Equipment

Most Popular Photography and Videography Gear Rented in 2017

As we put in our final weeks of 2017, it’s important to reflect on all the exciting things that happened over the year, and focus on what we can do even better for 2018. As always, we like to put a bow on the year and share with you our most rented gear of the year. 2017 was our biggest year ever, and so, let’s go through some of the equipment that was the most rented of 2017.

Most Popular Photography & Videography Gear of 2017
1 Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II 11 Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS
2 Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II 12 Canon 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro
3 Canon 5D Mark III 13 Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II
4 Canon 5D Mark IV 14 Canon 85mm f/1.2L II
5 Sony Alpha a7S II 15 Canon LP-E6N Battery
6 Sony NP-FW50 Battery 16 Nikon D750
7 Canon 50mm f/1.2L 17 Sennheiser G3 Wireless Mic Kit -Freq A
8 Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM 18 Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS
9 Canon 6D 19 Canon 35mm f/1.4L II
10 Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L 20 Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L III

 

As you could guess if you’ve seen this type of data in the past, a lot of our gear rented is more practical than anything else. Not much has changed from previous years, with the 24-70mm and 70-200mm’s of the world taking the cake as the most popular gear for the year. And the margins are pretty significant. While I can’t divulge actual sales numbers, I can say that the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II and Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II out rented every other lens three times over, and are our two most popular items by a significant margin. Another surprise is that the Canon 5d Mark III is still renting at the same level as the Canon 5d Mark IV, proving once again that cameras from nearly 6 years ago are still incredibly capable machines. Finally, Sony out rented Nikon this year and is slowly closing the gap to Canon.

But the most surprising information above might come from the Sony NP-FW50 Battery in 5th place. Yes, the Canon 85mm f/1.2L II, Nikon D750, and all of Sigma’s Art Series lenses were beat out by a battery. If nothing else, it’s a humbling reminder to us at Lensrentals.com that we serve a huge utility purpose within the industry, and a reminder to everyone else that the Sony mirrorless systems still have a long way to go in terms of battery life, and at least one backup battery is almost a requirement when using the Sony systems.

However, we also like to focus the spotlight on some of the new equipment put out into the wild, and highlight some of the new products that seem to have the most hype within the industry, so list below, is the most rented new gear from 2017.

Most Popular New Photo & Video Gear of 2017
1 Panasonic GH5 11 Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro 4.6K (EF)
2 Sony Alpha a6500 12 Sigma Cine 18-35mm T2 (Canon EF)
3 Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 SP Di VC USD G2 13 Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 X Power OIS II
4 Sony Alpha a9 14 Easyrig Minimax
5 Fuji X100F 15 Freefly Movi Pro Handheld Bundle
6 Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Art 16 Sony E 18-110mm f/4 G PZ OSS
7 Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS 17 Sony FE 85mm f/1.8
8 Canon 6D Mark II 18 Canon EOS C200 EF Cinema Camera
9 Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II 19 Fuji GFX 50S Medium Format Mirrorless
10 Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM 20 Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art

 

For reference to the changes, I’ve also attached our table for the most popular gear released in 2016 from the article we put together last year —

Most Popular New Photo & Video Gear of 2016
1 Canon 5D Mark IV 11 Blackmagic Design URSA Mini 4K (EF)
2 Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM 12 Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM
3 Sony PXW-FS5 XDCAM w/ FS RAW Upgrade 13 Fuji X-Pro2
4 Sony Alpha a6300 14 Sony Cyber-Shot RX10 III
5 Canon 1DX Mark II 15 DJI Focus Wireless Follow Focus System
6 Nikon D500 16 Blackmagic Design URSA Mini 4.6K (PL)
7 Sigma 20mm f/1.4 DG HSM A1 Art for Canon 17 Nikon D5
8 Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT 18 Manfrotto LYKOS Bi-Color LED
9 Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 DC HSM A1 Art for Canon 19 Fuji X-T2
10 Canon 80D 20 DJI Osmo Pro Gimbal w/ Zenmuse X5 Camera

 

Does anything on these lists surprise you? Think we’ll see any surprises for the upcoming year? Let us know what you think in the comments below, and stay tuned for another article where the staff of Lensrentals goes through and lists their favorite new pieces of equipment for 2017 later next week.

 

 

Author: Zach Sutton

I’m Zach and I’m the editor and a frequent writer here at Lensrentals.com. I’m also a commercial beauty photographer in Los Angeles, CA, and offer educational workshops on photography and lighting all over North America.

Posted in Equipment
  • Vladyslav Kosulin

    I am surprised D5 numbers lag 1DxII so much. Canon glass is the main driving factor, IMHO. Nikon needs equivalent sports glass.
    And D850 sales can be hit hard by SONY a7III and rIII

  • Vladyslav Kosulin

    Yep. And being the SONY camcorder user, I buy 3rd party batteries that provide 90% capacity for half the price.

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