Top Rented Photo and Video Products of 2023
Around this time every year, we page through our rental data for the year and find the most popularly rented gear for the calendar year. As one of the largest rental houses in the world, we think it provides some good insight into the industry, and what to look forward to in the coming years’ trends in photography and videography equipment. This year had a lot of interesting statistics and trends, as most of the industry has migrated over to mirrorless platforms. We have a lot of data to go over, so let’s look at the most popular gear from 2023.
Retaining the crown from last year, the Canon R5 is still our most popular rental in 2023. But while we can go through and look at some of the highlights, let’s also post our most popular gear list for 2022, so we can see what changed.
Between the two, we can see some pretty big changes in the gear lineup from last year, and this year. Perhaps most surprising is that the Canon R6 has fallen in the ranks pretty considerably, but the Canon R6 Mark II didn’t fill the void left. Additionally, RED fell off of the top 20 list, as more budget cinema cameras like the Sony FX6 and Canon C70 found their places in the top ten.
How we determine these top twenty lists each year is by revenue, so by that nature, top rentals are always skewed – since it would take a $40K camera far fewer rentals to climb the ranks than a $600 camera. So for this year, we decided to also include a list of the most rented gear for 2023 – despite the list being a little less interesting.
While we can’t share the number of rentals for each of these products, we can show you the most rented gear, and say that each of these products is in the thousands of rentals – meaning we rent several of these products each day. As we’ve said in previous years, our most rented products are always the most practical – batteries and memory cards. While they’re getting better, mirrorless cameras still don’t have the battery life of a DSLR, so it’s typically recommended to have at least one additional battery if you’re renting a camera. And when the batteries can be rented for a couple additional dollars, we end up renting out a lot of spare batteries with our orders.
But now that we have that out of the way, let’s dive further into the stats, and look at camera brand market shares. This data was pulled from our rentals to determine which camera & lens brands are the most rented in our inventory. So let’s look at what the numbers have to say.
| Camera Manufacturer | Market Share 2022 | Market Share 2023 | Market Share Change % |
| Canon | 35.93% | 33.39% | -7.08% |
| Sony | 31.17% | 32.67% | 4.81% |
| Blackmagic | 5.77% | 5.22% | -9.46% |
| Nikon | 5.57% | 5.59% | 4.09% |
| Panasonic | 4.23% | 4.59% | 8.50% |
| Leica | 3.74% | 4.19% | 12.12% |
| RED | 3.60% | 3.47% | -3.64% |
| Fuji | 1.85% | 2.20% | 19.02% |
| GoPro | 1.83% | 2.02% | 10.07% |
| Insta360 | 1.28% | 1.21% | -4.98% |
| BirdDog | 1.59% | 1.15% | -27.26% |
| ARRI | 0.76% | 0.66% | -12.58% |
On the camera rentals, we have Canon leading the race – but Sony significantly closing the gap to make the race neck and neck. When comparing the numbers to last year’s numbers, you can really see the gain in ground Sony has done on Canon. Perhaps more surprising is the fall off Blackmagic has had on the list – which is less surprising when you realize they haven’t had any significant releases for the year until a month or so ago. With the latest release of the Blackmagic Cinema 6K, we suspect they’ll gain some ground next year and bounce back well. The numbers are pretty explanatory otherwise, so let’s look at the Lens Brand’s market share.
| Lens Manufacturer | Market Share 2022 | Market Share 2023 | Market Share Change % |
| Canon | 37.08% | 37.61% | 1.42% |
| Sony | 19.43% | 20.47% | 5.38% |
| Sigma | 9.59% | 8.69% | -9.34% |
| Nikon | 8.72% | 8.60% | -1.37% |
| Zeiss | 3.10% | 2.49% | -19.93% |
| Fuji | 2.97% | 3.12% | 5.00% |
| Angenieux | 2.12% | 1.93% | -9.16% |
| Tamron | 2.08% | 2.59% | 24.17% |
| Fujinon | 1.91% | 1.75% | -8.28% |
| Leica | 1.62% | 1.43% | -11.70% |
| Panasonic | 1.49% | 1.42% | -4.55% |
| Atlas | 1.38% | 1.19% | -13.73% |
| DZOFILM | 1.30% | 1.79% | 37.45% |
| Tokina | 1.09% | 0.65% | -40.65% |
| Olympus | 1.00% | 1.08% | 8.78% |
| Venus Optics | 1.00% | 1.07% | 7.39% |
On the lens side of things, Canon maintains its significant lead over the competition, which is not surprising, as Canon EF (and now RF) has managed to staple itself as an industry standard in the videography market. Additional surprises in this data are Zeiss’ significant fall and Tamron’s rise. But with the transition to mirrorless platforms, our lens lineups have gotten pretty convoluted, so let’s look at rentals based on lens mount, to see which lens mount is performing the best.
| Mount | 2022 Rentals | 2023 Rentals | Change |
| Sony E | 25.90% | 28.44% | 9.83% |
| Canon EF | 30.69% | 26.31% | -14.29% |
| Canon RF | 18.92% | 21.33% | 12.76% |
| Nikon F | 8.44% | 6.80% | -19.44% |
| Fuji | 3.64% | 4.17% | 14.38% |
| Nikon Z | 2.59% | 3.50% | 34.98% |
| Micro 4/3rds | 3.76% | 3.24% | -13.68% |
| PL Mount | 2.05% | 2.17% | 5.93% |
| L Mount | 1.38% | 1.69% | 22.61% |
| Leica M | 0.74% | 0.60% | -19.11% |
| Hasselblad X | 0.20% | 0.34% | 67.29% |
As you can see, Canon EF is finally losing ground as Canon’s RF comes in to replace it. This transition has allowed Sony E to top the list of lens mounts – though I suspect Canon’s RF will retake the top space next year – as they’ve had the most aggressive lens development cycle. Other changes continue to show the transition to mirrorless as Nikon’s F mount falls in rentals, while Nikon Z significantly jumps in orders. Fuji has also gained some ground (though we don’t have GF and X-series lenses in their own category, so it’s hard to tell which platform is doing the best of the two). And finally, while the L-mount is gaining ground, it still has a long way to go before it becomes a universally accepted mount as they planned on their release.
So this concludes our look into the stats for 2023. Did any of these numbers surprise you? Feel free to chime in in the comments below. And stay tuned, as we’ll have a second article next week – where we look at new products, and the staff picks their favorites for the year.
20 Comments
David Bateman ·
Can you list the gear % for manufacturer of gear rented and then bought to own?
I wonder if the listed manufacturers of gear to own would be different.
OliJoe ·
That would be interesting to see as well. I wonder why there is such Canon dominance. Not that they don’t deserve it. Obviously they are still the go-to for weddings, from my observations. But do people rent for every contract job?
If it is such a needed commodity, why not buy it at that point?
Regardless, data on rentals that result in purchase would be fascinating.
Ryan Hill ·
We didn’t pull purchase data this time around, but it’s something I can definitely look into in the future. You’re right that our purchase numbers look pretty different from our rental numbers, at least on a product by product basis.
David Bateman ·
Can you list the gear % for manufacturer of gear rented and then bought to own?
I wonder if the listed manufacturers of gear to own would be different.
OliJoe ·
That would be interesting to see as well. I wonder why there is such Canon dominance. Not that they don't deserve it. Obviously they are still the go-to for weddings, from my observations. But do people rent for every contract job?
If it is such a needed commodity, why not buy it at that point?
Regardless, data on rentals that result in purchase would be fascinating.
Ryan Hill ·
We didn't pull purchase data this time around, but it's something I can definitely look into in the future. You're right that our purchase numbers look pretty different from our rental numbers, at least on a product by product basis.
Supreme Dalek ·
I get it that you can’t disclose numbers of rentals for business reasons, but still I can’t help being skeptical that some of the market-share changes are statistically significant at the hundredths-of-a-percent level. What would you suggest is a judicious amount of rounding?
Ryan Hill ·
Up to you! I’d agree that you can’t really draw any conclusions from the small differences in market share year to year. It mostly comes down to who released a new camera early in the calendar year. It’s better to look at patterns over a long period of time. While this data isn’t in the article for space reasons, I can say that Sony’s market share among our renters has grown every year for the last several years. About the only clear conclusion you can draw from that is “Sony is getting more popular,” which I don’t think anyone would disagree with.
Supreme Dalek ·
I get it that you can't disclose numbers of rentals for business reasons, but still I can't help being skeptical that some of the market-share changes are statistically significant at the hundredths-of-a-percent level. What would you suggest is a judicious amount of rounding?
Ryan Hill ·
Up to you! I'd agree that you can't really draw any conclusions from the small differences in market share year to year. It mostly comes down to who released a new camera early in the calendar year. It's better to look at patterns over a long period of time. While this data isn't in the article for space reasons, I can say that Sony's market share among our renters has grown every year for the last several years. About the only clear conclusion you can draw from that is "Sony is getting more popular," which I don't think anyone would disagree with.
Jalan ·
Thanks Zach for pulling together all these numbers! Done a lot of that kind of analysis in my other career and it is a lot of work.
An old photographer friend of mine tells me that the camera market usually has room for 2 1/2 systems. Used to be Canon and Nikon 35mm with the 1/2 being medium format. Your rental data looks like it is now Canon and Sony for the 2 main systems/formats. Any idea and what the 1/2 might be? Thought it could be Fiji GFX but that camera is not in your top 20… Thanks!
So I Says... ·
Fascinating that Leica represents such a minuscule slice. I would expect it to be more popular. But I suspect low availability of newer products plays some role.
Ryan Hill ·
Yeah, that’s a great observation. Our Leica cameras, especially newer ones, tend to spend more time out of stock because they’re not manufactured in the same quantities as options from, say Canon or Sony.
So I Says... ·
Fascinating that Leica represents such a minuscule slice. I would expect it to be more popular. But I suspect low availability of newer products plays some role.
Ryan Hill ·
Yeah, that's a great observation. Our Leica cameras, especially newer ones, tend to spend more time out of stock because they're not manufactured in the same quantities as options from, say Canon or Sony.
Ryan Hill ·
Just a quick editorial comment:
None of this information should be considered objective proof of anything, least of all the state of the industry as a whole. It’s just fun to look at, and, like any data set, you can draw multiple conclusions, even conflicting conclusions, depending on how you look at it.
If you’re a particular kind of geek (the kind of geek who tends to work here) it can actually be fun to imagine all the ways in which these numbers could be skewed one way or another. For example, defining “popularity” by revenue gives an unfair advantage to more expensive items, because they draw in more revenue per rental. However, defining “popularity” by number of rentals advantages cheaper items like batteries and media that our clients tend to rent in bulk. We present both so you can draw your own conclusions.
The way we package products can also skew things. Take the FX3, for instance. It appears on the “popularity” list twice because we rent it in two different configurations. If we combined those, the FX3 would be higher on the list. Then again, we rent ALL of our cameras in multiple configurations. It seemed to us that the fairest way to compare cameras in this instance was to compare product by product rather than trying to decide case by case when different versions should be combined into one. Again, you draw your own conclusions.
In short, there are endless ways to interpret this stuff. It’s more the start of a conversation than it is a final statement on anything. Finally, if anyone has any questions about how we collected it, just let us know here and we’ll be happy to add additional context where we can.
Ryan Hill ·
Just a quick editorial comment:
None of this information should be considered objective proof of anything, least of all the state of the industry as a whole. It’s just fun to look at, and, like any data set, you can draw multiple conclusions, even conflicting conclusions, depending on how you look at it.
If you’re a particular kind of geek (the kind of geek who tends to work here) it can actually be fun to imagine all the ways in which these numbers could be skewed one way or another. For example, defining “popularity” by revenue gives an unfair advantage to more expensive items, because they draw in more revenue per rental. However, defining “popularity” by number of rentals advantages cheaper items like batteries and media that our clients tend to rent in bulk. We present both so you can draw your own conclusions.
The way we package products can also skew things. Take the FX3, for instance. It appears on the “popularity” list twice because we rent it in two different configurations. If we combined those, the FX3 would be higher on the list. Then again, we rent ALL of our cameras in multiple configurations. It seemed to us that the fairest way to compare cameras in this instance was to compare product by product rather than trying to decide case by case when different versions should be combined into one. Again, you draw your own conclusions.
In short, there are endless ways to interpret this stuff. It’s more the start of a conversation than it is a final statement on anything. Finally, if anyone has any questions about how we collected it, just let us know here and we'll be happy to add additional context where we can.
Danny McIntyre ·
What was available to rent? If certain products were not available, or had limited availability, it suggests people rented elsewhere, or rented a second choice product. Both would greatly affect the numbers for “rented” products.
Danny McIntyre ·
What was available to rent? If certain products were not available, or had limited availability, it suggests people rented elsewhere, or rented a second choice product. Both would greatly affect the numbers for “rented” products.
Media Square ·
We are truly impressed by the depth of insights and the variety of equipment covered. It's fascinating to see the trends and preferences shaping the industry this year. For those looking for top-quality video equipment rental in Doha , be sure to check out Media Square. Visit our website to explore our offerings.