t fit.

Toby Joffin chose them for the warm-flared outdoor work on Jon Batiste’s “At Home” (a 2024 ASC Music Video Award nominee), mixed with Angénieux Optimo Primes and Zeiss Supreme Radiance.

A younger lens. Launched in 2022, so the feature CV is still being built. Our set was recently on BBC show ‘Death Valley’.

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Kowa Anamorphics

The Kowa 2x anamorphics. Originally built in Japan in the 1960s and 70s.

Tiny, light, full of character. Warm flares, swirly bokeh, edge softness.

Barry Jenkins used Kowas on Moonlight. Matthew Libatique used them on A Star Is Born. Linus Sandgren used them on First Man.

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Iron Glass rehoused Soviet primes

The Iron Glass MKIIs include rehoused Helios, MIR, Jupiter and Tair primes. A full set from 20mm to 135mm.

Swirly bokeh, rainbow flares, low contrast. The imperfections modern sensors remove.

Greig Fraser used rehoused Soviet glass on Dune: Part Two. Also seen on The Batman, The Creator and The Pope’s Exorcist.

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Scorpio FFA Anamorphic 2x — full set

Service Vision Scorpio Full Frame Anamorphic 2x. A complete eight-lens set from 25mm to 150mm. Clean modern anamorphic with classic characteristics.

Paul Cameron shot Reminiscence and 21 Bridges on VENICE plus Scorpio. Marc Spicer shot Creed III on the same combination.

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Blazar Remus and Blazar Cato

We also stock the Blazar Remus and Blazar Cato. The Blazar Remus 1.5x are full frame anamorphic primes. 720 grams each, designed specifically to mount on compact systems including the DJI Ronin 4D. Plus the Blazar Cato 2x set (40, 55, 85, 125mm) — a super-compact, full frame anamorphic option at a budget price point. The Catos aren’t built for the 4D, but they sit happily on the larger gimbals and give productions a route into the 2x anamorphic look without the rig footprint of a Cooke or Hawk Anamorphic set.

Anamorphic in a backpack. One operator can carry the look to wherever the brief needs it. Short-form commercials, music videos, run-and-gun branded content, POV work, drone-mount cinematography. Anywhere we previously couldn’t justify the rig footprint for proper anamorphic, we can now.

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Specialist glass

Laowa 24mm probe lens, used on Chef’s Table and Squid Game. Plus the Laowa Pro2be 24mm T8 2x anamorphic probe set.

Nelsonian MikroMak probe lenses. Eight-lens microscope-derived prime kit delivering up to 6x macro with extreme depth of field. The kind of glass you reach for on natural history, beauty and food and drink work where you need to get microscopically close. Genuinely rare in the UK rental market. Check out this link to see how closeup you can get

ARRI Macro 100mm, plus full Zeiss Distagon stills primes (21, 35, 50, 85mm) for hybrid stills/motion work, and the Thypoch Simera-C set for compact mirrorless rigs.

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Drones, gimbals and FPV

We also stock multiple DJI Ronin 4D-6K/8K bodies with Zenmuse X9 and a full lens module set. DJI Inspire 2, Inspire 1 and Mavic 3 Pro Cine drones. Mavic Avata 2 FPV. DJI Ronin 2, RS 3 Pro, RS 4 Pro and Ronin-S gimbals.

The complete spec for any project that needs aerial, FPV or gimbal work without sourcing externally.

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Grip and support

Ronford-Baker, Sachtler and O’Connor ecosystem, including 2575 heads, the heads that have been the standard on major film productions for decades.

We stock three Super Falcon IIs – the Italian answer to the PeeWee and Fisher, with hydraulic lift control. That puts the top end of dolly work in-house, alongside our wider stock of dollies, sliders, jibs and Easyrigs in serious depth.

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Lighting

It’s also worth saying that we have significantly increased VMIs’ lighting stock with a partnership with RD Rentals and Lee Lighting.

At the top of the range, we hold the Nanlux 2400B — the largest LED in our inventory — alongside the Nanlux Fresnel FL-35E, the new Aputure 80C with its CF4 Fresnel attachment, and the ARRI Orbiter.

Through our collaboration with Lee Lighting we add the ARRI SkyPanel S360, Creamsource Vortex 8s, and the new Aputure 1200x, 700x and 400x to the offer.

On the HMI side, we now hold the 18kW CMC Silver Bullet, supported by Long John Silver and Long John Silver Junior stands. For any requirement for a serious daylight interior or large exterior build we can now supply it.

Around all of that sits the working inventory: Aputure 1200d COB, Litegear LiteMat 4 Hybrid, Litepanels Gemini, Astera Titan tubes, Nanlux Evoke 1200B, Dedo DLED7, ARRI M18, plus a deep HMI/MSR daylight stock.

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VMI is here to support the world of drama, television, documentary and commercial filmmaking. That mission is now supported by having direct access to RD Studios, less than five minutes away.

We will support producers and DOPs from the very first conversation through to the final day of the shoot. Whether that’s a multi-camera drama needing six concurrent Alexa 35 packages, a commercial that wants to test three anamorphic sets back-to-back before locking the look, a natural history team that needs probe lenses and high-speed in the same kit truck, or a documentary crew that wants a Canon C300 III rigged and ready by Friday — we want to be the first call.

Whether you are a young film-maker producing your first short film or commercial, or an experienced DOP going on to a 3 month feature film. At VMI, you will always be looked after and will have access to the very best equipment.

What’s changed is the scale of what one phone call to us unlocks. Cameras, lenses, grip, lighting, wireless, drones, gimbals — and soundstages five minutes down the road for prep, tests, motion control, green screen or the shoot itself. Crews can prepare at VMI in the morning, shoot at RD Studios in the afternoon, and have the kit back ten minutes later. That’s a workflow we’ve not been able to offer before, and one that very few in the UK can match.

For the DOPs, 1st ACs and Line Producers who have trusted VMI for years: nothing about that relationship changes. The same people are picking up the phone. The same care goes into every prep. The same diligence goes into every order out of the door. What changes is the depth of what we can say yes to.

For the directors, producers and agencies who have worked with RD Studios: you now have one of the deepest camera and lens fleets in Europe sitting alongside the stage you already know.

And for everyone who has watched VMI for fifty years and wondered what the next chapter looks like, this is it. Same brand. Same people. Bigger ambition. More kit. Studios and Production Offices.

If you’ve got a project on the horizon, bring it to us early. The earlier we are in the conversation, the more we can accomplish together.

Ryan