The SOC Equipment Room, also known as the Cage, serves the equipment needs of SOC production courses. You can find us at the lower-level of the Media Production Center in room G12. 

Every piece of equipment is fully inspected between loans. The teal seal identifies when the equipment was inspected and by whom. Any equipment difficulties occurring during Cage hours should be reported immediately at 202-885-2020.

Determined by course enrollment, available gear may include:

• News gathering video and audio kits
• Backpack journalism gear
• 4K and HD video cameras
• 16mm film cameras
• Lighting, grip, and electric gear
• Dolly, slider, and jib kits
• Wired and wireless sound packages

Best Practices

These eight guidelines can help make your interactions with the Equipment Room pleasant, efficient and effective:

1. Always have your student I.D. It's the only way we can access your student account to check equipment out to you, and if we are experiencing technical difficulties, it may be the only way we can check in your equipment or make changes to your account or check-in time.
2. Pre-production planning: make sure you pick the days to shoot when you will make the best use of the equipment. Everyone plans to shoot on the weekend, and therefore equipment supplies are scarce. Take this into account when planning your shoots.
3. Make reservations early and often. Reservations cannot be made over the phone and should be made using Connect2. Make sure to honor your reservation - if you have not picked up your equipment on the day you signed up for, your reservation becomes void and the equipment may be loaned to someone else.
4. Have a list. Making sure that you know everything you need before you come into the room not only helps us to expedite your order, but can also help avoid missing necessary items once you are in the field.
5. Call immediately if there are problems. If you do get into the field and realize something is missing or broken, contact us immediately; if we are closed, please leave a voicemail--Geoff checks them daily! If you wait a week to report damages, you may be held liable for them.
6. Call if you are going to be late. With each check-out we will give you a receipt with your return date and time as well as our phone number. If you don't think you can make it before you are due back call us BEFORE your deadline for an extension. If you call after your deadline, a late fee will be assessed for the time between your deadline and the time you contact us.
7. Resolve late fines quickly. If you are late or lose an item, it is best to resolve the matter financially as soon as possible. You have 72 hours to resolve any fines before a stop is placed on your student account.

Equipment Usage

You can find manuals and operating guides for our equipment in the SOC Equipment Room Library.