What does it cost to rent a photo or film studio? How the price is built

"What does it cost?" is the first question, and the honest answer is: it depends on how the price is built, not on a single figure. An hourly rate of €40 is not the same as €150 if the first hour is weighted so heavily. A day rate of €500 means little until you know whether lights, cleaning, overtime and VAT are included. Below are the parts to look at, with amounts studios had public in November 2026. Always ask for the current rate on your date. Directory-wide figures are in how much it costs to rent a studio.

Hourly rate or half day?

Studios charge by the hour, half day or day, sometimes with a minimum. A short portrait can work on hours; a film crew with a set build almost never can. A half day is often four to five hours (a morning or afternoon); a day eight to ten. Those blocks are rarely identical, so compare the clock as well as the figure.

Published examples, as the studios themselves list them:

• Fotostudio EdoLand in Haarlem: Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 18:00 €35 an hour, €50 in the evening, at the weekend €55 in the day and €70 in the evening, with a 3-hour minimum.
• Guido fotografie in Zoetermeer: from €40 an hour, with a student discount.
• 33punt in Amersfoort: €45.33 an hour on weekdays (2-hour minimum), €55.33 in the evening and at the weekend, student rate €35.33 an hour on weekdays.
• PromotionStudios in Den Bosch: €65 an hour, 4-hour minimum.
• Studio Scheef in The Hague: 1 hour €150, 2 hours €250, 4 hours €325, 8 hours €495, 12 hours €695, including a basic lighting setup, a white backdrop, wifi, coffee and tea.
• Photostudio62 in Poeldijk: €195 for the first hour, then less; the site gives 4 hours for €420 and 8 hours for €720 as examples.

Half-day and day rates spread just as widely. Studio99m in Zwolle lists a 4-hour half day for €129. Fotostudio Leeuwarden lists a half day at €125 and a day at €200. Studio Big Time in Almere charges €300 for a half day (9:00-13:00 or 13:00-17:00), €500 for a full day (8:30-17:30) and €875 for a long day until 22:00. XYZ Studio A in Amsterdam charges €275 for 4 hours and €495 for 8; Studio B €450 and €750. Westerpark Studio lists studio rental from €575 a day, excluding electricity and cleaning. Epsilon Studios in Eindhoven charges 2 hours €399, 4 hours €699 and 8 hours €999, including equipment and assistance, and for business clients only.

These are not recommended prices and not a national average. They are public examples. The current lists of photo and film studios are at photo studios and film studios, and in search.

Setup, teardown and overtime

Load-in and wrap usually sit inside the booked time. If you arrive at nine and want to be ready at nine, you have already paid for that setup in the first hour. Ask whether you can get in earlier, and what that costs, or plan the build inside your block.

Overtime is a separate line. Studio Big Time lists overrun at €90 an hour, according to its contact page, if there is no booking after yours. XYZ Studio A charges €75 an hour overtime, Studio B €100. Mirage3D in The Hague charges overtime of €97.50 per half hour according to the house rules; the base rental there is per half day (5 hours) or full day (10 hours) and is not published as a fixed amount.

A lower day rate is therefore not automatically cheaper if you overrun by an hour. Build that rule into the plan.

Extras: lights, cyc painting, assistance

The bare room is rarely the whole bill. Ask what is included, and what is separate. More in what is included when you rent a studio. Studios that include lights are at studios with lighting included.

Lighting is the extra that most often changes the total. Make-up Matters in Utrecht (the same rate as the Hilversum and Amersfoort branches) charges €300 for a half day of up to 4 hours and €595 for a full day, plus a €45 surcharge for photography equipment or lamps. Studio s111 in Duivendrecht has two price lines: with equipment €125 an hour (2-hour minimum), €275 per 4 hours and €450 per 8 hours; without equipment €75, €225 and €395. The large cyc studio at Photostudio Rotterdam in Pijnacker lists all-in with lights at €350 for 4 hours and €640 for 8, and without their lamps €280 and €540. Westerpark Studio keeps lights, grip and cabling separate: they are there and available to rent on request, and the day rate excludes electricity and cleaning.

Whitening or repainting a cyc is almost never published as a fixed rate. What is public is damage: Mirage3D lists €200 if the green paint is damaged. Do not treat that as a standard whitening fee; ask the studio what a planned repaint costs and whether drying time sits inside your rental.

Assistance and crew are sometimes in a package and sometimes nowhere in the quote. Epsilon includes equipment and assistance in the rate. Desmet in Amsterdam offers a full package with crew and equipment as well as a bare room, with no public figure. If it is not online, ask whether you bring someone yourself or whether the studio can provide someone, and at what rate.

A weekend surcharge does occur. FORMFOLDS in Roermond lists 2 hours €110, 4 hours €200 and 8 hours €360, plus 25% at the weekend. EdoLand and 33punt use a higher evening and weekend rate, as above. People searching for studio hire often mean this same breakdown: the room, then the extras, then VAT.

Including or excluding VAT?

There is no nationwide rule for how studios quote, and that makes comparison harder. A few clear publications:

• Mirage3D states that all rates are in euros, excluding 21% VAT.
• Cameranu Fotostudio Rotterdam lists a half day at €250 and a day at €450, prices including VAT.
• Top III Studios in Almere lists €90 for the first hour, then €55 from 2 hours, €50 from 4 hours and €45 from 8 hours, all prices including 21% VAT.
• On many other Shootspace listings the note is: business excluding VAT, private individuals including VAT. That is the studio's own note, not a legal standard we fill in for them.

Studio Canvas in Amstelveen shows €395 for 4 hours and €595 for 8 hours on the rates page, as well as amounts labelled "Incl BTW". The VAT position is therefore not clear-cut there. In a case like that, ask for a quote with VAT written out.

In your enquiry, always say whether you are renting as a business or as a private individual, and ask for a price including and excluding 21% VAT. Then you are comparing like with like.

How do you compare two quotes?

Put side by side: duration (including setup and wrap), what is included (lights, backdrop, cleaning, power, coffee), overtime, weekend or evening, VAT, and any paint or damage costs. A day that looks expensive but includes lights and a long clock can be cheaper than a bare room plus lamps plus an hour of overtime. How to book more tightly within that frame is in saving money on studio rental.