Rent a Camera or Lens
If you’re going on a once-in-a-lifetime trip and want to bring a good camera (or at least a zoom lens), but you don’t want to shell out the money for something you’ll probably never (or rarely) use again—just rent one! It’s a lot cheaper than you’d think. And it’s exactly what I did a couple years ago when I went on an East African safari with Micato Tours.
After all, you can’t go to Africa and not take decent pictures of the wild animals, right? I snapped the pic above using a rented zoom lens, but when I returned I bought one since I loved it so much!
My travel photographer colleagues recommend renting from BorrowLenses, which rents professional cameras and/or camera lenses from Canon, Nikon and Sony for reasonable prices. No deposit is required, advanced reservations are accepted, optional insurance is offered, and the best part is you can do everything by mail (FedEx).
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I rented a great zoom lens from Borrow Lenses for our trip to Peru. It was perfect for shooting the condors at the Colca Canyon. Seamless process and great equipment.
What a splendid idea. I’m looking into Galapagos for our next big trip and renting a good camera seems perfect!
Hey Johnny,
What length or zoom lens do you need for safari? Is 300 mm long enough? Or would you suggest going higher? I recently went to safari and wanted to kick myself for only bringing up to 80 mm lens. While I go great landscape shots with the animals, I couldn’t really get a tight, close-up shot of the wildlife as they are usually far away (especially when the animals are particularly feeling shy that day). Thanks!
300mm should be good enough but those super long ones are even more impressive. Just too big for me to carry