Best lens rental site?

DaveAndHolly219 · Mar 23, 2017

Looking for some suggestions for which site/company to deal with as far as lens rental. I was going to buy a nice telephoto zoom lens, but I have need for a lens like that so infrequently that renting one when needed seems to make more sense.

jeffW · Mar 23, 2017

I've used LensRental a few times with no problems. I do wish these rental sites would give a free extra day upfront on an order to assure delivery in time. (order for three days but get four) Why should we pay for a day FedEx basically has it in their possession?

Whenever I truly need FedEx to deliver something, they seem to do it at the end of the day - this means you or someone is stuck at your door until the package is signed for, a massive pain if you are cutting it close when you need to take the piece of equipment out on location or if FedEx screws up you are out of luck.

DaveAndHolly219 · Mar 23, 2017

jeffW said:
I've used LensRental a few times with no problems. I do wish these rental sites would give a free extra day upfront on an order to assure delivery in time. (order for three days but get four) Why should we pay for a day FedEx basically has it in their possession?

Whenever I truly need FedEx to deliver something, they seem to do it at the end of the day - this means you or someone is stuck at your door until the package is signed for, a massive pain if you are cutting it close when you need to take the piece of equipment out on location or if FedEx screws up you are out of luck.

Any time I have a FedEx package coming I have it routed to my local FedEx office location to pick up at my convenience.

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EddyP · Mar 24, 2017

If you are based in the UK, I have heard good things about Calumet Rental Lenses

jsecordphoto · Mar 24, 2017

I love lensprotogo. They include a lollipop with each order :1219:

Plus their customer service is amazing. I needed to rent a camera for a trip to Utah which ended up falling onto some rocks, and they were a breeze to work with after the fact.

bratkinson · Mar 25, 2017

After reading on this site numerous times about Lensrentals.com, and the owner, Roger, having a number of blog articles linked to on here as well, I decided to go with them for my first ever rental. It arrived yesterday!

I decided to test out the new Canon 24-105 f4L ii and they had it available! Unlike 'the other guys' mentioned previously that make you pay for rental time while it is in transit, Lensrentals gave me the full 7 days to use the lens. I didn't hear Fedex ring my doorbell on Thursday as I was on the basement doing wash, so I got it yesterday. The email they sent me an hour or so after I got it says I don't have to get it back to Fedex until next Friday. I get the full week! If new mark ii's don't become available in time for my early May vacation, I will likely rent the lens again!

By the way... the mark ii blows my MFA'd mark i out of the water on IQ in my very informal tests from my back porch. And yes, the extra 5 oz in weight is noticable but acceptable. The slightly larger size, not so much.

TCampbell · Mar 28, 2017

I've used LensRentals (three times now). Everything went great, arrived on time, lenses in great condition, etc.

One of my rentals was to pick up some extra lenses for a 2nd camera body that was going to be used for a wedding. I've probably done in excess of 500 weddings over the years... and the first time this has EVER happened... the groom got cold feet and the wedding was cancelled. I think it was a Saturday wedding and I think I was notified on a Wednesday and that was the same day the lenses arrived. So I called LensRentals and told them. They told that this was actually the first time they'd ever had a wedding get cancelled (mine too!) They were pretty cool about it. I immediately returned the lenses and as I recall they (a) refunded the unused days but also (b) gave me an account credit toward a future rental since they knew I hadn't really used those lenses. They didn't have to do that... I rented their gear and they delivered... they deserve to be paid (whether I got to use them or not). It was very nice of them to ease my expenses.

@jeffW - LensRentals tracks the FedEx number and the rental period doesn't start until the tracking shows the package made it to it's destination. They also include a return label and their systems monitor the tracking number on that label as well. The rental period ends when the tracking number on the return label shows it was dropped off for shipping at a FedEx location. So you really do only pay for the period when the lens is in your hands.

With that said, they do write that just occasionally something goes wrong... weather delays the delivery, damage to the package, package got lost, etc. So if you're renting for an important shoot, they suggest you have the lens(es) delivered early enough that they can over-night a replacement if something goes wrong.

table1349 · Mar 28, 2017

Knowing where you live might be helpful. Someone had the same question a while back but his profile showed where he is from. I was able to direct them to lens rental that was a few miles from where he lived. Much easier, quicker and cheaper than waiting on UPS, or FED Ex.