Quality Lens Hire

Lens Rental or Lens Purchase?

Lenses have an inherent long life expectancy unlike camera bodies which are constantly being updated and changed. The benefit here is that because the lenses have a higher residual value and are current for a considerably longer period of time the rental costs are markedly lower than that of an equivalent priced camera body.

Lens Rental also offers the flexibility of taking advantage of expensive lenses that one could not possibly justify for use a dozen times a year. The majority of people that hire lenses will tailor their equipment dependant on their current brief or requirements.

However if the majority of shoots you work on are in a studio environment then the purchase of a lens will always be the best option as one lens can cover the scope of works you require. If however you work on varied projects then lens rental really is unbeatable in the range of choice and inherent cost savings associated.

One lens does not cover offer me the flexibility I need?
I can't cover the price of a lens for one project?
My current lens does not offer the quality I need?
Do you feel your current camera is not bringing out the best in you?

Answered yes to the above? Then lens hire really is a cost effective solution to helping you get better results.

What's the best lens to hire?

The best lens depends on the type of project, however there are two main factors to take into account with your lens rental. The focal length and the F stop, so lets take a quick look at focal length.

This is described in MM with a wide angle lens (for landscapes etc) starting at around 14mm through to 600 and 800mm lenses, which are super telephoto and used for wildlife photography or applications where you need to zoom in on the action.

You will also need to take into account the F stop. For example a lens with an F stop of 1 will let lots of light into the lens, hence the lower the F stop the quicker the camera can take a picture. You will also notice that the lower the F stop the lower the depth of field. Whilst a higher F stop, for example an F5 will be have a slower shutter speed whilst taking the same picture and offer a deeper depth of field which is explained in more detail below. So in most cases the lower the F stop number the better performance and more expensive the lens generally is.

Take into account the following when hiring a lens?

What is your lens rental being used for? - standard DVD recordings would be fine for a fun day or something to be recorded that would be used for reference, however a wedding would require something more advanced.

Prime lenses - Prime lenses have a fixed focal length and range in size from 14mm all the way to 800mm. Primes offer the best quality over and above telephoto lenses and generally have a lower F stop, however they sometimes lack flexibility as there is no adjustment or zoom function.

Telephoto lenses - Flexibility is the key here, offering a range of focal lengths. For instance 70-200mm in one lens which can be zoomed in and out allowing the user freedom to frame shots without having to move to best capture a picture. Good quality telephoto lenses will have an F stop not much greater than the prime equivalent so you will not be sacrificing to much speed and is a small sacrifice to have the added feature of zoom.

Macro lenses - There are ever increasing ranges of macro lenses available with some of the latest lenses giving an almost microscope look to pictures. These can produce fantastic results when used in nature horticulture, or even to show the quality of diamonds.

Which lenses does Camerent offer for hire?

Camerent stock a complete range of lens rental packages. We offer the most current Canon and Nikon lenses, offering you the widest choice and availability.

Prime lenses will offer you the best quality and fastest speeds take a look at the following popular lenses for more details.

Telephoto lenses give great flexibility with only a slight increase in F stop the following telephoto lenses are by far the most popular in volumes of sales and hire.

Lens rental Jargon explained

IS - Stands for image stabilization. This is a feature used to optically stabilize the image and help reduce shake and blur.

EF - Is the type of Canon mount that the lens has. These are designed to work on all current and many older Canon DSLR camera bodies.

L - Any L series lens from Canon will have a red ring around the circumference. This is a statement from Canon that the Lens is of superior quality and guarantees a superior engineered lens.

F - The F stop of a lens dictates the amount of light that will enter the lens. The lower the F stop the more light enters the lens and the larger the diameter of the lens. This results in the lowest depth of field. The higher the F stop the less light enters and the smaller the diameter of the lens resulting in a greater depth of field.

This information is provided solely to help and may not be relied upon, Camerent will not be held responsible for any consequences howsoever caused by the use of this advice or the on line content contained within, it is simply provided to assist with booking of your lens hire.