Will a rental house rent out my lenses?

[Gary Jones]

Is this common practice?

I am thinking particularly in the UK.

I am thinking of buying 5x Leica lenses, but would not do it if I didn't think I could get some return on my investment. I also don't want the hassle of constantly trying to rent them out and worrying about them when I do get a taker.

A rental house will hopefully shield me from all that.

Thanks,

Gary

 

[Curran Giddens]

I assume you are talking about the Leica Summilux-C™ lenses.

http://www.bandpro.com/products/len...page=flypage.tpl&category_id=96&product_id=62

I think these will be in very high demand. But good luck getting a set anytime within the next year.

 

[Paul Hazlett]

You also have to remember a standard sub rental deal is a 50-50 split of the rental and if the rental house makes a deal on an extended rental say a 10 day month you would be renting your lenses for a whole month for 5 days pay. It might be different in the UK
but something you should be aware of.

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

I agree with Curran.

To answer your question though, lots of rental houses will let you place gear with them for rental. The exact arrangements can be all over the map, depending on the shop you deal with and your market.

Usually with high demand gear, like the Leica SummiLux C lenses you can get a notable bit of earnings. Other lenses, like say the Zeiss Compact Prime set won't earn much. First off the rental house will inevitably rent their identical products first, but second there is lower demand and lower billables as a result.

So, with most gear, I wouldn't count on making your payments through rentals, but you should earn something. Certain highly sought after items however will almost certainly earn you nice coin.

 

[Gary Jones]

If I spend $100K on lenses I would be happy to get $10K-$20K a year from them and not have them for 3months.

 

[Dave Blackham]

We use and rent out Leica lenses in the UK. Do you refer to Lecia C, Stills R or other lenses ?

 

[Gary Jones]

You have the new Sum-C's?

I am looking to purchase (whenever the Band Pro deal comes through - assuming you can get it for the UK), not rent.