Lens Distortion Grid Shoot: Cost & Time Calculator

Estimate the real cost and time of shooting lens distortion grids yourself — camera and lens rental, crew and post — and see how many ready-made presets that buys.

• Rental: stage or location, camera body and every lens you calibrate
• Crew: the people on set — camera assistant, electrician, DIT — billed by the hour
• Post: a matchmove artist building and cleaning each lens's distortion grid
• Time: grows with the lens count: more glass means more minutes on set and more hours in post

Shooting your own lens distortion grids for matchmoving and VFX means paying for camera and lens rental, an on-set crew and post time, and the clock runs the whole day. This free calculator estimates that real cost — in money and in hours — from typical 2026 market rates, then shows how many ready-made distortion grid presets the same spend would buy from the library.

Set the number of lenses, pick a production tier, and choose whether you shoot the grids as an add-on to an existing shoot (on overtime) or as a standalone session at full day rates. Open the advanced view to enter your own rates for any market and currency; every figure is editable and the estimate updates as you type.

Treat the result as a planning figure, not a bid — real quotes move with country, studio and season. The point is an honest order of magnitude, so you can compare shooting lens distortion grids yourself against buying calibrated presets ready-made: consistent every time, with no crew, rentals or reshoots.