Review of CameraLensRentals.com

Hello All~

Several posts ago I talked about equipment buying/selling, sharing, borrowing, and renting. Since then I had the opportunity to try out one of the rental joints, Cameralensrentals.com.

I'll save you all the suspense, the experience was good. I placed the order online. Shortly thereafter, they confirmed availability and acceptance of my order. Lens arrived on a Thursday just like they said they would. I ordered a Canon 24-70 f2.8L and the Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS. My official rental period (I chose 10 days) didn't start until the Friday. I like that.

The lenses were wrapped in bubblewrap inside softcases (with UV filters, caps, and hoods) and then packed well in lots of scalloped foam in an appropriately sized box. Also in the box was instructions, an invoice, and a return Fedex label (shipping was part of my original cost).

The price was cheaper or at least on par with the other 1/2 dozen places I shopped and CLR offered a 10% for a first-time user. Not too shabby.

The lenses seemed to be in fine shape, although I expected more out of L glass. They weren't as amazingly or consistently sharp, bright, or fast as I thought they would be. Of course, this is no reflection on CLR. Just on these lenses and perhaps my overzealous expectations.

The day before I was due to ship the lenses back, I received an e-mail reminder from CLR just as they told me they would. The day of shipping I got an email asking that I replace the return label with a new one they were sending via email (apparently to change the shipping from ground to air or express). They wanted the lens back on Wednesday rather than Friday. As long as it was their extra dime, fine by me!

Then I got a call to once again remind me to ship, but it was already happily with the Fedex/Kinko's folk by that point! So, as long as they are happy with the condition the lenses are in when they see them tomorrow (and I believe them to be the same way I got them), I'd have to give the whole experience a big thumbs-up. CLR was easy to work with and did everything they promised. Having said that, I see no reason not to use them again, but I am interested to know how the other rental joints work. So, if you have experience with other photography equipment rental outfits, please comment on this blog and let everybody know about it. Thanks!