Renting Lenses
It’s really hard to have every lens you ever want to shoot with in your bag. Maybe after years of building up a collection, you might have almost every lens you want, but then again, when you want to use a tilt-shift lens or a super long 400mm lens that you don’t own for that one project, what do you do? Or, maybe you’re considering getting that 85mm lens, but playing with it at the camera store just isn’t enough to decide whether it’s perfect for you. One answer is to rent.
For quite a long time, renting was really only an option for those of us that happen to live near well-equipped camera stores, like Portland’s Pro Photo Supply or Calumet in San Francisco and a few other large cities. I’ve rented lenses from both Pro Photo Supply and Calumet, and aside from the occasional gruff camera store employee (especially at Calumet), it’s always worked out well. Most people, however, don’t have such a store within reach. And even if you do, the rental fees at some of these stores may be a bit more than you want to pay.
Luckily, the Internet has a solution for this. All sorts of places have sprung up online to fill the needs of photographers who want to rent a lens. Among them are Borrowlenses.com, Rentglass.com, LensRentals.com, Rentmylenses.com, CameraLensRentals.com, LensProToGo, and PhotoLensRental.com. All of them follow the model of you order, they ship, you shoot, and then you return back.
For the recent Web 2.0 Summit shoot with my new Nikon kit that I’m building up, I needed to pick up a 70-200 lens to complement the 14-24 and 24-70 that I have in my bag. Because of the fiscal impact of adding the Nikon gear to my kit, I decided to rent the 70-200 at this point and put off acquiring my own copy until next year. And, instead of using Calumet in San Francisco as I’ve done in the past, I gave Bay Area based Borrowlenses.com a go.
I’m happy to report that it went well. I placed my order, got a confirmation email, and then a few days later had the lens in hand after picking it up at their San Mateo office. Picking up the lens in person, I was able to meet a few of the people who work there and was impressed by their helpfulness, friendliness, and knowledge. As far as the lens itself, it was in great shape and produced excellent results. The photos on this page were taken with it. I couldn’t be happier.
In short, if you need to flesh out your kit, or just want to spend some quality time with a lens before making a purchase decision, check out the lens rental shops. I’ve never regretted a lens rental, and my pocketbook has been spared the pain of a few purchases that I decided not to make after test driving a lens.
Finally, if you have experience with some of the lens rental places online, please consider leaving a comment. I’d love to know what you all think.
16 Comments
In the UK, lensesforhire.co.uk are a comparable outfit. I used them a few months ago to rent the Canon EF 35mm f/1.4. Same deal as the US operations you mention, but they give you the option of pre-paying for a courier pickup or shipping it back (insured) yourself.
One nice touch to their service is that your rental period starts the day *after* you receive the lens, and they expect you to ship it back to them the day after your rental finishes. That way, if you pay for three days, you get three full 24-hour periods to play with the lens.
I definitely enjoyed the 35mm, took some great shots with it (e.g. http://www.flickr.com/photos/fraserspeirs/2288613759 ), but decided against it.
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Thanks for adding a UK recommendation Fraser. That's a nice policy they have of allowing you 3 full 24-hour periods to work with the lens.
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I have used Lens Pro to Go quite a few times (in the US) and have nothing but good things to say about them. Usually it's for those longer lenses that I just can't justify owning.
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I've rented from http://lensrentals.com and have been very happy with them. My first rental with them they accidentally sent the wrong lens hood with the Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS lens. Instead of asking for them to send the correct hood, I somewhat cheekily asked them instead for a discount on my next rental. I was a bit surprised when they agreed to give me 15% off my next rental. Good customer service goes a long way with me.
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I really enjoy renting lenses from Pro Photo Supply. You can rent a lens on a Friday and keep it the entire weekend and only pay the rental fee for Friday. AND if you go in after 3pm (without a reservation) you only have to pay half the rental fee. It is indeed a fun way to try out lenses before you buy.
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Oh wow. I didn't know about the half rental fee for going in after 3pm on Friday. I'll have to give that a shot sometime to play with some esoteric glass. Awesome tip!
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I'm glad to hear that others have had good experiences with these mail order outfits. I have some crappy lenses and some major lens envy lately. Trying out a mail order lens rental is the only remedy that fits my current budget. You can bet I'll be doing that ASAP. :)
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I've enjoyed renting lenses from LensProToGo. Paul has always been friendly and helpful, both on the phone and via email, and the service has always been prompt. Good stuff!
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Canadian readers may be interested in Lens Lenders for lens rentals.
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Ben and I have used RentGlass.com quite a few times, and have walked away similarly impressed. The only issue has been availability, although I think their inventory has grown to the point where some of the nicer lenses aren't constrained.
We'll have to go to Pro Photo one Friday afternoon at 3:30 and grab a bunch of glass!
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Rick, I'm so down for the 3:30 Pro Photo run one weekend. They won't know what hit them! :)
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I guess it is a good thing to hold out on buying the 70-200. There are so many rumors that there will be a new version coming out soon.
For the money it costs I am not at all happy with my 70-200. The photos are great, but it could be easier to get them. The AF is kind of slow and the minimum focus distance sucks.
But as I don't have another "long" lens to compare it too, the problem might be my expectations ;-)
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Duncan,
Max here from http://www.BorrowLenses.com. Thanks much for the mention and for stopping by and trying out our services. I am glad everything went well and looks like you got some great shots! I had no idea you were shooting Al Gore. Also, hope our consignment program works out well for you. Stop by anytime and don't subject yourself to any more gruff camera store dudes :)
Max
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For my birthday last year, my father was going to buy me a lens (awesome!!), I was new to the dSLR world and wasn't sure what I wanted to ask for. I ended up renting three lenses for 3 (non-overlapping) weeks. I tried out rentglass.com and ziplens.com, both were awesome experiences.
I made a flickr collection for the rented lenses:
http://flickr.com/photos/kastner/collections/72157601248274019/
I ended up going with the sigma 30mm f/1.4 and have been thrilled.
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There are a lot of rumors out there about the 70-200, including by Thom Hogan. We'll see how those pan out. I'm hoping something pans out sooner rather than later, but you never know.
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I have used Rentglass.com a few times. Very happy with the lenses and the service.
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