sharing equipment & equipment rental

Equipment. Camera bodies, lenses, flashes, brackets, remote triggers, lights, stands, umbrellas, softboxes, filters, cases, computers, software, plugins, etc. etc. etc.....

Adds up. Fast and to a high sum. So what's the little guy supposed to do? For starters, most of us do what I did. Start small and trade-up, trade-up, trade-up. It's a little trickier than it sounds because in the age of digital equipment, you have to time your trade-ups, sales, and buys very carefully. Sell too soon and you're not getting all the value out of your gear. Wait too long and the equipment is fast obsolete and worth only pennies on the dollar.

Another appealing option, especially in the current economic climate is some sharing within the community. When all your photographic acquaintances are busy and perhaps feeling competitive, this proves difficult. In tougher times like we are experiencing now, I suspect that many photographers are more idle than they like and their gear is just sitting around, too. In this situation, I think sharing or even renting gear from person to person is an ideal solution.

Between the economy and the influx of newbies because of the relative ease and accessibility of digital, photography as a business is under attack. Working together in the photographic community to foster the maintainance of commerce and quality is one way to preserve our craft and our business. And renting gear from person to person (rather than from the online sources that I will discuss shortly) keeps cashflow in the hands of the photographers.

Of course, another option is online rental of equipment. There are many outlets for renting equipment. Primarily lenses and bodies, but in some cases, lights and other equipment as well.

Some options include:

• Rentglass
• LensRentals
• ZipLens
• LensProToGo
• BorrowLenses
• Calumet
• CameraLensRentals

I've heard good things about all of these. I just placed an order with the last one, CameraLensRentals. I'll post something about that experience in a few weeks after I see how that goes.

And lastly, perhaps the best option of all might very well be a rich relative that likes to spoil you or a winning lottery ticket, or some insider knowledge on the stock exchange!

Please comment with ideas about how we can maintain our business and the quality of our work in these uncertain economic times. Also, any personal experiences with the online rental joints mentioned about or any others that you recommend.