Why You Should Rent Your Travel Camera Gear

From flights, to food, to accommodation, travelling can be expensive - so if you’ve just paid for a holiday, chances are your cash flow may be running low. Don’t damage your chances of capturing once-in-a-lifetime travel photos by taking your 10-year-old point-and-shoot on your trip.

Renting helps you put together a suitable kit in a more cost-effective way, with access to the latest and greatest gear on the market - so you can feel confident knowing you’ve got the best camera or lens for the trip, while still having cash to splash on your holiday!

Certain gear is generally considered more suitable for travel, and can make your trip a much more pleasant, easy experience. Smaller, lighter cameras - like a compact mirrorless camera - will save you lugging heavy gear around on your holiday, while a camera with a bigger zoom will help you capture the faraway wildlife, architecture or landscape shots that you spot along the way. If you wouldn’t usually use this type of gear, renting allows you to do so while travelling and then go back to your standard kit once you return home.

Ted’s Top Picks:

With their DSLR-like quality in a lightweight form, Mirrorless cameras are becoming more and more popular for travel photography.

• Fujifilm X-T30
• Olympus E-M5 Mark III
• Canon EOS M6 Mark II
• Sony A6600

Camera lenses are perhaps even more essential to the quality of your photography than cameras - and can actually help improve your skills.

Renting lets you try out big-ticket items and specialist lenses, like tilt-shift and fisheye lenses, without breaking the bank. Being able to mount a new lens to your existing body, that you may not typically use in your everyday life, is a great way to experiment, push your skills and try before you buy.

Ted’s Top Picks:

For travel, all in one zoom lenses that cover a broad range of subjects in a portable package are in high demand. However, we like to encourage creativity - consider a left of field choice, such as a fish-eye lens to help capture some dramatic landscape images of your destination.

• Tamron 18-400mm VC
• Sony E-Mount 18-200mm
• Fuji XF 18-135mm WR
• Canon 8-15mm f4L Fisheye

Renting out camera gear is particularly useful for professional photographers, allowing you to leave your expensive camera gear safely at home and instead rely on your rented kit while on the road. This lowers the risk of losing or damaging the gear that you use for work or in your daily life, and takes some of the stress out of your trip.

Once again, renting gives you the opportunity to use items that you might not need on a daily basis - and this extends to accessories! Some key accessories that you’ll likely want to add to your rental agreement include a camera bag that matches your new kit and keeps it safe - like the Crumpler Proper Roady Bag - or a travel tripod to help you get some steady landscape shots or timelapse videos!

Ted’s Top Picks:

• Manfrotto Befree Advanced Travel tripod
• Mindshift Photocross 10 sling Carbon
• Lowepro Flipside 200AW II  backpack

With so many benefits to be gained from renting your gear for travelling, why not book a camera or lens for your next photography adventure? Make the most of your trip and come home with a collection of top quality photographs - and memories! For gear inspiration, take a look at our guide on How to Choose the Best Lens and the Best Digital Cameras for Photography.

At Ted’s, we’ve partnered with Studio19 so you can rent the best gear at the best prices. With low monthly payments and maintenance and repairs included, our rental plan has given well over 250,000 happy customers access to some of the best gear on the market. 

For more information, check out our rental page or visit your local Ted’s Cameras store for advice!