San Francisco Photo Studio Rental
San Francisco Photo Studio Rental
Photo Studio Rental
Flash Studio is a professional photography rental studio located near SFO between San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Our spacious 5400 sq ft studio features a 40' white cyc wall, beautiful natural light, a fully equipped kitchen and an extensive in-house equipment rental department.
Clients we have hosted
Studio Features
Cyc Wall + Open Space
5400sf Studio
5400 sq ft Studio
Our 5400 square foot studio can accommodate most productions with 4000 sf of open production space, a 40’ x 22’ cyclorama, and a minimum height clearance of 16.5' (with 18'+ of clearance in most of the studio).
Load-In
Load-in and Load-out couldn't be easier with our street-level 14' wide roll-up door. You can back a grip or prop truck right into the studio, then park all day in front of the roll-up door.
Power
We have 200A of 3-Phase power dedicated for production equipment separate from our house power. This is served by 3x 100A Bates connectors and supplied Edison lunchboxes, or via our 3-Phase Cam-lock panel.
Location
We are located just off of highway 101 on the peninsula between San Francisco and SFO — about 15 minutes south of the city and 5 minutes north of the airport. Convenient for locals and remote clients alike.
Parking
Forget San Francisco parking tickets or having your crew play musical cars. We have 7 reserved parking spaces, but can accommodate up to 11 with creative use of the loading area in front of the roll-up door.
Makeup + Changing
Hair + Makeup
Hair, Makeup, & Changing
We have 3 hair and makeup stations, each with its own backlit mirror, power outlets, and salon style adjustable chair; plus 2 full size changing rooms with benches, mirrors, and a spot to stage wardrobe options.
Amenities
We know entertaining your clients is important, so we’ve set up our studio with a professional espresso and cappuccino machine, gigabit internet, and an air-play sound system.
Conference + Lounge
Client Lounge
Client Lounge
Located at the back of the shooting area, our lounge and conference area keeps your clients comfortable and close to the action. There’s room for 14, and the conference table doubles as a ping pong table.
Phone Room
Next to the conference table, our phone room is a quiet place to take calls or meetings, equipped with sound dampening acoustic tiles, a counter-height desk, outlets, and a hard-wired gigabit fiber connection.
Tunable House Lights
Color Tunable House Lights
Tunable Lights
Color Tunable House Lights
Color Tunable House Lights
All of our house-lights are both dimmable and color tunable. With presets for 5600°K and 3200°K and any temperature in between, you can match the house-lights to your equipment and even use them as fill.
Natural Light
We have large north facing windows for you to shoot with, or if you prefer to shoot with strobes, our powered blackout shades will kill that natural light with the push of a button. Have the best of both worlds.
Rental Equipment
We have an extensive catalog of lighting, grip, camera, DIT, and production equipment available for rent. Whether you’re local or from out of town, we have everything you need, from sand bags to Phase One kits.
New Full Size Kitchen
Our studio features a full size production kitchen. Whether you're looking for a kitchen to use as a set, or as a full scale prep kitchen to style dishes, we've got everything you need. Our kitchen features a 36" induction range with oven, a second 30" oven, toaster oven, microwave, 2-burner hot plate, and a commercial refrigerator and freezer. We have the kitchen fully stocked with utensils, mixers, pots and pans, blenders, knives, whisks, graters, and tons of other tools and props to use on your production.
Studio Rental Prices
Our studio rates are based on production size. This allows flexibility to support productions large and small. If you're running a small production with small budget, you aren't priced out of our space. While a larger production with more people and an increased footprint has a higher rate.
- Up to 5 People
- 10hr Day 8AM-6PM
- Overtime: $180/hr
- +$300 for fresh white cyc
- Up to 15 People
- 10hr Day 8AM-6PM
- Overtime: $240/hr
- +$300 for fresh white cyc
- Over 15 People
- 10hr Day 8AM-6PM
- Overtime: $330/hr
- +$300 for fresh white cyc
Production size is based on ALL people entering the studio throughout your shoot including production crew, clients, talent, guests, etc regardless of how long they are on site.
The cyc will always be white, but may have some footprints, tire marks, etc. We can put a fresh coat of white paint on the cyc floor ahead of your shoot for an additional $300.
Frequently asked questions
Below are some of the most common questions we get about our studio, equipment, booking process, etc. Click on a question to find out everything you need to know about renting our studio and equipment.
-
How do I reserve the studio?
First, please check the calendar below to see if the studio is available on the date you would like to reserve. If the calendar does not say “BOOKED” on that date(s), please contact us to book the studio or place a hold. If there is already a first hold on the date(s), you may place a second hold or challenge the first hold.
Placing a first hold on a date(s) costs nothing and gives you the option to confirm your booking before the date is given away to anyone else. If your hold is challenged, you will have 24 hours to either confirm your rental or release your hold. Upon confirming your rental you will be required to sign our rental contract and pay a 50% deposit. Likewise, if you challenge an existing hold and the other party releases the date, you thereby confirm your rental and are required to sign our rental contract and pay a 50% deposit.
All holds must be confirmed and accompanied by a signed contract and deposit at least 7 days before any rental or they are automatically released.
Cancellations after confirming a rental or challenging an existing hold are subject to a 100% cancellation fee (the original 50% deposit as well as the remaining balance of the rental fee). However, we may refund a deposit in the event that the studio is rented to another party on the same date(s).
-
What’s load-in like?
We have a very easy load in through our 14' roll-up door that provides direct access into the studio. You can also park directly in front of the roll-up door all day.
-
Do I need to have insurance? What documents do you need?
Definitely. We require a certificate of insurance for any studio rental for both general liability and worker's comp insurance. We will need to be named as “additionally insured" and, if you plan to rent equipment, “loss payee” as well. Please see the link below for a PDF that specifies all of our insurance requirements. It may be helpful to provide this document to your insurance company to expedite the insurance certificate process.
-
When is the studio open, can I shoot early/late hours, weekends, etc?
All 10-hour shoot days begin at 8AM and end at 6PM. Overtime rates are posted above in our pricing section. To avoid overtime rates, all personnel must vacate the premises with all equipment and the studio must be returned to its pre-rental state by 6PM.
Early and late hours are allowed but must be approved in advance. Any studio use outside of the 8AM to 6PM window will be billed at appropriate overtime rates in addition to the studio rental fee.
The studio is available for rent on weekends. All weekend rentals will incur an additional $300 fee per day.
-
Are there discounts for shooting personal work, test shoots, weekly or 1/2 day rentals, etc?
We have just recently launched our new Test Shoots Program to help provide a more affordable option for the local creative community to improve and expand their craft. Please click here to learn more about that program. If you're working on a project that is a week or longer, we're definitely happy to discuss your budget and see what we can do to help meet your needs. We typically do not offer a reduced rate for 1/2 day rentals, but we can sometimes be flexible if we're within a few days of your dates and our studio is not on hold or otherwise booked.
-
Are there restrictions on what I can shoot and do there?
While we would like to give you full freedom to execute your creative vision in our studio, for your own safety, the safety of your crew, our staff, our equipment, and the studio itself, there are some restrictions to our studio rental.
Any activities that will generate unusual amounts of mess, require containment measures, or require higher than normal amounts of clean up must be approved in advance. Examples of these activities would be anything involving liquids, mud, dirt, confetti, glitter, powder bombs, smoke bombs, sand, fake snow, broken glass, fire, etc. We will stop your shoot and terminate your rental if you attempt any of these activities without prior permission and/or appropriate containment methods.
No painting or modification of any surface in the studio is allowed without prior written permission. No objects may be attached to any studio surface by screw, nail, glue, or other adhesive without prior permission (with the exception of gaffe, masking, paper, or painter’s tapes on the concrete floor).
The cyc is delicate and very time consuming and expensive to repair. Nothing may be attached to any portion of the cyc wall or cyc floor other than blue painter’s tape. All equipment and personnel must be kept clear of the curve of the cyc (36” from any wall of the cyc).
Our rental equipment must be paired with appropriate support equipment. For example, we will not rent a Broncolor Para 222 to be boomed on a C-stand. A more appropriate pairing would be one of our wind-up stands with a mega boom. If you are not booking one of our packages that include grip equipment, please plan and budget your rental lists accordingly.
-
Can you recommend a nearby caterer or other production resources?
Yes, please see our Production Resources page for all of our local recommendations. If you need any help sourcing other crew members (assistants, digital techs, stylists, etc) please give us a call, we'd be happy to recommend some folks for those roles as well.
Studio Floorplan
Rental Equipment
We have an extensive collection of lighting, grip, and camera equipment available for rent. Whether you want a single 6x6 silk to use with our natural window light, or 6 Profoto Pro-10 packs, 12 pro plus heads, a Broncolor Para 222, 18 C-Stands, 2 Mega Booms, a Profoto Telezoom, and a Phase One IQ4 150MP medium format system, we've got you covered.
Studio Availability
Our availability calendar is linked to our official booking calendar and shows the most up to date availability of our studio. This calendar is updated in real time and shows upcoming 1st holds, 2nd holds, confirmed bookings, and blackout dates. Once you are ready to place a hold, challenge an existing hold, or book the studio, please send us an email or give us a call.