3 Reasons to Rent a Lens for Your Next Vacation
I spent a lot of time planning our Disney vacation. A LOT. So while I planned every detail, right down to where we would be eating, when we would go on rides and what parks we would go to, I also plotted with the same diligence what camera equipment I was going to take. It was a no brainer that my Canon 6 D would be coming along with me. What was the question was: What lens should I take? I needed a few things in a lens for a vacation:
- NOT heavy. I knew Disney would mean a LOT of walking. Lugging around my camera and a heavy lens just wasn’t something I wanted to do.
- Low Aperture: I knew I would be taking a lot of photos indoors at character meals and rides and at night. I needed something that would open up to f/2.8 or wider.
- I needed to be able to go wide. For things like standing in line shots, dinner shots, and getting the whole castle in the shot without standing a mile away…things like that.
I did a lot of research, I went back and forth and finally came up with the Canon 24mm f/1.4L Wide Angle Lens 
Um. No. Not right before a trip to Disney. Not on a lens I wasn’t even REALLY sure that I was going to love.
That’s when I decided to rent it through Borrrowlenses.com.
I rented the lens for 14 days. Just so that I would have a few days before the trip to play around with it. My 14 day rental included:
- Shipment to my house with a prepaid label to send it back.
- Insurance coverage ( which is always a great idea when you rent a lens, even if you are not traveling like I was).
- And the perfect lens for me to capture all of my memories at for a fraction of the cost of the actual lens.
And let me let you in on a secret: I do this for EVERY vacation. Last year, when we went to San Fransisco, I rented the Canon 24-105 . It is an awesome lens that I would have never known I loved if I had not tried it. And when I went to New York earlier this summer, I rented the Tamron 24-70mm Lens. And learned that while it was an awesome lens, it wasn’t for me.
I loved this lens! It was exactly what I needed for indoors, wide-angle shots, night shots and even portraits. It was a very versatile lens!
But enough about me!
Here are three reasons that you need to rent a lens for your next vacation:
- You get to try before you buy. If you have been thinking about buying a lens, but don’t know if you would actually like it, rent it first! Borrowlenses.com has a large inventory of lenses that you can try out. You can rent them for as little as 3 days and as long as 30 days if you put in a custom amount of time. And if you need more time, call and let them know!
- The price. Like I said, The Canon 24 L Lens was $1449.99. The cost of renting the lens for 14 days was $180.78 which included shipping and handling, taxes, and insurance. That is much better than buying a lens that I wasn’t sure if I would love.
- To capture once in a lifetime memories with the best glass available that you would not necessarily use everyday. I loved the Canon 24 L Lens. But it’s not something I would use in my day to day shooting. But it was great to have that option to rent a lens of that caliber and have it to capture great memories on our trip.
So if you are not perfectly happy with the gear you have, I highly recommend renting with Borrowlenses.com. You might want to try a new lens for Christmas or a whole new camera system! It’s a small investment to make in order to enjoy the flexibility that comes when you rent a lens or camera gear.
If you want to rent a lens, check out my Exclusive 15% off Holiday Discount! You can get 15% off any Borrowlens.com rental! This offer ends 1/18/2o16.
What lens are you thinking about renting? I’d love to hear and get more ideas for myself!
**Thank You to Borrowlenses.com for sponsoring this post. They lent me the Canon 24 L Lens in exchange for sharing my thoughts with you on my experience. As always, all thought and opinions are my own. *
**This post contains affiliate links. I may get a small fee if you click on the links and decide to buy something. I mean, I won’t be able to buy a car, but you know, a few coins for coffee might come my way! Thanks for supporting Everyday Eyecandy! **
Oh I love Disney what fun!
Wow, this is such an incredibly smart idea that I never thought of. I am so obsessed with getting a great photo of our wonderful memories, especially when we are on vacation, so I really need to look into this option. Our trips are planned, now all I need is to find some great cameras and lenses!
I don’t have a fancy camera, but I am happy to learn that I am able to rent a lens when I get one. I surely will not know what I love or don’t love nor will I need which ones I will need or not need. I tucking this bit of knowledge away for future use.
Excuse the errors in my original comment. 🙂 I don’t have a fancy camera, but I am happy to learn that I am able to rent a lens when I get one. I surely will not know what I love or don’t love nor will I know which ones I will need or not need. I tucking this bit of knowledge away for future use.
Wow! I didn’t even know you could do that! Thanks for letting me know about BorrowedLens.com! I will definitely check them out. Your photographs turned out beautifully! I would like to experiment with a macro lens before I finally decide to buy one. Thanks for giving me this idea.
I agree! If you don’t have the lenses normally and can’t afford them, rent them out for a special event or vacation.
This looks like such a great service to take advantage of – especially for vacations. I know that there are a lot of lenses I would like to try out for various shoots and this would be a great way to shop the market a little before sinking in a bundle on a new lens or two. I will definitely check this service out very soon – thank you!
I have yet to ever rent a lens, but this is a great idea. I love my camera so very much and cart it everywhere, but you are right – it gets super heavy after all day at Disney. I have two really good Canon lens that I bring with me to Disney and most trips and My back is usually killing me when I get home!
Ok so this is the smartest idea I have heard about cameras and lens, I did not know there was such a thing as borrowing lens but I can see the appeal and the attraction. Looks like you took some amazing shots of your trip to Disney
For the last several years, my husband and I have used our phones instead of standard cameras but I can definitely see how the quality would be much better with a camera and proper lens! Thank you for sharing these great tips!
I would have never thought to do that! What a great idea! And those pictures are priceless 🙂
WHAT?! They have such services as this out there?!?! where have they been all my life? Seriously this is awesome to know about. Wow, I am so excited now that when we go back to Disney, I will be renting my lense too!!!
This is SO cool! I would love to use this to try out several lenses for my camera before committing to buying one and this would be the perfect way to test them out! Thanks for sharing!
I had no idea this was even an option! I will definitely be looking into this for my next vacation. Right now I only have the lens that came with my DSLR but I have been so nervous about selecting one I don’t like. Who knew I could rent and take away a bit of that nervousness..
I have never thought about borrowing a lens, that is so much smarter!
I did NOT know you could rent lenses! That’s pretty sweet, and you can out with some great Disney photo memories with your rented lens!