Best New Photo & Video Products for 2024

Each year, we review our rental data and provide some insight into market trends in photography and videography. Personally, I think we’re a pretty good source, as we are the largest rental house in the world and have a massive inventory of various products. If you’ve been following this blog over the last couple of weeks, you know that we posted all of the data on our most popular rentals a few weeks ago. Last week, we continued that trend by focusing our attention on purchases from our inventory. Today, we will look specifically at new products and provide some insight from our staff here at LensRentals.com. 

At the top of the list for new products this year is the Sony Alpha 9 III, which is no surprise if you’ve seen the spec sheet on the camera. However, later in the list, it doesn’t score many points from our staff members, largely because it was announced back in November 2023 and not released until the spring of 2024. So, since it was announced back in 2023, it was included in our staff picks for last year and was one of the most voted-on cameras on that list – so it didn’t feel right to include it in our staff picks this year as well. Continuing down the list, you’ll see the Canon R5 Mark II and Nikon Z6III, which are a few steps behind. Continuing on the topic of cameras, the most surprising is the Fuji X100VI, which does not quite break into the top 10. This is a huge surprise if you’ve seen the hype surrounding this camera this past year. However, our data is based on rentals, and even we’ve had a hard time getting a large stock of this highly desirable camera. Now let’s take a look at what our staff found to be their most favorite

Staff Picks

The staff choices, in particular, are always a great source of insight, as our staff handles hundreds of pieces of gear daily. That inspection and testing of gear every single day gives our staff insight into not only what the most popular and best gear in our inventory is but also some anecdotal information regarding durability. The staff here at Lensrentals.com consists of a broad range of both photographers and videographers, providing us with useful insight into what products are most interesting to them. So, to get started on our staff picks, let’s look at a basic breakdown of where the Lensrentals.com staff stands in their skill sets.

As you can see from our questionnaire answers, half of the staff at Lensrentals.com focuses predominantly and exclusively on photography, whereas the other half works exclusively in video or a combination of the two. This is important information as we proceed and they select their favorite new gear for 2024. So, let’s look at some of their selections, starting with the best new camera of 2024.

As for the top new lenses this year, we ended up with a three-way tie for the top lens: the Sigma 28-45mm f/1.8 DG DN Art for Sony E, the Canon RF 35mm f/1.4 L VCM, and the Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM II. 

When we continue to the best overall product of 2024, the staff has again split its selection between the Canon R5 Mark II and the Fuji GFX 100s II system.

And finally, like last year, we asked the staff what feature of tech they are most looking forward to in the coming years and found a pretty broad range of answers. So, let’s take a look at some of the explanations as to why they voted —

We have been waiting for mass adoption of global shutters forever. It is time.

Joey Miller voting for Global Shutters
Repair Dept

I like my Blacks Black, my Grays Gray, and my Whites White. Lets pump up Micro-Contrast to eleven.

Bryce Robbins voting for Higher Dynamic Range
Director – Product Management & Operations

The ability to be hand-held in with less rig or gear in environments where space or weight is an issue is a significant plus for what I do.

Ben Howard voting for 8+ stops of In Body Stabilization
Marketing Ops Manager

So, what was your favorite new product of 2024? Which new features are you excited to see adapted to a larger range of gear? Chime in using the comments below! And be sure to read our posts on the most rented gear and the most purchased gear from previous weeks. As a teaser to those articles, I have posted the most rented gear table again below.

Author: Lensrentals

Articles written by the entire editorial and technical staff at LensRentals.com. These articles are for when there is more than one author for the entire post, and are written as a community effort.