There are lots of reasons you may need to rent photo and video equipment. You may need a backup camera for a big job, a specialist lens for an unusual client request, or perhaps you just want to thoroughly test something before investing. While some manufacturers offer a try-before-you-buy scheme, camera and lens rentals prove time and time again to be a godsend to photographers who are after short-term use of a particular item.
For two years in a row, the Canon EOS R5 has been the most popular camera rental. While the production of DSLRs may have ground to a halt (except for Pentax which is working on a brand new full-frame DSLR), lots of photographers are still using them.
Canon also grabbed the second and third spots with the Canon RF 28-70mm f/2L coming second and the Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS in third place. Perhaps people don't just rent a camera body alone?
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Slipping into fourth place was the video-centric A7S III which, incidentally, could soon be abolished in favor of the FX II according to a wild rumor. Sony’s full-frame cinema camera, the FX6 came in fifth while Canon appears again in sixth place with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II.
One of the most surprising things about these results is that the entire 20 top most rented products were either Canon or Sony. Despite the popularity of Nikon, Fujifilm, Panasonic, and OM Sytsems (although less so) not a single item appeared in Lens Rentals' list.
Although these results are interesting and provide a small amount of insight into the industry, these stats are from one US-based company. They don’t take into account worldwide rental trends or what is being rented from sites such as Fat Llama (which allows the average Joe to rent out their kit and make a bit of extra money).
Between 2022 and 2023, there were some pretty big changes in the most rented equipment but in both years the rental field was dominated by Canon and Sony. Admittedly you can't be that surprised – these two brands demand the biggest market share with 33.39% and 32.67% respectively in 2023.
It could also come down to the fact these are the brands the pros prefer and therefore have more need to rent equipment for jobs. Perhaps they're the brands that are most reassuring to some clients?
No matter the reasons though, unless we were to survey every rental house in the world, calling the Canon EOS R5 the world's top rented product in 2023 isn’t completely true – unless we’re strictly talking about LensRentals – but it's definitely interesting.
Not ready to make the move to mirrorless? The best DSLRs still offer incredible image quality, fast autofocus, and fast burst speeds.
