Are Camera Rentals Worth It?

You should rent a camera lens when the lens or lenses you have won’t work for that you are trying to photograph. This is a simple statement but there’s usually an emotional barrier that keeps us from making this decision.

Often it feels like a financial restraint, because we don’t want to spend money on something we don’t get to keep. This is a healthy reaction to have, to prevent us unnecessary spending.

The key word here is ‘unnecessary.’ 

You may reason that it is unnecessary to rent a lens when you don’t have a good reason for it. But renting a lens is a great option when buying a lens would be unnecessary.

So, it’s a great idea to rent a lens if you only need a lens for a short time; like one trip or one photoshoot. Or if you need a lens for a particular type of shot you are trying to get. In that case, having the right gear for the job becomes a good financial decision and will save you a lot of time and effort.

To answer the question of ‘when should you buy a camera lens?’ you need to determine what criteria you would use to consider something as a necessity.

For some, necessity will revolve around cost. For example, ‘do I have extra money in my budget to purchase a new lens?’

For others, necessity will be determined by the use case for a new lens. A professional photographer might find a lot of uses for a long telephoto lens, where an avid photographer may only use it on one or two trips in their lifetime. 

So common criteria you can use to judge whether it’s a good purchase or not are:

• Does the cost fit in my budget
• Use cases for a new lens
• Do I have good alternatives, such as renting a lens
• Added value of adding a new lens to your equipment (ROI)
• Emotional benefit/joy over time of purchasing a new lens
• New opportunities or creative avenues that it might open

After going through these criteria you should be able to quickly determine if you should just rent a lens or if you are ready to buy one. So the next question you’d ask is “How do I choose what lens to get?“

This sounds obvious but you should rent the camera lens that you ‘need.’ The tricky part is figuring out what lens you need.

First off, in determining what camera lens you should rent, is to determine which lenses will work for your camera.

For many that will just be narrowing or filtering your search results to the camera brand. Beyond that you need to make sure you’re aware of the type of lens mount you have on your camera. With more and more mirrorless cameras out there, if you have a DSLR you need to pay attention to the lens mount, not just the lens brand.

There are also great 3rd party lenses that can make for less expensive options, and often have as good or maybe better specs than the main brand lens.

Even for someone that knows a lot about lenses it can be hard to keep up with all the options and features, so be willing to ask questions. There are also a lot of lists people put together of lens recommendations for specific camera models. Our Lens Hub is a great resource for finding a lens for your camera based on photography type or a specific model.

Here’s a list of the benefits of renting a camera lens

• Gives you a chance to try equipment out before purchasing
• Low-cost option to get the right gear for a particular situation
• May be more convenient that traveling with your own gear, since you could have the rental shipped to where you are going
• Expands your options for creativity
• Can give you more professional results, allowing you to charge more for your services
• Can save you money, storage space, and overhead from having to own certain equipment
• You can use the best and latest gear, as opposed to having to use the same purchased lens for many years

Yes, as long as you have a purpose behind the camera gear you choose to rent.

For anyone doing a professional shoot you can generally include all or a portion of the rental of the equipment into the price you quote for the job. In which case you’re not really paying for the rental.

Then being able to rent the right gear or lens for your project will save you a lot of time and hassle.

If you try and force something to work that isn’t designed for a particular use it’s like using a screwdriver to hammer in a nail.

Absolutely they do! By far most rentals of cameras, lenses, and other photo gear are done by professionals. 

Just like everyone else, professionals have a limited budget and can only own so much camera gear.

Sometimes the gear you have simply will not achieve the results you need for a particular shoot. So rather than compromise your vision or that of your client, it’s better to rent the lens and gear that will give you the best results.

Renting equipment also can be a really convenient and cost saving option for those that have to travel. 

Rather than carry all your gear with you, and have to make room in your bag or pay for extra luggage, you can simply have your rental shipped to where you’re going.