About a month ago I was planning a trip and wanted a good lens for some landscape shots, I only have my kit lens and a Nifty Fifty. There are quite a few options for renting lenses and they all vary in price. Of course the first place I checked was my local photography store. Dropping in, picking out a lens and renting couldn’t be bad right? Sure the shop is a dangerous place for a gear junkie like me, full of bags, gadgets, printers and all kinds of stuff made to devour paychecks but I could put my blinders on and just check for rentals (Or so I always tell myself even though last time I spent $100 before I knew what happened). Well I’m damn glad I checked their online prices first. I was looking to do some landscape shooting and was going to be hiking at least a 3 mile slick rock trail so I wanted a lens that wasn’t a bazooka but could still give me some really sharp images. I got some advice from some friends that are much better photographers than I am and decided on the Canon EF 24-70mm F/2.8L lens that was super sharp and would be a good walk around lens while I was down in Moab.
I hopped online to check the price at the local store…$60 a day. So for my trip I was looking at $240 at least. I was only going for a weekend and that was more money than I was going to spend on my entire trip, even with $4 a gallon gas. So I checked out a few online shops seeing which ones seemed the best. Borrowlenses.com seemed like they had the best looking site and inventory and their prices were great. I got my lens for a week, with insurance and two way shipping for $96 ($26 shipping, $14 insurance). They verified my shipping address and confirmed my order a month out so that I knew I would have my lens when the trip came and that I still had time to add equipment if I wanted to without making a separate order.
Week of the trip came I got an email notification letting me know it shipped and I made plans to pick it up from Fed Ex. The only issue I had is that the orders must be signed for, which is completely understandable considering the value of the lens. I was stuck at work and not at home so I had to call Fed Ex that evening and make arrangements to pick up the package the next day. I had planned for this which is why I had the package delivered on a Wednesday when I knew I wouldn’t be leaving until Friday, I just moved into a new neighborhood that Fed Ex for some reason cannot find.
The lens came packed in foam but actually not as much as I expected. I figured maybe a pelican case or different foam because I don’t trust Fed Ex or any shipping company to not break things. The lens however was fine and came with a hood as well as the return shipping label and instructions in case anything had happened in transit. A day later lens in hand I headed down for my vacation snapping away and testing out a lens I would love to have and seeing if I really needed it. Sadly, the weather wasn’t great and I picked spring break and National Park Week (free entrance) to go down so getting shots without tourists in them was damn near impossible.
Sending the lens back was super easy, and I even got a reminder email that it needed to be postmarked by the next day so that I wouldn’t get late fees. I just popped the lens back in the box slapped on the label and dropped it off at Fed Ex, thinking that this could become a dangerous new addiction. In fact if I lived in any of the California locations that you can pick up orders locally from Borrowlenses.com I would probably be trying out new glass all the time. So if you are looking for a great way to try out a new lens or maybe taking a trip and want to take some better pictures with a lens out of your price range I highly recommend Borrowlenses.com. It was much cheaper than my local alternatives and a completely painless experience with great customer service, they even respond via twitter and I love when a company does that.
