Tag Archives: lens

Photography Equipment Rental

Oct
15
2011
by Jessy | 1 Comment

Have you ever really wanted to try a lens before you purchased?  Or maybe you have a photo shoot or a vacation that particular lens would be great for but you don’t want to make the investment yet.

When things like this come up I know many people go to lens rental sites to rent camas, lenses, and other equiment.  The main place that I have heard of is LensRentals.com as they seem to have the most availability as well as the nicest site.   There are a few others out there as well such as BorrowLenses.com, TheLensDepot.com, and CameraLensRentals.  These sites allow for day(s), week, and month rentals of equipment to fit your needs.  Granted the prices go up the longer you rent but what else would you expect?

I beging to question at what point you purchase rather than rent though.  There are several lenses and cameras that if you have them for 1 week, and rent multiple times, one would be close to purchasing.  Are there particular reasons to rent rather than purchase?  At what point do you determine to purchase rather than rent?

For now my needs are not so great as to need all of these lenses and to make regular rentals so I am still new to the idea.  I definitely think a 3 day rental would be worth the cost of you are seriously contemplating the purchase of an expensive piece of equipment.  Nothing is ever as great as knowing exactly what you are purchasing.

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Nikkor Lens 105MM

Oct
15
2011
by Jessy | 0 Comments

Super excited and decided to share.  The other day I managed to win an ebay auction on a Nikkor 105MM f/2.8 G ED IF AF-S VR Micro!

The 105MM is rumored to be one of the best current Macro and portrait lenses if you look around online and read some reviews.  Per Ken Rockwell there are some minor focus breathing issues but for the cost this cannot be beat.  The option to solve the breathing issues is the 70-180MM Macro which is at a much greater cost.

I am very excited to finally have a great lens to really get into macro work as well as some of the portraits that I have scheduled to complete soon.  I think this lens is going to be a great addition to my collection and provide me with some photography options that I have not had previously.

The lens typically goes for about $934 but if you watch amazon.com and ebay.com then you can win some auctions for the lens brand new or slightly used at a much lower price.  I know purchasing on ebay and buying used lenses always seems to concern us but I did get my wide angle on ebay and it was very used!  The lens is  a Nikkor 12-24MM f/4G ED-IF AF-S DX Zoom and as you can see from the link this typically averages in cost from 1,100 to 1,200 and I managed to purchase the lens for half that.  This lens is probably my favorite lens and has a lot of wear on the body.  The glass and function though is amazing!  For the cost savings that I have managed to get from purchasing on ebay I will continue this until I get burned.

Once the lens is here (another 5-10 business days) I will be sure to start posting images and my review of the lens.

If there are other places that you purchase lenses at a discount or other lenses that are your favorites let me know.  I would like to hear about them and rent one to try it out.  I can always learn more from other individuals and continue to improve based on your feedback.

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Lens Filters

Jun
12
2011
by Jessy | 5 Comments

Back when I used my Sony A300 I just bought filters off of ebay, and very cheap ones at that. I never knew that there really was a difference. When doing sunset pics one of my fellow photographers mentioned that I needed filters for my new camera (Nikon D7000). I agreed but since I’m finally getting serious I wasn’t sure what to get. I did some research before on the Hoya filters because at some point I would like to get into IR photography.

I must say the good Hoya IR filters are expensive and since this is still just a hobby that is on the back burner.

I did some further research lately on the hoya filters again. I wanted a UV and a circular polarizing filter. I will get my ND filters when my funds replenish again. I was able to find that Hoya has a great “introductory kit” for filters. This includes the CP, UP, and Warming filter from Hoya. The kit also comes with a nice little filter case that holds up to 4 filters. These filters were more expensive than some of the others that you find on ebay or other places but after using them only twice I must say that they are well worth the money!

I always thought of the CP being used with water and the sun but then I thought, why not the moon. With my rather cheap 55-300mm lens and the CP filter I got this image!

You can see the detail of the moon with amazing clarity. Taking this photo and seeing the clarity I was able to get with a long exposer, ISO of 100 f/22 I was taken back! Now I just want a new lens to try some more of this, that of course, will be when my funds replenish. Check out the hoya filters and do your research though, you can also find them cheaper on Amazon, but I would say they are well worth the money!
Hoya Filter Kits

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