Lensrentals News and Alerts

A Letter To Our Customers

Published July 6, 2016

To Our Customers:

Ten years ago, if you wanted to try out some photography equipment, if you lived in a large market, your local camera store would have a few beat up copies of popular lenses for rent (with a 100% deposit). For the rest of us, we didn’t even have that option. I had this great idea to start an online rental offering, no deposits necessary and shared my idea with people I knew. Almost everyone said I would get robbed blind and lose every dime I had. Almost everyone said you’d get junky, beat-up rental equipment and were wasting your money renting online. Almost everyone said that my idea would be a massive failure.

I say ‘almost everyone’ because a few other people thought it was a good idea, too. You guys, our customers, thought it was a good idea. We’d never met each other unless emails count as a meeting. But we trusted each other because we all wanted this to work. Because we few thought that getting to use equipment for a few days or  weeks at a reasonable price just made sense.

Almost everyone turned out to be dead wrong and we few turned out to be right. Lensrentals thrived beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Sure, I took risks, and the people who joined me here worked their butts off. But you guys, our customers, were our partners in proving ‘almost everyone’ wrong. Without you, it never would have happened.

Ten years later, saying thank you just isn’t adequate. There are no words that would possibly express my gratitude for all of you who supported Lensrentals and created our success; you folks who shared in proving ‘almost everyone’ wrong.

There are no words, but I believe actions are more important than words.  Everyone who works here tries to show our gratitude in our actions. Whether it’s making all of our testing data public, making sure your rental arrives in better condition than you expected, drawing a dinosaur on your shipping box because you requested it, or just talking you through a difficult set-up on the phone, we want to show you our gratitude with every rental. We want you to know it’s more than just business. It’s a partnership between you and us. You’ve helped us achieve our goals; we want to make certain we help you achieve yours.    

We wouldn’t be doing what we love to do every day without you. We want our actions, our attitude, and our service let you know, every time you rent from us, that we are grateful that you have partnered with us along this journey.

 

Roger Cicala

Founder

 

Author: Roger Cicala

I’m Roger and I am the founder of Lensrentals.com. Hailed as one of the optic nerds here, I enjoy shooting collimated light through 30X microscope objectives in my spare time. When I do take real pictures I like using something different: a Medium format, or Pentax K1, or a Sony RX1R.

Posted in Lensrentals News and Alerts
  • Color Crush

    When you can only see an opportunity that other’s can’t, it can only go up or down. I’ll take the 50/50 odds any day in a push for success. Too many people waste time in the gray area of doubt.

  • Echo

    Great work Roger! Almost all of my favorite photos were taking using your equipment!

    I just need you guys to open a Canadian franchise!

  • Thomas Alicoate

    Congratulations for 10 Years! I was very excited to find your website many years ago. I am even more excited every time a package shows up at my door. It is better than Christmas morning. Thank you also for your blog posts and reviews. You have truly built something great here.

  • Marc Hunter

    I cannot thank you enough for taking the risk. I am happy to be one of
    the few that believed in you and thank you for trusting me with your
    equipment. Because of you I have had the opportunity to take photos with
    lenses and cameras that I could only dream of. For that I thank you and
    I am so very grateful. Congratulations on 10 years in business and here
    is to at least 10 more!

  • Roger, you all are simply the best. It is such a joy to deal with your company!! Keep up the great work.

  • Maria

    Congratulations and thank you very much! I have received nothing but good service from you (and lensauthority) and I happily recommend you often, specially to people trying to decide between gear who didn’t even consider renting. Thank you for making our lives easier and happier and giving us a chance to play with awesome gear that we shouldn’t buy (yet) =)

  • Piotr Krochmal

    Hi Greetings from Poland! Congratulation for making such great site! Your technical blog is very important source of knowledge. Thanks for sharing your knowledge! For me it is also a confirmation that quality is the basis of our work style.
    I hope that the open workshop in Europe (maybe in Poland) so I could send all the equipment for calibration. And sometimes borrow something. 🙂
    all the best for all crew!

  • Erich Morse

    Thanks for providing us with this amazing service Roger. Hats off to you and your team.

  • Tim

    Such a joy to witness someone making a dollar by providing an honest service for a fair price. Very rare in this world which is increasingly dominated by greed. Here is to many more anniversarys. From a fan down under:)

  • Phil

    Happy anniversary and thanks both for lensrentals – about the only business it’s almost a pleasure to give money too – and for all the work on the blog!

  • Wolfeye S

    I just sent back my first ever lensrentals.com lens rental. Everything went perfectly. I couldn’t afford the Nikon 14-24mm lens this year and was visiting a submarine while on vacation. Lensrentals made it a non-issue. Thank you for offering regular folks the chance to use gear they wouldn’t otherwise have access to.

  • ZM

    Hi Roger! Is there any open position? I happened to be good at drawing dinosaurs!

  • LAB 2.35:1

    Roger & LR team – thanks! Great service, great solutions, great resources… what’s not to like! I’m not one to loose my head going over “internet expert reviews” and prefer to make my opinions based on first-hand experiences: and you are the reason I’m able to do exactly that. In fact, a new Sony 24-70 F2.8 GM is arriving from you later this evening to help me decide whether it’s worth actually buying it!

    Keep it up and best of luck for the next 10 years!

  • rogério inácio

    I Thank you all for your excellent work. I’m from Portugal and I do regret I canot be your customer. Many times I found myself thinking of experimenting some equipment before buying it, but we don’t have anything like LR. Best of luck for you all!

  • Omesh Singh

    Congrats Roger and the LR team. If only I lived in the US I’d be able to take advantage of the great service you offer. Hope business goes from strength to strength.

  • Brad Snyder

    Thank you, Roger! Both for the opportunity to explore equipment and for building a company of people who are genuinely wonderful to interact with.

  • Kevin Crosby

    No, thank you Roger for allowing me to use equipment that I would have never been able to, whether it was just for a single use project or for budgetary reasons.

Follow on Feedly