Renting a Waste of $$$ ?

Why rent when lenses hold value so well? I see a lot of experienced photographers recommending to the newbies they experiment by renting a few lenses before deciding which to purchase. This really seems like a waste of money. Trying out just a handful of lenses for a very short period of time adds up quickly.

A 70-200 2.8L IS II costs $140 (nearly 10% of the purchase price) to rent for just one week after paying for shipping and insurance.

I'd rather patiently search the used market for a good price and have the lens for a couple months. If I decide after thorough testing the lens isn't a good fit, I can sell it for little or no loss.

Am I missing something?

Some (most?) people don't have the $2000+ up front.

I'm not talking about renting because you can't afford to buy, I'm talking about renting to find out if you want to buy.

Several photogs are renting prior to purchasing just to make sure they are making the right decision. Seems like a waste of $ to me.

Kylemorgan88 wrote in post #13618334
I'm not talking about renting because you can't afford to buy, I'm talking about renting to find out if you want to buy.

Several photogs are renting prior to purchasing just to make sure they are making the right decision. Seems like a waste of $ to me.

Ah. Well, then yes, I tend to agree.

Yea, if you're a high roller and have money to throw at lenses, you could just buy them all up and not worry about the ones that don't suit your needs. The average person is not going to have $2000 to throw down multiple times to "try out" a lens, let alone once. Renting allows the shooter to experiment with lenses that they would typically no look at.

I have been thinking about a 24-70 or 24-105 but I already have a Tamron 17-50 and a 28-75 which were a third the price of an L and arguably about as good. No way I drop $1200 on an L to find out its not much better than what I have. I am probably renting the 24-70, it's like $90 for a week. That's well worth it to me.

Again, I understand the need and desire to rent a lens because purchasing is not a financially viable option.

But for those actually in the market to purchase a lens, but are unsure which to purchase, renting seems like a good way to deplete the purchasing funds.

For example, let's pretend I want a 70-200 f4, but am not sure if I need the IS version. Obviously I have $1K to spend or I would not be considering these two lenses. Renting both will cost me $200 which is 40% of the entire purchase price of a used non-IS 70-200 f4.

Find a local shop that will let you rent them for a day. I wouldn't pay $140 to rent a lens for a week, but I'll pay $20-40 to rent one for the weekend. That's enough time to get a feel for whether or not its a lens I'm really interested in.

if you buy new the hit you'd take by having to sell a lens that didn't work for you is probably going to be more than the rental cost...

yes if you're buying used then it doesn't make that much sense...but not everyone is comfortable buying used gear

I have rented a few lenses. All the lenses I have rented were Canon L series glass.I am just an amature who wants to take high quality pictures. After reading countless threads about differnt lenses it is tough to decide on which ones to buy.For example, some say primes are much sharper than zooms. There seems to be no clear consensus on this so I rented some prime lenses to find out for myself. I found out that I would rather have zoom lenses. The local shop rents Canon lenses for about 30 dollars for the weekend.It was 30 dollars well spent to find out I prefer zoom lenses.

I've picked up at a lens rental places several times. Most of the time, the other customer was a hired gun doing a shoot. Makes perfect sense for them: the price of renting is small compared to what they make, no need to mess with ebay or craigslist, lenses guaranteed to work, and they probably have better things to do than mess around with selling it back out.

I've rented the 600mm when I'm shooting surfing on the north shore of Oahu. A week with it is under $400. If I needed it more often, I'd find one to purchase but it's a once a year kind of thing (November).

Kylemorgan88 wrote in post #13618334
I'm not talking about renting because you can't afford to buy, I'm talking about renting to find out if you want to buy.

Several photogs are renting prior to purchasing just to make sure they are making the right decision. Seems like a waste of $ to me.

I absolutly feel the same way. Used lenses go for 10% lower than Amazon/ BHphoto prices around here if they are mint. The rental is a guarantied loss of 10%. At least with buying new there is a good chance you will end up liking the lens and loose nothing. Buying used is a free rental. I bought a Tammy 28-75 used, had it for 2 years and sold it at a profit.

If I wanted to test a lens I buy it use it for a month or more and sell if I don't like it. Much cheaper than renting. I can't find how the lens behaves and whether I like it or not by renting it for a weekend.

Renting is perfect when you can bill the client for it...