In their two years in business, Magnanimous Media has emerged as a lower-cost, scrappy South Side competitor in the Chicago camera rentals scene. Cofounder Craig Maltby says Magnanimous has “grown consistently,” with several significant camera acquisitions this.
In August, they will begin offering for rental two Blackmagic Design Cinema Cameras – true RAW image capture — with the latest technology.
“Blackmagic is competitive in price to DSLRs,” says Maltby. “It shoots 2.5K RAW to a hard drive. It has a built-in SSD recorder, LCD Touchscreen monitoring and metadata entry, and includes a DaVinci Resolve color correction package.”
The buzz among customers “is tremendous,” Maltby says.
“Everyone was totally surprised at this year’s NAB by the Blackmagic. It was not something anyone expected from Blackmagic Designs.”
In May, Maltby and partner Sean Patrick expanded their $500,000 inventory of cameras, audio and lighting equipment to include the Canon C300, RED Scarlet-X and the Sony FS700, which shoots 1080p at up to 240fps.
“These cameras really round out our digital cinema packages, and the Scarlet’s 4K capabilities bolster our cinematic capabilities,” says Maltby, who earlier had freelanced in various crew positions
“We are now capable of handling the needs of music videos, documentaries, smaller TV productions, and just about any indie film production.”
Maltby says the Canon 5D Mark II and Sony FS100 remain among their most popular cameras, while the C300 is the most in-demand of their new acquisitions.
Located at 2893 S. Archer in Bridgeport, Maltby says, “Some of our North Side customers have mentioned the distance they have to travel to get to us,” so they offer a $20 delivery within city limits, with rates based on distance for suburban destinations.
Rentals now include production space
Magnanimous recently opened a 1,000 sq. ft. sound-treated production space with 12-foot ceilings at 2233 W. Throop St., a mile north of their rental facility. So far, they’ve hosted a five-day RED Epic music video shoot by RadioEditAV, among other music videos, interviews, and basic set shoots.
The production space rents for $100/12 hours, which includes 60 amps, a small lighting package and a backdrop of the client’s choice and full production rental support is offered.
Maltby credits some of Magnanimous’ growth to their generous business hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m., seven days a week. “Our hours have helped us to gain a reputation as the go-to rental house for last-minute rentals,” Maltby says.
Fernando Avila is rental manager and Jonah Rubash, tech support.
Chicago, IL 60608
(708) 248-1127
