Assistant Camera (AC) - You do What?

Assistant Camera, AC
Non-Union, Union
Daily rate: $250-$300

Disclaimer: these posts are written from my experience and are not meant to be authoritative and are written with reality TV in mind.

ACs on reality TV do very little. I know that might sound offensive but it's true. Their job duties are as follows:
Cleaning lenses
Labeling tapes
Mounting different lenses on the camera
Setting up sticks (tripod)
Setting timecode on cameras
Charging and replacing batteries

While I probably left out a few things, that is the gist of it. It's really easy and you get paid a nice amount to do it. The great thing is that you get to work with the camera operators and at some point in a pinch probably get to run camera.

ACs in dramatic productions do a whole lot more and probably make more (I really have no idea). These ACs duties are as follows:
Measuring distances from the lens to the subject
Loading the film cassettes (not an easy task. It's done by hand inside a black bag entirely by feeling)
Marking and pulling focus - A delicate skill
And all the things in the first list as well.

The reason I say that being a reality AC is easy, is that generally once you have do your duty, there is nothing to do except follow the camera op around. ACs on dramatic productions are working throughout shooting and don't get as much time off.

This is just my observation, feel free to comment if I am wrong.