To rent a lens it doesn’t matter if you are a pro or take pictures as a hobby or are going on a vacation. Renting the perfect camera lens for more than likely less than $100 for a week, what better way to get the pictures that you really want. Instead of spending $300 – $1,500 on buying the lens outright, why not rent and try them out? Think of it as test driving a car that you are thinking about purchasing.
Throughout the past couple of months I’ve been thinking about renting a lens, but I didn’t really know where to start. I mean, yeah, I can do some searching around online and see what places are out there. But how would I know who is good? Who has good prices? Who over charges for shipping? I never came across any place that had a list of a few of the websites in one place. (If there’s one out there, do tell!) This is where I started my “research” and wanted to share it with any others interested in photography..
To start things off, I went through all of the websites to find the same lens to compare the prices. Well, to say the least, that was a major failure. The three lens are quite close in mm and price. I will note for each website which lens it is.
– www.borrowlenses.com — Located in San Mateo, CA
Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro
1 week rental is $25, Shipping is $19 for 2-Day, Local pick-up is available
Reservations can be made
– www.lensprotogo.com — Located in Acton, MA
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
1 week rental is $55, Shipping is included
Reservations can be made up to 4 months in advance
– www.rentglass.com –Located in Kissimmee, FL
Canon EF-S 60mm f2.8 Macro
1 week rental is $21, Shipping is $13 for 1-3 Days; Local pick-up is available
Rental is based on a first come, first serve basis; Can rent 3 lenses at a time
*Side note: I e-mailed customer service about picking up a lens and got a response less than 30 minutes later. Great service!
– www.photolensrental.com — Located in San Rafael, CA
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
1 week rental is $35, Shipping is $39.45
Lenses are on a first come, first serve basis; one lens at a time
– www.lensrental.com — Located in Cordova, TN
Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8
1 week rental is $35, Shipping is $26 for 2-Day, Local pick-up is available
Reservations available
Guaranteed availability, given two weeks notice on a two-week rental
*Thanks to Will Glynn at lensrentals.com for additional information.
– www.adoramarentals.com — Located in New York, NY
Canon 60mm f/2.8 Compact Macro E-FS
1 week rental is $60/week, or $20/day
*Side note: Days in transit are included in the rental period
– www.rentmylenses.com — Located in Camden, AR
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
1 week rental is $29, Shipping is $24.40
Reservations are available, See website for a “two-in-two guarantee”
– www.lensgiant.com — Located in Northville, MI
Canon 100mm EF f/2.8 Macro
8 day rental is $23, Shipping ground is free or 2-Day express is $10.37
Reservations are available
– www.prophotorental.com — Located in Denver, CO
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
7 day rental is $44.80 (at $6.40/day), 3-Day shipping is free, can upgrade to 2-day or overnight, Local pickup available
Reservations are available
4-day minimum, based on a day rate
– www.ziplens.com — Located in Brookline, MA
Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM
1 week rental is $35, Shipping is $23 for 2-Day and $35 for Overnight, Local pickup available in Boston area
Reservations are available up to 3 months in advance
Gift certificates available
– www.cameralensrental.com — Located in Anderson, IN
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
1 week rental is $25, Shipping is $24.99 for Fed-Ex
Use code CLR and get 10% off your first order
Reservations can be made as far in advance as you want
Rent 4 lenses (doesn’t have to be at once) for a week or longer and get a 3-day rental for free, just pay the shipping and if needed longer, the difference in the rental period
*Side note: E-mailed for an “incomplete order in the database” by two different employees, within a hour of each other, both of them happened on a Sunday. Great customer e-mail service.
– www.mjlensrentals.com — Located in Wichita, KS
Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
1 week rental is $56, Shipping is $31.62 USPS Priority Mail (2-3 days)
Rent as many as you want, may require a copy of your drivers license and/or security deposit
Not many different lenses available
I hope this information helps. I found it useful to gather all the information on a similiar type of lens from lots of different websites and then go from there. If you know of any lens rental sites/places that I didn’t mention please e-mail me at kelly@peglegpug.com and I will be sure to add them to any upcoming lists.