What Field Camera Training Costs and What Moves the Price

Start with what you are paying for

People often ask me what a field camera course costs before they ask what it covers, and that is a fair order to work in. Field Camera Techniques is taught in small groups, partly in the classroom and partly outdoors, and the fee pays for tutor time, the kit you handle, the rooms we use and the notes you take away. It does not pay for a certificate with a grand title, because we do not sell one.

Daniel Pryce, our senior camera tutor, leads the sessions. Each one covers framing, exposure, audio and handheld stability for news shoots, and the fee is set per programme rather than per hour, so you can see the whole sum before you commit. I am Tom Ashworth, the student coordinator, and I answer pricing questions by email or phone so nobody has to guess.

The main things that move the price

Three things do most of the work. The first is the length of the programme: a single practical day costs less than a run of weekly evenings, simply because there is less tutor time and less kit use. The second is group size. We keep classes small so everyone gets a turn on the camera, and a private or paired session costs more per person than a seat in a shared group.

The third is the setting. Classroom work is the cheapest to run. Outdoor sessions need more planning, a second tutor on some days and a wet-weather plan in the colder months. None of this is hidden: when you ask for a quotation, it is broken down by those headings so you can see where each pound goes.

• Programme length and number of sessions
• Shared group, pair or one-to-one
• Amount of outdoor work against classroom work
• Whether you bring your own camera or use ours

Using your own camera or ours

Many students arrive with a camera of their own, and many do not. If you have one, bring it, because learning on the machine you will actually carry is worth a great deal. We will still check your settings, your tripod and your microphone, and we will tell you plainly if something is holding your pictures back.

If you do not own a camera, you use ours during the sessions. That is built into the fee for the programme, so there is no separate hire charge to add at the end. The one thing to know is that supplied kit stays with us. If you want to practise between sessions, you will need access to something you can take home, and we can talk through sensible options at a range of budgets.

What is included and what is not

The fee covers the tutor's time, the use of our rooms and equipment, printed notes and access to the relevant items in the study library while you are enrolled. It covers the exercises we set during the sessions, and Daniel's feedback on the footage you shoot in them.

It does not cover travel to Taunton, meals, or media cards and batteries you want to keep. It does not cover footage you shoot on your own time and ask us to review beyond the programme, unless we agree that in writing first. Those limits are stated in the quotation, so the number you are given is the number you pay, apart from anything you have knowingly added.

• Included: tutor time, rooms, supplied kit, notes, library access
• Not included: travel, meals, personal media and batteries

How ordering and payment work

Nothing is bought on this website. You send an enquiry through the contact page, tell us which programme interests you and roughly what experience you have, and I reply with a written quotation or confirmation. If you accept it, we send an invoice, which you pay by bank transfer.

Cancellations and refunds follow the payment and refund policy, which is written in plain language and worth reading before you accept anything. We do not run countdowns, we do not add pressure, and we do not promise any outcome from a programme. You get the teaching, the practice and honest feedback, and what you do with them is up to you.

Questions worth asking before you enquire

A short list of questions saves time on both sides. Ask yourself how much of the work you want outdoors, whether you prefer a shared group or private attention, and whether you will use our camera or yours. Think about how many weeks you can realistically attend, because a programme you cannot finish is the most expensive kind.

Then write to us with those answers. The quotation we send back will reflect them, and if the first version is more than you want to spend, we can usually suggest a shorter or shared route that keeps the practical core. The point of asking is that you decide with the figures in front of you, not after the first session.