This article breaks down what you need to look at when renting a lens as well as the best camera lens rental options available. Many people will just search “camera lens rentals near me” but you may be missing out on some better options when renting camera gear.
If you are trying to make a decision to rent a camera lens or buy a lens, we have a separate guide to help you decide if camera rentals are worth it.
In addition to deciding where to rent your lens from, make sure you know what options are available. One of the benefits of renting from a local store it the ability to ask for recommendations at the store.
However, if you don’t have the time to go down to the store and ask for recommendations, this article will help you know what to look for. For your convenience we also offer free advice, so feel free to ask us any camera questions you may have.
What Questions Should You Ask Before Renting a Lens?
As you evaluate where to rent a lens from here are some helpful questions to ask.
- What is the Price per Day?
- What insurance or accidental coverage do is offered?
- How long can it be rented for?
- What are requirements for returning the lens? Such as time or packaging
- What are the total costs, including potential shipping or other fees?
- Is the gear in good condition?
Based on the questions listed above, here are the criteria we’ll use as we breakdown the different camera rental options that you have.
- Price – How does the price compare to other alternatives
- Equipment & Condition – What kind of Equipment and gear do they offer & are you going to get something in good condition
- Convenience – Is it easy to rent and return gear
Each of the camera rental options we review below will be evaluated on these points.
Quick Links - Camera Lens to Rent by Brand
If you’re trying to find a specific lens recommendation, check out our Lens Hub and the links below to find the best lens for your specific camera or a type of photography.
BestPhotographyGear, as a happy user of BorrowLenses, joined their affiliate program in order to provide a means for this site to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to offers from BorrowLenses.
Camera Rental Options
Based on our experience and research these are the best rental options for camera gear.
PRO TIP: Look at extending your photographer network. If you have friends and family with gear, that may give you a free option for trying out or using other equipment.
The downside here is you’re limited on what they have available. Which may or may not work with the camera you have. Also, there’s emotion involved if something unfortunate was to happen to anything while you were using it.
Renting from a Local Camera Store
1. Price
Often one of the more expensive options [See Conclusion Notes]
2. Equipment & Condition
Depends on the condition of the store, but it is easy to go check out the store
3. Convenience
Usually, the best option if you need something same day or next day
Camera stores vary widely from area to area. I live near the capital city of my state, so I have a pretty good assortment.
In my area there is one store that everybody knows about. It’s a great store and I was happy with the equipment I rented there.
For me, the store checked all the boxes in equipment choice and condition of their equipment.
It was also pretty easy to jump in my car and go down there and even get my hands on the equipment for a few minutes before renting it.
So it was convenient in that respect, but it also required me to drive down to the store to check out the gear and then a second time to pickup my rental at a later date. Followed by a third trip to return the gear.
First world problems right!
What was more of an issue for me was just the overall cost. Renting a camera and a lens over a weekend was a pretty steep cost; especially as compared to other options below. They did outfit me with a nice bag, storage card, and some other add-ons, but I still felt like someone punched me in my wallet.
Another thing to be aware of is some local lens rental companies (even a big one that I looked up in Los Angeles) don’t have their rental gear listed on their website. So you will probably need to call or go into the store to check what they have available.
The one in my local area does show me availability for what they have in stock. However, they don’t include many details about the lens, so you have to look up the lens specs separately unless you already know exactly what you want.
Best Photography Gear’s Conclusion
This option is really dependent on the area you live in. Some people may not have any stores near them.
If there is a good store near you then this is definitely the best for getting something on short notice and getting your hands on it before you rent.
The downside is that I’ve found this to be one of the most expensive options for renting gear.
Pricing Exercise
How much does it cost to rent a camera lens at a local store? We compared pricing from the three different rental options to show you a real-world example of costs.
For our example we took the popular Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 and looked at the pricing for a week long rental.
Here’s the cost breakdown for renting from a Local Camera Store:
Standard Per Day Rate: $35.00
Cost of a Weeklong Rental: $140.00
Discounted Per Day Cost: $20.00
In this example this ended up being the mid-priced option. Since you’d be going and picking up and then returning it in person as well, there are no additional shipping costs.
Renting from a Camera Gear Sharing Service
1. Price
Pricing is generally fair and sometimes you can find really low-cost options [See Conclusion Notes]
2. Equipment & Condition
Hard to judge, people may not keep their gear in great condition, and you are limited to what other people have bought
3. Convenience
You can usually work with whoever you are borrowing from to find a place to connect
So what is Sharegrid? For those that aren’t familiar, Sharegrid is probably the most popular site that connects photographers with other photographers who are willing to loan out their gear. So ShareGrid a platform to connect photographers so they can ‘share’ (meaning rent out) their gear.
Beyond rentals, this may be a good place to find used gear as well. Or even find a photo gig to earn some extra money.
However, the major downside for most people will be that you don’t live in a big enough city. As I mentioned above, I live near the capital city for my state, but the nearest rental network that ShareGrid has would be more than 10 hours away.
So, if you live in LA, New York, or some other large metropolis it’s worth checking out what options you have. For the rest of us you can just move on to the next option.
If you big-city folk are still with me, let’s keep going.
Be aware that you are making the rental agreement with the person you are renting from, not ShareGrid. They can kind of set their own terms. Which is totally fair since it’s their gear, but just something to be aware of.
They don’t support shipping for any rental gear to be prepared to go pick it up from the location you work out with the owner. This can add a bit of stress since you have to meet up with someone at a specific time. If you hit traffic or something comes up so you or they are running late that can be frustrating.P
Best Photography Gear’s Conclusion
This is ONLY an option if you live in a BIG CITY.
For those that live in the right area this is a solid option for renting camera gear. As well as being a potential resource if you are trying to find additional photography gigs.
Pricing can be better than a local camera store but generally less convenient since you have to meet someone at a specific time and place. So, in addition to finding the gear you want you have to find it in a location that is close enough that makes sense.
Pricing Exercise
How much does it cost to rent a camera lens on ShareGrid? We compared pricing from the three different rental options to show you a real-world example of costs.
For our example we took the popular Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 and looked at the pricing for a week long rental.
Here’s the cost breakdown for the renting from ShareGrid:
Standard Per Day Rate: $49.00
Cost of a Weeklong Rental: $154.35
Discounted Per Day Cost: $22.05
In this example this ended up being the highest priced option. This was the price in the Los Angeles area. There was one that was slightly lower, but all the other people renting were actually higher than this.
Renting from an Online Camera Lens Rental Company
1. Price
Much lower than a local store plus you can add coupons after reserving gear [See Conclusion Notes]
2. Equipment & Condition
Wide selection of gear and it is inspected and cleaned after each use
3. Convenience
Free 2-Day shipping if you are ordering enough gear and risk-free cancellations prior to shipping
There are several online camera lens rental companies to choose from. For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on BorrowLenses, since that’s the one I like the most. We’ll also include some other alternatives that you can check out.
In the local store review I mentioned my experience regarding cost. To continue that experience, I later rented similar gear from an online camera rental company. The price was less than my weekend rental and I got it for way longer!
I didn’t get the nice bag with my rental, so I had to use one of my other camera bags. I also opted for just buying a new memory card rather paying extra to rent one.
Renting a storage card was almost more than half of just buying my own. Even though that required me to order one separately I would rather have the memory card to keep.
If you aren’t sure what memory card to get we have a guide to help you figure that out.
BorrowLenses, and I would guess most other online options, professionally clean and inspect their gear after each rental. So you can be confident that you’ll get anything you order in good working condition.
As with any online option you have to consider shipping. This can be both a convenience and a drawback.
Convenient when you are traveling somewhere and want the gear sent directly there so you don’t have to pack it yourself. This also saves you trips to-and-from a local store or the hassle of trying to meet up with someone to get and return something you borrowed.
The drawback with shipping can be the added time and expense of shipping.
One of the great things about BorrowLenses is that most of the time you get free 2-Day shipping on rentals over $149. So if you’re planning to get enough gear you don’t have to worry about any added cost, and unless you need it next day the time frame isn’t a big problem.
On-line rental companies carry a large collection of gear, so you’ll have a good selection to choose from. Often, they will also have the latest cameras and lenses in stock if you’re interested in trying those out.
Just be aware that you’ll have to be quick with renting brand new gear. Companies generally will carry a limited amount and there might be a lot of demand from other photographers trying to rent the same stuff.
As I mentioned, BorrowLenses is our favorite, for online rentals. A couple reasons for this are:
- Real-Time Rental search so you know what’s actually available
- Rental options from 3 to 90 days
- Return shipping label included
- Fair and low-cost pricing
- Easy rental process
- Free Order Cancellations on reservations up to the day before it ships
Once you are ready to return the gear you will need to pack up and drop off the box at a UPS store. Although, there are more locations for these then any of the other rental options we reviewed.
Alternative Online Rental Companies:
If are wondering what alternative options you have or if the lens you want isn’t available on your dates you can try these companies:
These are all solid options. Pricing is pretty comparable, although sometimes a bit more than one another. You do need to watch for shipping or added insurance costs since that might make the total price more.
Best Photography Gear’s Conclusion
Online rental companies, like BorrowLenses, offers the best renting option for most people. Price is often less and you get the rental for longer!
If you need something by tomorrow this won’t work. However, if you can plan ahead a little bit, you can go ahead and reserve something with BorrowLenses and then just cancel the order if you discover you won’t end up needing it.
The pricing and convenience options it does offer generally outweighs any cons. For me it’s more about a question of whether you rent or buy, but if you are going to rent, I would highly recommend BorrowLenses.
Pricing Exercise
How much does it cost to rent a camera lens from an online rental company? We compared pricing from the three different rental options to show you a real-world example of costs.
For our example we took the popular Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 and looked at the pricing for a week long rental.
Here’s the cost breakdown for the renting from BorrowLenses:
Standard Per Rate: $76.00 for 3 Days [this is the minimum rental period] = $25.33 per day
Cost of a Weeklong Rental: $109.00
Discounted Per Day Cost: $15.57
In this example this was clearly the least expensive option. There was just over 22% savings compared to the next lowest option, for the same lens! You do need to account for any insurance protection you might want to add, although that would be common among the local retailer too. Shipping costs is also something to watch out for. In this example we wouldn’t hit the free 2 Day shipping threshold but even with shipping costs this was still the lowest price option.
If you only need the lens for a day then this would be the most expensive option. But anything over two days and this was still at the low end of the price options.
Final Thoughts About Camera Rentals
Now you know the best camera lens rental options that are available to you. So when you search “lens rental near me”, you’ll now know what to expect from the camera rental companies that come up.
Based on how quickly you need to get something rented, how long you need the gear, and the availability of the gear you need you have some great options to select from.
As we concluded above, BorrowLenses checks most of the boxes from our experience. Price being one of the main ones. Which is why it’s become our favorite. Although it may not be right for everyone and every situation.
If you’re interested, you can also check out the Special Offers / Coupons that are available right now to see if you can save even more on any rentals you’re planning on. Plus with the free cancellations if you find something that fits better it’s easy to just cancel the rental with no cost.
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First and foremost, I’m a husband and father. Then professionally I’m photographer, designer, blogger, and Esty store owner. My homebase is near the stunning Wasatch mountains in Utah but I love traveling with my family as part of our homeschooling journey. I also love teaching and helping out others. My faith is one of the biggest aspects of my life and brings be a consistent joy that I haven’t found in anything else. My main blog is BestPhotographyGear.com and I strive to make photography simple for anyone looking to learn or find gear for their individual needs. By nature, I like to study, research, and analyze things and I use that help provide the best advice and reviews I can.