And now for something completely different. (I don’t just sit in front of my workstation making pretty Star Trek pick-shurs all day long, you know.)
After years of waiting for the right camera (a digital SLR that shoots 1080p / 24 fps video) at the right price (under $1,000), the photography gods heard my prayers and bestowed upon me the Canon EOS Digital Rebel T2i (known mostly outside the United States as the Canon EOS 550D):
Hello, beautiful
I’ll be posting an in-depth review, sample video and stills the coming months, but that’s not what this post is about. Later this summer my partner and I will be heading to Europe for a tour of Italy and Greece, which is one of the reasons I decided to pull the trigger now on the T2i—I wanted a DSLR and HD camcorder for all the places we’d be seeing, but I also wanted to take only one camera, not two. For this trip of a lifetime, I need a good all-around performer telephoto lens that doesn’t weigh a ton and has superior imaging performance.
After doing a ton of research, I’ve pretty much settled on the Canon 70-200mm EF f/4L IS USM, an image-stabilized, ring-type USM autofocus telephoto lens:
Hello, gorgeous!
Only one small problem: this little lovely clocks in at about $1,200 retail… $300 more than the camera body itself! I’m already in the doghouse with the missus for having bought the T2i, so what to do? Simple… rent the lens. That way, I only spend a fraction of the cost of buying a high-quality Canon L-series lens, I get to try it before I buy it, and I’ll won’t be TOTALLY in the doghouse with the better half. Win-win-win!
It’s been almost 30 years since I last bought an SLR camera or lenses—yes, I truly am older than dirt—and online camera equipment rental companies didn’t exist back in the Stone Age when my Canon AE-1 Program was brand-new. Fortunately, we now live in the golden age of the instant-gratification Internet, and there are several online companies that rent high-end photographic lenses and camera equipment. Here are the deals I found as of March 25, 2010 for the Canon 70-200mm EF f/4L IS USM. Unless otherwise noted, all prices shown are for a four-week rental that includes damage waiver insurance and round-trip second day shipping:
- Pro Photo Rental (http://prophotorental.com) – $??? (see comments section below)
- MJ Memories (http://www.mjlensrentals.com) – $250*
- Photo Lens Rental (http://www.photolensrental.com) – $242**
- Rent Photo Stuff (http://www.rentphotostuff.com) – $218
- Lens Pro To Go (http://www.lensprotogo.com) – $200
- Lens Rentals (http://www.lensrentals.com) – $196
- Camera Lens Rentals (http://www.cameralensrentals.com) – $180
- Rent Glass (http://www.rentglass.com) – $171**
- Lens Giant (https://www.lensgiant.com) – $146 (note–updated with corrected shipping cost… see comments section)
- The Lens Pro (http://www.thelenspro.com) – $143
- Borrow Lenses (http://www.borrowlenses.com) – $139
* – This company doesn’t rent the Canon 70-200mm EF f/4L IS USM. The price shown here is for the Godzilla-sized Canon 70-200mm EF f/2.8L IS USM, an even faster (and LARGER) f/2.8 L-series zoom lens that retails for around $1,800.
** – This company only rents lenses for a maximum of three weeks. The price shown here was calculated by pro-rating for a fourth fictitious week.
If any of my readers have any experience (good OR bad—especially bad!) with any of the companies listed above (or know of any companies not shown above that I should check out or avoid), please reply in the comments section below.
(Please note: This post was edited on 03/26/2010 to remove the pro-rated estimated calculation of Pro Photo Rental’s price and to correct the Lens Giant price, which originally didn’t include shipping. Thanks…)
#1 by Jared at March 26th, 2010
Hi Scott-
Jared from Pro Photo Rental here.
It sounds like you’ve got an awesome trip planned. I’m quite jealous!
Just a couple items of note:
I apologize for the confusion on our pricing. For long-term rentals like this, we quote our clients on a case-by-case basis, so the actual final pricing would be much less than the “day rate” model that is calculated by the system.
We understand that you may not need the lens exactly 28 days (4 weeks), so we can get you a custom quote based on the exact dates you need it. Shoot me an email or give me a call & I’ll get you all set up.
Another item of note is that a lot of the prices you’ve quoted from the other rental houses don’t include shipping. That’s just the rental cost. Shipping is generally added to what you’ve got listed. The only other exception is Lens Pro To Go, who give free shipping like we do.
The reality is that renting the lens is a perfect situation for you, and I’m confident any of the companies will give you great service.
Let me know if you have any questions. I’m here to help!
Best regards,
Jared Kohlmann
#2 by Scott Gammans at March 26th, 2010
It’s like saying Bettlejuice, Bettlejuice, Bettlejuice!
Hi Jared, thanks for dropping by. Actually, only a couple of those prices shown above don’t include shipping, and only because the retailers were so hopelessly out of the running pricewise or made it so difficult to figure out what the shipping cost was that I didn’t bother trying to click through any further. You’re right about Lens Giant, though… the way their website is arranged gives a false impression that shipping is free (it’s not). I’ve adjusted the price in the post above, but I still have to say that I wonder how they’re able to offer a $1,200 lens like the 70-200mm EF f/4L IS USM for only $146 a month (not to mention the two companies that now slipped into the #1 and 2 spots!)
I would definitely be interested in finding out what your cost would be for 28 days + damage insurance + round-trip shipping for the Canon 70-200mm EF f/4L IS USM. This trip is going to be one long try-before-I-buy excursion, even if I’m not allowed to do the “buy” part right away… maybe a nice anniversary or Christmas present
If you’re still following this thread, maybe you can answer a question that just occurred to me: do rental companies like yours ever sell lenses when they’ve decided that it’s time to take a lens out of rental rotation, or generally speaking do you keep renting them until someone breaks them or they get lost/stolen/otherwise un-rentable?
I’d imagine that most photographers couldn’t care less whether a lens had cosmetic damage that didn’t affect performance. I know I wouldn’t–all I’d care about is that the optics are pristine. I guess what I’m driving at (besides wondering whether this might be a way to score nice glass at a bargain basement price) is how much lenses get ground into… er, glass before they’re retired?
#3 by Jared at March 27th, 2010
Hi Scott-
If indeed you do need it for 28 days exactly, then we could take 30% off the normal 28 day price, making the new total $193.62, including damage waiver and 2-way shipping.
Regarding the super-low pricing of some of the others, I have some theories about that, but it’s all supposition, so I can’t comment for sure. I do know that at least one of the sites in the list is first-come, first served instead of reservation based.
Regarding your question about sales, I believe that all of the sites do sell their used lenses, but the only one I know of who has a strict timeline policy is lensrentals. The others may have a pre-determined schedule as well. I’m not sure.
For us, it depends on the lens in question. As you can imagine, some lenses are built better than others and do better in a rental environment. Also, some lenses rent more often than others. We take a look at those two factors, along with individual lens condition when deciding to convert a rental item to a sale. It can vary widely item-to-item.
In any event, we don’t have any 70-200 f/4s currently for sale, but probably will toward the end of summer or fall.
To answer your last question, we don’t keep any glass that isn’t absolutely perfect, optically and functionally speaking. We send them in for repair if there is even a hint of a problem.
I think it is a very common misnomer that rental equipment by definition is beat up and in poor condition. From what I’ve seen and talked about with the other business owners, as a group we ensure that our equipment is probably in better shape than most private owners! After all, sending out damaged or defective equipment would be a quick ticket out of business. Keeping low-quality or damaged items in inventory is a bad idea for everyone, so we don’t do it.
Thanks again for your interest!
#4 by Scott Gammans at March 30th, 2010
Jared, it means something to me that you took the time to drop by and talk to me about this… sold. I’ll be in touch later today to place my reservation.
Thanks!
#5 by Jared at March 30th, 2010
Thanks, Scott! Email sent.
#6 by SPOCKBOY at April 7th, 2010
Hey,
All the guys at film school are drooling like madmen over this one. The Canon D5 Mark 2 is a bit better because it has the full sensor which is equivalent to 35mm film apparently. The 7D (not to be confused with the Klingon D7) is the next best, and I think the only difference between the D7 and the new T2i is that the T2i has a plastic body (which really isn’t a big deal)
They’re all fantastic cameras!
I wonder what “Redcam” is going to do about Canon blowing them out of the water.
ENJOY!
Paul
#7 by Grace Olsson at August 14th, 2010
Scott
do u know where can I rent a lens Canon in Europe?I will travel to Africa and I do not know what I can do it..,
Can u help me, pls?
nice day
#8 by Daniel Fuller at March 26th, 2011
I just purchased the Canon 70-200mm EF f/4L IS USM, after renting it for months on end.. I found that if you’re constantly using the lens. It’s better to purchase it. For you’ll end up paying off the lens in rental fees.
#9 by Steve at June 4th, 2011
Thanks for the links, man! I’m determined to be a self-taught photographer.
Wish me luck! Lots of it!
#10 by Damien at June 5th, 2011
Renting is great but I’d rather buy my own lens though they can be expensive. But I found out in the end that it is much cheaper to buy rather than to rent it.
#11 by Patrick Francis at July 9th, 2011
Very fun to read post. Short and sweet. Funny how some of the comments are longer than your post! Hope every thing worked out with your rental lense!
#12 by Jay Preston at July 10th, 2011
Yes the doghouse.
I used to rent too but with a bit of haggling was able to get the monthly payments into the green zone.
Woof.
#13 by Sean at July 25th, 2011
Thanks for compiling this list. I agree that buying is cheaper than renting, but for some lenses (tilt-shift for example) owning one just wouldn’t make sense for me so I love that these rental companies are out there. I’ve rented quite a bit from borrowlenses.com and have always been really happy with them. Final comment: always rent before you buy!