Hiring Camera Lenses

[Wildbear]

Hi Guys,

I recently hired a 100-400mm canon lens for my Honeymoon, ordered it Wednesday afternoon and it was in Scotland at my Mums by 9am the next day.

It cost a total of £136 including insurance and delivery for 24 full days not including delivery days and return days. The lens was immaculate and as new condition.

Certainly the cheapest I have seen but the service, A1.

This service is no doubt worth it if you are looking at buying a new lens and want to test it out first.

Hope you find this helpful,

Mike

[K9photo]

Thank you for sharing that. I'm looking for a new lens and don't have the cash to make a mistake in what I buy so this is a great idea.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by K9photo

Thank you for sharing that. I'm looking for a new lens and don't have the cash to make a mistake in what I buy so this is a great idea.

although it is worth noting that some lense hire insurance doesnt cover you for theft (although most lens hire places do), and there are some "interesting" provisos in terms and conditions which could make it an exceedingly expensive way to try out lenses if you were unlucky enough to have one stolen.

more expensive hirers have much more comprehensive cover as part of the package.

However if all you want to do is try some lenses before buying , imo hiring isnt the way to go - a better and cheaper option is to do a photo course (like those advertised by wild arena, wildshots, light and land etc) they will likely have a number of lenses you can try (assuming you have nikon or canon) plus other photographer may be happy for you to try their gear. plus of course you will also pick up some pointers on technique and hopefully get some great shots.

As an even cheaper option you could come to one of the wab meets (usually free except for admission to where ever we go) and again gives you the chance to meet some very experienced photographers and quite possibly have a go with their gear.

[momji1971]

sorry, just a quick one. How do I find out about WAB meets? Sounds great. Do they happen in the North West?

kind regards.
Stu.

[monkey]

Hi Momji1971
Have a look at the section 'meetings and events' in the main forum screen and you will see meetings such as Thursley and minsmere etc which are all WAB meetings plus there are other odd WAB meets during the year that any WAB member can organise in their area of anything they think will be of interest to other members, I have just organised a Deer Watching meet in the New Forest to watch the deer rutting. It was the weekend before last and you can read all about all the meets on the threads. I would recommend going to one or organising one as its great to meet everyone, good fun and you learn so much

Linda

[Wildbear]

Originally Posted by eeyore

although it is worth noting that their insurance doesnt cover you for theft (which most other lens hire places do), and there are some "interesting" provisos in their terms and conditions which could make it an exceedingly expensive way to try out lenses if you were unlucky enough to have one stolen.

I would just like to point out Lenses For Hire, 'DO' cover you for theft

We all have our recommendations, so always look around and read terms and conditions properly before making your decision. The terms and conditions are always worded in way you must read a few times to understand fully. I to looked into Calumet, but opted for LFH instead.
I suppose they could both be good, I just recommended the one that offered me what I was after and gave me a fantastic service.

Mike

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Wildbear

I would just like to point out Lenses For Hire, 'DO' cover you for theft

We all have our recommendations, so always look around and read terms and conditions properly before making your decision. The terms and conditions are always worded in way you must read a few times to understand fully. I to looked into Calumet, but opted for LFH instead.
I suppose they could both be good, I just recommended the one that offered me what I was after and gave me a fantastic service.

Mike

Then I stand corrected - it was just that about a year ago there was a big go round on the warehouse express forum where their boss was explaining that he couldnt cover theft because it would result in a spate of putative thefts by users.

however it would seem from what you say that they have changed the policy - if so this is excelent news as their prices are very keen and I may well check them out in the near future.

[StewartR]

Perhaps I could clarify this, hopefully without breaching the forum's rules about commercial postings. I'm the owner of LensesForHire.co.uk.

When we opened our doors in January 2008 we weren't able to offer any insurance on the lenses we hired out, because our insurers wouldn't let us extend the cover to our customers. In March we found ourselves a new insurer who would allow this, but they were only willing to offer our customers cover against damage - they were concerend that there might be a rash of "losses", especially as we don't require customers to leave deposits. But anyway in May, after a couple more months trading, we were able to persuade them to upgrade the cover so that our customers are now covered against theft, loss or accidental damage.

There are the usual "small print" exclusions - don't leave stuff on view in cars, lock your doors at night, don't do anything stupidly negligent - but that's common to pretty much all insurance policies. So far our insurers seem to be pretty reasonable people to deal with.