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As it’s done for the past few years, Lensrentals has rounded up its most-rented photo and video gear of the year, breaking down the most popular cameras, lenses and accessories in rotation.
The data Lensrentals provides isn’t necessarily valuable for judging the photography industry as a whole, but as noted by a Lensrentals spokesperson in an email to DPReview, it is ‘the largest inventory of photography and cinematography equipment for online rental in the U.S. [and its] annual list has become somewhat of a barometer of the equipment creatives are creating or experimenting with.’
The full collection of data is available to peruse on Lensrentals’ website, but we’ve rounded up a few key insights worth pointing out.
First up, these are the top overall rental products for the 2019 year:
- Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II
- Canon 5D Mark IV
- Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II
- Sony Alpha a7 III
- Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III
- DJI Ronin-S 3-Axis Gimbal Stabilizer
- Canon 35mm f/1.4L II
- Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS
- Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM
- Canon 50mm f/1.2L
Year over year, not much has changed. In fact, Canon’s 50mm F1.2L lens, released in 2007, is still in the top ten list more than a decade later and the top three products remain unchanged from last year (although the Canon 5D Mark IV and 70-200mm F2.8L IS II did swap spots). Additionally, the 5D Mark III still remains in the top 25 most rented products, despite being over seven years old.
As for whether DSLR or mirrorless cameras proved more popular, it turns out it was almost split down the middle. According to Lensrentals, mirrorless and DSLR cameras accounted for 49.78% and 50.22% of rented cameras, respectively. This is a dramatic increase (21%) for mirrorless cameras compared to last year, where mirrorless cameras accounted for just 29% of rentals.
On the topic of mirrorless, Sony’s E-mount still rules the roost, with 26% of total rentals. Canon’s RF and Nikon’s Z systems remain dramatically behind at 4.91% and 2.26%, respectively, but year-over-year the RF and Z systems have increased rental volume by 600%.
Below are a few more breakdowns, provided to us by Lensrentals:
Top five lens rentals by system 2019
1. Canon EF 45.5% (up 1.5%)
2. Sony E 23.9% (up 18%)
3. Nikon F 14% (down 1.5)
4. Micro Four Thirds 7% (up 9.8%)
5. Fujifilm X 3.5% (up 14%)
Top camera rentals by system 2019
1. Canon EF 36.3% (down 7.5%)
2. Sony E 27.1% (up 7.4%)
3. Nikon F 13% (down 8%)
4. Micro Four Thirds 9.23% (down 7%)
5. Fujifilm X 4.3% (up 16.7%)
Top lens rentals by brand 2019
1. Canon 35.84% (up 5.5%)
2. Sony 15.4% (up 14%)
3. Sigma 13.9% (up 17%)
4. Nikon 8.8% (up 12%)
5. Tamron 4.3% (up 21.8%)
Top camera rentals by brand 2019
1. Canon 36.2% (up 1%)
2. Sony 26.2% (up 8%)
3. Nikon 9.7% (up 6.1%)
4. Panasonic 7.66% (up 2.8%)
5. BlackMagic 4.8% (up 130%)
Top five NEW products 2019
- GoPro HERO7 Black
- Blackmagic pocket cinema camera 4K (the 6K made the top 20 list)
- Sony FE 24mm f1.4 GM
- Sony Alpha 6400
- Nikon Z6
Overall, things remain mostly consistent, aside from movement within the full-frame mirrorless market, which is still in its infancy for both Canon and Nikon. You can dig deeper into all the information over on Lensrentals’ blog post and check out the 2018, 2017 and 2016 posts as well.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)