I read from a previous thread (Tim Kame's) that one can rent/borrow a Leica. Where can one rent M bodies and lenses in the US or other places?

-- Ron Gregorio (gregorio@ksc.th.com), December 15, 2000

Answers

My local dealer will rent anything that they have onhand used. Hefty deposit, of course, usually the full purchase price of the item (i.e. credit card imprint). Demo items can be briefly borrowed for short periods such as overnight or the weekend (same credit card imprint routine). The use of demo items implies an interest in purchase so if you do not purchase anything, expect the willingness to lend out demo equipment to disappear. I recently need a 28 for a project I was doing, the dealer lent me a used one for free but I have spent a small fortune there this year!

Cheers

John

-- John Collier (jbcollier@home.com), December 15, 2000.

Leica Product Demos with Factory Reps seem to travel from dealer to dealer and offer a limited hands on opportunity to evaluate the equipment. Often the equipment that shows up at the accompanying free check-ups can be educational as it offers a chance to see what is really out there in use as well. But rental for anything less than a really extended period is not going to be enough time to really get to know the equipment. You pays your money and you takes your chances.

-- Michael Johnson (mdjohnsonphoto@hotmail.com), December 15, 2000.

I have found a great source for "renting" equipment that sometimes doesn't cost a penny: Ebay. (and I don't mean buying something, using it, and returning it for a refund) If you can establish yourself as an honest user with a dozen or so positive feedbacks at least, you can buy and sell used leica and other desireable photo equipment for about the same amount you paid for them. The few bucks that go to ebay are what I consider "a rental" fee. I actually bought a few Nikon and Leica pieces I wanted to try out or had a short term use for, and even sold them later at a profit. Sure beats the heck out of the old days where you took a 25% hit on consignment fees from camera stores, or worse yet, a 50% or more loss by selling outright to KEH or someone like them. Of course, it is still best to be careful who you deal with on ebay, and stay away from sellers with goose eggs next to their names, and you need to have a bit of working capital in order to "rent" things this way.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), December 15, 2000.

I have occasionally wondered this question myself. A few months ago I was asked to do some photography at the German Embassy of a music recital. Figuering this was a big deal I thought I might need some modern M6's and fast lenses rather than my old M2's. In the end I went with my old stuff and the B&W pictures turned out fine (surprisingly with all the Germans at this event not one comment on the two Leicas I was using). If I had known of a Leica rental place I probably would have called and rented. I would think New York with all of its advertising agencies and magazines, therfore many pro photographers must have camera rental facilities. As far as John Collier's point about having to put down a deposit equal to the value of the Leica or equipment rented, I would like to offer a comparison with motion picture camera rental (16mm/35mm). Occasionaly I am called on to shoot some film project and usually it is low budget so I will use my very old Eclair NPR 16mm. Once in awhile the budget will call for a more state of the art camera so i will rent an Aaton or Arriflex for 2 or 3 days. I have an account with a couple camera rental places so my daily rental will be in the $800-$1000 a day range, depending on what bits and pieces I order. So the surprising point that I am trying to make about John's point is that the replacement value (hang on to your hat) is in the $150,000 range for a 16mm camera. It seems to me that a still camera rental business for Leicas, Hasselblads, Cannons, etc, etc could be a good business.

-- Steve LeHuray (icommag@toad.net), December 15, 2000.

Lens & Repro, Tamarkin, and probably more places in NYC rents them. If you can't pick it up and need it sent to you, it's a minimum one week rental plus shipping. A portion of the fee can be applied to a purchase of a new one. They are on the web if you need more info.

-- D. Chan (deezer@yahoo.com), December 15, 2000.

Steve:

That's because all the Germans expected that you would be using a Leica ;-)

-- Mani Sitaraman (binduman@pacific.net.sg), December 18, 2000.

Thanks for the info everyone.

-- Ron Gregorio (gregorio@ksc.th.com), December 19, 2000.