Hi Sam,
I know what you mean about the digital imager (or something) thing. As you can see from the amount of replies on this subject we are not alone. The same thing happening when digital first hit with a lack of anyone knowing what to charge and now with the recession it's even worse. The clients make out like bandits during this time. As with digital still work, we need to have a sense of what we need to charge. For straight digital it's accepted to charge a raw capture fee, equipment usage fee, computer time fee and the day-rate or usage pulse expenses. With Video there are already fees that have been established by unions and independent film makers that are difficult to get one's hands on. The extra time for getting Video and stills done is one way of billing, but seems to me is undercutting the real value of the creative work. Just rendering the footage is bad enough never mind the editing and assembling of the final product. For now I will have to wing it and wait for the clients to turn blue when they get the estimate. Day-rate pulse, capture, rendering, editing, equipment usage and expenses. All the Video shooters rent everything, so why shouldn't we do the same.
Dennis