Learn More Photography » General Photo & Camera Tips

6 Online Photography Gear Rental Reviews

Terri Ann — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:36:49 +0000

Photography gear can be expensive – sometimes you just need a special lens, camera body or lighting equipment temporarily. Be it for an assignment, project or just to try before you buy.
Many online photographic rental companies are popping up now – especially with the economy in some turmoil (in the US specifically) cause investing in new equipment isn’t always a priority as landing the right gigs to support more investments. And for those of us who prefer photography as a hobby – rental is often a great solution.

Most rental retailers deal primarily with Nikon and Canon equipment but some places rent Olympus, Sony, AlienBees and much more!
Here’s a list and details on reputable lens and equipment rental companies that do online/shipping for rental equipment across the US.

Borrowed Lenses is a great place to rent camera bodies, lenses, accessories, portable studio equipment and even camera bags!

Borrowed lenses

They carry:

They’re located in San Mateo, CA and do local 3day (pick-up only) rentals. Otherwise they do rentals for 1-4 weeks (listed on the website) at really good prices. Renting a camera or lens is a great idea for an important shoot where you would benefit from more quality than you usual camera or to test drive some new equipment before you buy it. See their great (***** five star) Yelp reviews!

They also do sensor cleaning for only $45!!

Glass and Gear

Glass and Gear is located in Amherst, NH and do 3 day rentals locally through Hunt’s Photo in Manchester NH. Their website says they are planning to expand to rent through other Hunt’s locations (there are a number in the New England area!)

They rent:

Rent Glass

Rent Glass does rentals for 1-3 weeks at a time although their selection seems much smaller than borrowed lenses and Glass and gear.

They rent and ship:

You can follow them on Twitter @rentglass. They now operate out of Kansas City, KS (previously Orlando FL) and do allow for pickup but don’t list a special 3 day pickup rental period like most of the other lens and equipment rental places listed.

Lens Rentals

Lens Rentals is one of the few rental places that lists more than just Nikon and Canon. They list some other great camera manufacturers.

They Rent:

They are also the only rental place that I’ve seen that has a dedicated iPhone app (a lovely and well organized looking app too!). They’re bassed out of Memphis, TN and while they offer local pickup the shortest rental period they offer at this time is 1 week.

Pro Photo Rentals

Pro Photo Rentals is based out of Boulder, CO and they offer a 4+ day rental options. They don’t force you into weeks – you can rent a lens for however long you like (4 day minimum.) They do offer a local pickup for you Boulder Colorado local folks!

They Rent:

You can find Pro Photo Rental on both Twitter @prophotorental and Flickr.

Aperture Rent

Aperturent is our last camera and lens rental service. They are run out of the Atlanta GA area and do offer 3 day local pick-up only rental terms. Otherwise their rental time frames are between 7 – 30 days (weekly.)

They Rent:

You can find Aperturent on Twitter @aperturent on flickr or facebook.

Official Rosco Strobist Kit

Terri Ann — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:14:17 +0000

This is even better than getting the free gels from Rosco or the cheap sample packs from B&H / Amvona. A Strobist gel kit.

This awesome Rosco Strobist 55-Piece Filter Kit is great for both color correcting your flash head to match your surroundings: fluorescent, tungsten and daylight. All of under $10! The kit includes the following:

46 color correcting gels
9 fun, colored gels, to play with
See a list of all the gels included here

I also recommend picking up this adapter to hold your gels. It’s Velcro enabled so if you have Velcro on your flash head already it’s great – if not try the Honl Velcro Flash Strap also under $10.

It’s perfect for your Strobist 55 set gel kit – and handy for any other use of gels on your strobe – should you want to test some sample colors from the sample packs or cut down full sheets once you find a color you are crazy about! Well worth the $15 to add a professional look to your use of gels – duck tape and non-wind resistance doesn’t always cut it in the real world!

Camera Mode: Program

Terri Ann — Sun, 31 May 2009 12:03:36 +0000

I’ve grown accustom to using the manual mode on my camera when shooting for the past year now. It gives me a heightened control and when my subject is in no rush that works just fine.

I’ve got a few important shoots coming up and I want to make sure to catch the moment without worrying about exposures. So I re-read my manual and discovered there was more to the program mode than I had earlier thought.

Yes, I re-read my manual, this would be time #5 for those of you counting and those of you who won’t read their manuals even though we tell you to – time and time again.

I had always thought the ‘p’ or program mode on my camera only let me change items like ISO, exposure compensation, white balance. And that was what differentiated it from the auto mode. I’d read this in a number of places and just assumed it was true.
To be honest, when I was reading the manual all those times I admit I skimmed over things I thought I already knew. ;)

Not on my camera! For my camera, and many others out there the ‘p’ mode acts as a simultaneous shutter priority and aperture priority mode.

How does the program mode adjust aperture and shutter speeds?

In program mode you can adjust your aperture and shutter speeds while you camera calculates the require value for the other.

Program mode will start by giving you it’s estimated values – much like what auto would choose. Then you have the ability to make your modifications. I find my program mode over compensates and often under exposes my shots, so i just set the exposure compensation +1.3 to counter act my camera’s adjustments.

So next time you’re out and about and have an inkling to switch to aperture or shutter speed priority modes to ensure you get the shot, consider giving the program mode and have access to a best of both worlds scenario.

Do you use the program mode?

How does that work out for you? What has your experience been using it?

26 Things: The Alphabet Game Worksheet

Terri Ann — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:16:17 +0000

Since I’m actually participating in the May 2008 – 26 Things photography project I figured I’d make myself a sweet little checklist to use.

The project this time is “the alphabet game” so I created a little PDF of all the letters with space to write ideas and notes.
It’s nothing too fancy because I am clearly not a graphic designer but I’ll throw it in my folder that goes everywhere with me to make sure I get all my p’s, q’s and r’s covered this month.

Download the PDF

Cool Photography Equipment & DIY Alternatives

Terri Ann — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:24:04 +0000

There’s nothing better than new toys for your camera. Here’s a list of new toys I’d love to get for my camera, great toys I already have, as well as any cost-less DIY alternatives.

We’ve also added some visitor requests – if you have something you’d like to see added to this page drop us a note in the comments!

Lenses

LensBaby – Amazing lens that gives you a different kind of control over your photograph the likes of which you’ve never seen pre-Photoshop! It’s all about compressing the lens or expanding it to get your focal point and it produces the effect of an ultra large aperture and allows you to tilt and shift the lens at it’s “sweet spot” compression to shift the focus to another spot on that plane. A back to basics and “fun” kind of lens.

DIY Lensbaby Style Tilt and Shift Lens

I’m having trouble finding sites that are still active and not 404 errors for DIY tilt/shift lenses. Here’s a post on Make anyways. And another article about a homemade t/s f2.8 but unfortunately neither provide instructions.

Diffusers

Gary Fong’s Lightsphere II – Renowned diffuser for your speedlight flash. The site shows great samples of a face on flash vs a bounced flash vs a studio setup vs the lightsphere and at less than $50 the Lightsphere seems to triumph in the samples.

DIY Dome Diffusers for your Flashes

$2 Gordosphere – $2 version looks GREAT! Doesn’t look cheap and kind-of looks like fun to make, the demo shows how to make a great “clouded” diffuser!
Light Cylinder – Uses an inverted dome to distribute the light, doesn’t look so great but is a great idea to tinker with.
Jason Lightsphere V.2 – This one looks pretty cheap but has easy to access materials to give it a try. A demo I’ve used before and had decent results, but nothing like a good diffuser.

Lumiquest Soft Screen – A great little diffuser that attaches to the hot shoe of your camera and diffuses the on-camera pop-up flash. I picked up one of these on a whim one day at the camera store and have been so glad I did, it provides a basic diffusion on your pop-up flash while still looking professional. Great for situations where you won’t be able to use your speedlight and diffuser.

DIY Soft Screen Pop-up Flash Diffuser

Suck it up and spend $15 okay? :)

Lastolite TriGrip Reflector – Great reflectors and diffusers. I personally own one of the diffusers and love it. I find it’s even a bright enough white to be a reflector. The grip is easy to use, and the compact design is great for storage and moving it around on location. The packaging didn’t come with instructions on how to fold the product back up, but the online demo did the trick. It took me well over a dozen tries before I successfully folded it up but after practice it’s very easy to fold up, pack up and be on our way!

Tripods

Gorillapod – Wrapable legs on a tripod to hold onto anything. Seems like a great tripod solution for your Digi Point and Shoot but as far as an SLR, it makes me a little nervous!

DIY Bottle Cap Tripod

Bottle Cap Tripod – I’ve never tried this, and although the bottle can’t wrap around a pole like the Gorillapod it is a very portable solution since I know I almost always have a bottle of water or soda on me.

The Pod – Bean bag tripod, I’ve seen and heard a lot about bean bags via the Tips from the Top Floor podcast (Chris loves his bean bag) but This one has the screw to mount the camera and also a strap to hold your lens safely in place while the bean bag conforms to the surface below.

DIY Beanbag

DIYBeanbag – Make your own beanbag! I like the size and shape in this DIY tutorial, very unique.

Get it Right In Camera

Warm Cards – Warm white balance cards, instead of using the 18% gray cards these are tinted blue to provide a warmer temperature when you set your white balance balance.

DIY White Balance Cards

See also: Post processing, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom or piece of white paper. Maybe just print a card of 18% gray that you’ve tinted ever so slightly blue, Printing on 4×6 index cards has always served me well for recopies, I suppose a white balance card would work too..

Climate Protection

Storm Jacket – Weather gear for your SLR. It’s not water proofing, just water protection. I can imagine this would be great not just for rainy days, but also snowy days, or days when the snow might fall from the trees. On a boat where the surf is of concern? Maybe even sand protection if in a desert climate or on a windy beach.

DIY Camera Protection

See also: Plastic bag, clear shower cap, ziploc bag.
Make your own underwater enclosure – This would make me nervous. VERY nervous…but those MIT kids are wicked smart. I think if I was to do underwater work I’d go buy an underwater camera case.