Tag Archives: renting

Recent Publication: Holland America’s Mariner Magazine, Fall 2012 Issue

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Holland American Mariner Magazine Yukon articleThis past summer, I shot a travel assignment in The Yukon for Holland America Line’s Mariner Magazine. The feature story, which was written by Edward Readicker-Henderson, appears in the Fall 2012 issue, and includes images from The Yukon Wildlife Preserve and the area around Kluane National Park. Click here to read the entire issue online. Edward and also I teamed up for a feature article on Skagway that appeared in the Fall 2011 issue of Mariner.

For photographing at the Preserve, I rented a Nikon AF-S 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED VRII, which ended up being an incredible piece of glass to use on the shoot. It’s tailor made for capturing wildlife and it allowed me to really bring the animals up close, which is what the client wanted for the story. Read my review of this lens here.

If you shoot sports or wildlife, I’d highly recommend getting your hands on a lens like this, even if it’s just for a day. If you don’t have six grand to drop on big glass, you can always rent the Nikon 300 f/2.8 from BorrowLenses.com. They ship next day to the US, and when compared to how much this thing costs new, the rental price is quite reasonable.

Renting Lenses and Camera Gear is A Great Option for Photographers

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lens rental

Unless you’re a working pro, it can sometimes be hard to justify shelling out the money for expensive camera gear. Heck, it’s hard for me sometimes, and I do gig this full time.

That’s why it makes sense to rent lenses, flashes and DSLR bodies from time to time.

Let’s way you’re headed to Alaska to photograph eagles or bears for a week and you think about how nice it would be to have a 300mm or 400mm, or even a 500mm telephoto lens for the trip.

Or you’re headed off to Italy and you’d love to have a PC or tilt shift lens for all the interiors and architecture you’ll be shooting.

Or you wonder if getting a few extra speedlights and going Joe McNally style just might help you nail that assignment you just booked.

While spending $7,000, or even a few hundred dollars on a lens, camera or flash(es) that you may not use very often might be a hard purchase, what about spending 1/20th of that amount for the chance to use some killer gear for a week?

That’s about how much California-based BorrowLenses.com and some of the other lens rental companies out there, like LensRentals.com charge.

And with a huge variety of equipent, (pretty much everything you’d ever want or need) fast shipping, and rental options that vary from 3 days to 4 weeks and everything in between, you’ll find that renting specialized photography equipment turns out to be a very reasonable option.

In fact one pro photographer friend of mine just competed an entire year-long project using a variety of rented lenses, which of course, means more profit for him.

Whether you need a specific item for an upcoming trip, photo assignment or personal project, or if you just want to try before you buy, consider renting camera gear. The money you spend will be made up in the increased quality of your imagery, which could easily turn into more stock sales or paying jobs, and the money you save will mean increased profits and a bigger budget for your trips and adventures.