norman hammer dot com

On a recent trip to San Diego, I visited a couple of the wild animal parks. I wanted to be able to take some closeup shots of the animals, but do not have any telephoto lenses in my arsenal. After hearing the online rental company lensrentals.com mentioned on the TWIP podcast I decided to rent a lens from them.

Looking at their homepage, it became quickly apparent that they have all of the popular lens choices for all of the major camera bodies. According to the website they carry 253 different lenses, as well as camera bodies and other accessories. On the product pages for the individual lenses there are general descriptions and links to full reviews. After reading up on some choices I settled on the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L lens.

After creating an account, and going through the quick, automated phone number verification, I was selecting the reservation dates and placing my order. After placing my order I received an acknowledgment email. A couple of hours into the next business day I received another email indicating the order had been approved and the lens would ship two days before the start date for my rental.

When ship day came I received an email with the tracking information, and two days later had the package in my hand. In the box was the lens and hood packed in a soft carrying case, as well as the return shipping label. The lens was in great condition and worked flawlessly while in my possession.

The day before I was due to return the lens I received an email reminder. I packed the lens back in the box it was received in and affixed the return label. A quick drive to the nearby Fedex location had the lens on its return journey. A couple of days later I received an email acknowledging the lens had been received and that completed the rental process.

Overall, the process was extremly smooth and the lens was in great condition. I was very happy with the simplicity of the transaction and will be using them for future rentals. Additionally, they offer damage insurance for a small fee, which is worth the peace of mind. They will also contact you via Twitter if you prefer that to receiving the information emails.