Gear rental · Fountain Hills, Arizona
Camera and night-shoot rentals in Fountain Hills
Fountain Hills is fifty minutes east, out the Beeline Highway past Scottsdale and into the McDowells, and it has two things nowhere else in the Valley has. A fountain that fires for fifteen minutes at the top of every hour, around 300 feet most days and 560 feet with all three pumps running, which every production wants and every production has to time. And an International Dark Sky Community designation, which makes the night sky over town a location in its own right.
~50 mindrive time
39 miroad miles
From Fountain Park via the Beeline Highway (SR 87) and the Loop 202.
Route data © OpenStreetMap contributors
Shooting in Fountain Hills
Timed to the fountain, built for the dark.
Fountain Hills orders are timed and dark. Two bodies to cover the fountain from two angles in one firing, and high-ISO cinema bodies with T2.1 glass for the astro and night work that a town without streetlight glare makes possible.
The fountain, fifteen minutes an hour
It fires on the hour for fifteen minutes, higher on holidays, and the light is different every hour. Crews cover it with two bodies, one wide from the Avenue of the Fountains and one long from across the lake, and a drone only where the rules allow: town code keeps drones out of Fountain Park. Miss a firing and you wait an hour, so the kit has to be ready before the first one.
Dark skies over Fountain Park
Fountain Hills is a certified International Dark Sky Community, but the town's preserve trailheads, Adero Canyon included, close at sunset, and McDowell Mountain Regional Park closes its gate at 8pm in winter and 9pm in summer. The town's visitor guide points stargazers to the east side of Fountain Park, open until 11pm. The A7S III or FX3 with the Vespid 16mm at T2.8 or the 21mm at T2.1, a sturdy tripod, and batteries that will last a cold desert night.
We-Ko-Pa, the resort and the town's events
The We-Ko-Pa golf courses and resort on the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, the Fountain Festival of Fine Arts and Crafts along the Avenue each November and February, and the town's concerts at Fountain Park book hospitality films and event coverage. A gimbal, wireless lavs, a broadcast monitor and comms, delivered up Shea before the load-in.
Where productions work in Fountain Hills
From the Avenue of the Fountains to the McDowells.
Tell the counter whether the crew sets up on the Avenue, at a golf community or across the lake, and the delivery window is built around the firing you need.
- FireRock
- Eagle Mountain
- SunRidge Canyon
- Adero Canyon
- CopperWynd
- Golden Eagle Estates
- Crestview
- Avenue of the Fountains
Locations worth building a shot around
- Fountain Park and the 560 ft fountain
- Avenue of the Fountains and its public art walk
- Adero Canyon Trailhead in the McDowell Mountain Preserve
- McDowell Mountain Regional Park
- We-Ko-Pa Golf Club on the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation
- Golden Eagle Park
The kit Fountain Hills shoots pull
The Fountain Hills dark-sky kit
Sony A7S III and FX3 for the high second base ISO, the Vespid 16mm at T2.8 and 21mm at T2.1 for the sky and the 125mm for the fountain from across the lake, a DJI RS 3 Pro, the DJI Air 2S for the fountain plate where permitted, both NP-FZ100 packs and four V-mount packs for a cold night, a 17.3-inch monitor for the second angle, and a PavoTube set to paint the foreground.
From these shelves
Same building: Influence Studios
Rent the gear. Book the stage. One roof.
The counter shares a nearly 10,000 sq ft building with Influence Studios: a 2,000 sq ft cyc wall, a 30 by 10 ft LED volume wall, a podcast suite and 16 standing sets across 9 studios, bookable by the hour from $49/hr. Studio time includes lighting and audio; cameras come from this shelf.
Good to know
Fountain Hills questions, answered.
The fountain fires at the top of every hour, from 9am to 9pm, for about fifteen minutes, and taller on holidays. Set both cameras before the hour, roll thirty seconds early, and use the forty-five minutes between firings to move angles. Wind can shut it down, so keep a second setup in the plan.
A high-ISO body (A7S III or FX3), the widest and fastest lens on the shelf (Vespid 16mm at T2.8 or 21mm at T2.1), a solid tripod, and far more battery than a day shoot: cold desert nights drain packs fast. Fountain Hills' dark-sky lighting rules keep the town's own glow down, but the metro sits to the west and southwest, so frame away from it.
Fountain Park is a town park, and town code bars model and unmanned aircraft from town parks except a posted area of Desert Vista Park, so nothing launches beside the lake. Talk to the town before any fountain flight and keep clear of the plume, which is a hazard to a drone at altitude. McDowell Mountain Regional Park is a Maricopa County park, so commercial use there needs a county Special Use Permit. The airspace itself is mostly uncontrolled out here.
Reserve tonight for the next Fountain Hills firing.
Live availability for your dates. Pick up at the Glendale counter or have it delivered to set.