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Devon comes up in shoot conversations mainly as a location — coast, moorland, the usual. Studio hire in the south-west almost always defaults to Bristol, an hour and a bit up the M5. But Exeter has a handful of spaces worth knowing about, and one of them is a properly surprising value for the brief it suits.

I've shot in Devon for regional clients twice in the past eighteen months, and both times I checked Exeter's options before deciding whether Bristol was actually necessary. Here's what's there.

The Exeter Studio, Marsh Barton

Marsh Barton is an industrial estate south of Exeter city centre — not picturesque, entirely functional, easy to park a van at. The Exeter Studio here is set up as a dry-hire commercial space: infinity cove, studio lighting included in the hire, coloured backdrop options. It's genuinely production-ready in a way that a lot of photographer-run studios aren't. By which I mean: the gear is well-maintained, the cove is clean, and there's enough space for a proper working crew rather than just one photographer and a subject.

For brands based in Devon that need professional stills and video in the same session — product launches, HR and recruitment content, annual report imagery — this is the obvious choice in the city. The included lighting means you can arrive, assess, and build from what's there rather than unloading a full kit van before you've even decided where to put the key light.

PhotoLux: the light tunnel

PhotoLux is the one that made me stop and look twice. They describe it as Devon's first indoor light tunnel, and it's set up specifically for automotive, product and modelling work. The geometry of a light tunnel — long, narrow, light source at one or both ends — creates a specular reflection environment that makes car bodywork look like a million pounds in product shots. It also works for beauty and cosmetic product photography where you want that stretched-light quality in reflective surfaces.

I haven't used it for a car shoot myself yet — I haven't had that brief land in Devon — but for the right commission, this is a reason to consider Exeter over Plymouth or Bristol rather than assuming it's the compromise choice.

Combe Hill Photography Studio, Honiton

This one's not strictly Exeter. Honiton is about twenty miles east on the A30, forty minutes from Exeter city centre. But if you're shooting for a client based in east Devon or you don't need to be in the city specifically, it's worth knowing about because the rates are exceptional.

The space is ten by six metres with a 3.4-metre ceiling — that's 60 square metres of shooting floor, which is more than most mid-size studios in London that charge three times the price. Day hire runs at £160 for eight hours, with extensions available at £20 per additional hour. There's a fully equipped shooting space and the rural setting offers an interesting secondary location option on the surrounding land if the brief allows for it.

For portrait days, small-product shoots, headshot days for a local client, or any brief that doesn't require a cyclorama — this is genuinely remarkable value. The trade-off is location: Honiton isn't easy to reach by public transport and the studio assumes you'll be driving. But if you're coordinating your own crew and bringing your own kit, the saving over a comparable spec in Bristol is real.

What Exeter doesn't have

A large cyclorama. The biggest usable spaces I know of in Exeter are in the sixty to eighty square metre range, which rules out car photography, large furniture campaigns, or anything needing a genuine cyc with proper depth. For those briefs, Bristol is the honest answer — or further east into Hampshire.

There's also no dedicated blackout film studio in the city, as far as I've found. Video production that needs full light control — no daylight windows, blackout curtains, the full setup — means Bristol or beyond.

Getting to Exeter

Exeter's on the M5 and has a mainline rail connection that reaches London Paddington in about two hours. Marsh Barton industrial estate is straightforward by car and has reasonable parking. Honiton is A30-accessible from the M5 but is not a train-to-taxi journey worth making.

For London-based productions doing a Devon shoot, the honest question is whether the client is local enough to justify Exeter over Bristol. If the client is in Exeter or east Devon, and if the brief fits the available spaces, there's a real saving to be made. If the brief needs a larger studio or a larger talent pool, Bristol earns its extra hour's drive.

My honest recommendation

For a tight commercial brief — say, eight to ten product hero shots and a short behind-the-scenes video — The Exeter Studio at Marsh Barton handles it well. For a portrait day or lifestyle shoot with a client that's based outside the city: look at Combe Hill. For automotive or beauty specular product work: PhotoLux is a genuinely unusual option for this part of the country.

And if none of those fit the brief, drive to Bristol. It's not that far and the studio market there is considerably deeper.

Search studios in Exeter, Devon and across the south-west at Creative Studio Hire. Location filters make it easy to compare what's available in each city before you start calling.

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