Canon Dominates LensRentals’ Most Popular Gear of 2019
As we wrap up 2019, LensRentals has once again released its list of the most popular photo and video gear rentals of the year, giving us an excuse to analyze the results to death and draw sweeping conclusions about the state of the photo industry.
Joking aside, LensRentals’ status as “the largest rental house in the world” makes this data quite valuable. Since renting is so much more affordable than buying, this list may well present a better idea of what’s popular with the “masses” of professionals and enthusiasts than the best-seller lists that we’ll be seeing as the year wraps up. Here are the Top 10 for your persuing pleasuer:
- Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II
- Canon 5D Mark IV
- Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II
- Sony Alpha a7 III
- Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III
- DJI Ronin-S 3-Axis Gimbal Stabilizer
- Canon 35mm f/1.4L II
- Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS
- Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM
- Canon 50mm f/1.2L
You can see the full Top 20 list and a detailed breakdown of the results on the LensRentals blog, but if we were to sum up the results in three “findings,” they would be:
- Canon is still king – The brand dominated the list, with 35% of all rentals in 2019 going to Canon, and 13 of the top 20 rental items coming from Canon.
- Nikon is struggling – The 5-year-old D750 was the only Nikon gear to make the list for the third year running, and the Z Mount barely even beat the Leica M mount in rental market share.
- Full-frame mirrorless isn’t exactly “taking over” – The only non-Sony FF mirrorless products on the Top 20 were the Canon EOS R at #19 and the Tamron FE 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III RXD at #14.
The rest of the info from the list and other stats that LensRentals revealed mostly track with previous years, despite the “rise of mirrorless.” Every brand has maintained a similar share of the rental market and the same focal lengths tend to show up again and again: 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 in the zooms, and fast prime’s like Canon’s 35mm f/1.4L II and 50mm f/1.2L.
Head over to LensRentals to see all of the results for yourself.
