Canon hammered every other brand for gear rentals in 2020
Dec 31, 2020
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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Although the overall number of photography and video productions has been cut short this year, there have still been many going ahead. Many photographers and filmmakers have taken to working from home, shooting products while other productions have been able to ahead with appropriate safety measures in place. That some shoots have been able to still go ahead, though, means that gear rental is still doing quite well.
LensRentals has posted their annual lists of the most popular rental gear for 2020, and it’s an overwhelming Canon majority in just about every list. They say they’ve still been able to rent out thousands of items each month for those ongoing productions, and it’s given them a decent sample size to pool data.
When it comes to their overall gear list of specific items, the top 10 list looks a little something like this – and there’s a surprising amount of non-mirrorless stuff still on it…
- Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II
- Canon 5D Mark IV
- Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II
- Sony Alpha A7 III
- Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III
- Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II
- Canon EOS R
- Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L
- Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS
- Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM
The rest of the top 20 is also largely filled by Canon, along with the Sony NP-FZ100 battery, DJI Ronin-S, Nikon D750 and the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art (for Canon). It’s very similar to last year’s list, but with the loss of Tamron and Sennheiser and the addition of Sigma. When it comes to the mounts required for rental gear, there’s also an overwhelming majority for Canon EF, followed by Sony E and then Nikon F.
Of particular note is that mirrorless camera rental finally beats DSLRs, with the former coming in at 24.95% of the camera market share compared to the DSLR’s 19.68%. On the video side of things, cinema cameras have also taken nice little boost in market share this year.
Also of note is that the first of the “new ” mirrorless camera mounts has started to overtake Micro Four Thirds. Canon’s RF mount sees a large increase of 1.38% market share last year to 5.66% in 2020 while Micro Four Thirds lens market share drops from 5.61% last year to 4.55% this year. It’s not a massive change, but it does suggest that people are starting to take RF mount more seriously. Nikon Z still sits at 1.36% (the same as last year) and L mount sees a slight boost from 1.06% to 2.34%.
Overall, the signs are quite obvious. Canon’s EF mount still rules the roost when it comes to rental gear for both stills and video. But RF mount seems to be seeing the biggest gains this year. I’d be curious to see how these trends continue to adapt into the future once the world (hopefully) starts to go back to normal again.
Check out LensRentals’ complete report on their website.
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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4 responses to “Canon hammered every other brand for gear rentals in 2020”
Interesting that the 50mm f/1.2 is criticized so much for not being “Tack sharp” but it is on the top ten list of most rented lenses.
Glad I am not the only one that actually understands that any lens at f/1.2 or f/1.4 is not gonna have medium format pixel perfect sharpness!
I swear people are more interested in bragging about how sharp a lens is than actually taking a amazing pic. Because most who do can’t take an a decent pic to save their life!
And I am not saying I am the best by any means, but my focus has never been about blaming the gear, it has always about learning and being a better photographer.
Not to say I don’t love amazing gear or don’t want the sharpest thing around. But I have always took the stance of “I can’t wait to see what I can do with this lens!” vs “I’m such a terrible photographer because of my lenses or camera”.
Remember that most other brands can use Canon lenses, too. Considering there are zero RF lenses up there, it makes sense why Canon has much more presence in lenses than bodies.
Because there are not much rf lenses out there even available to buy to begin with. All are in back order.
And that’s a good point. If there are few lenses available to buy, coupled with a very small lens selection overall, a few RF lenses should have been high on the rental list, always being out to rent, since there wasn’t anything else to use.