Top rentals at Lensrentals in 2022: DSLR interest wanes, Canon & Sony continue to dominate, and video is on the rise

 

 

Lensrentals has published their annual roundup of the top rented photo and video products of 2022. Compared to last year's breakdown, there are some interesting changes and emerging trends.

However, what hasn't changed is Canon and Sony's dominance. The two Japanese giants in the camera industry held the top two positions last year across camera brands and lens mounts. That's still true in 2022, although Sony has gained some ground relative to Canon. Starting with the most popular photography and videography gear at Lensrentals in 2022, the entire top 20 list is Canon and Sony gear, save for the RED Komodo 6K cinema camera at #19. Last year, the top 19 (I wonder why it wasn't a top 20), were all Canon and Sony, except for the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 6K camera.

 

The 20 most popular rentals this year at Lensrentals were almost entirely Canon and Sony products, including three Canon RF mount cameras, six Sony E-mount cameras and many lenses. The 24-70mm and 70-200mm F2.8 lenses are popular options for both Canon and Sony cameras. 

However, while the brand dominance is similar year over year, I want to highlight two patterns that emerged in 2022. First, Canon EF has lost some steam. We'll see more about that later, but the 24-70mm F2.8L II lens and 5D Mark IV cameras have dropped to positions 7 and 8, respectively. Last year, they were #3 and #2, respectively. There were four Canon EF lenses on the list last year. This year? Two, the 24-70mm F2.8L II and 70-200mm F2.8L IS III. Canon RF lenses are on the rise, though, with four making the list, up from two in 2021.

 

Here are 2021's most rented products. You can see some shifts, year over year, especially concerning interest in EF mount products.

The reduced interest in DSLR gear isn't all that surprising. Perhaps neither is the increased demand for cinema-oriented equipment. In 2021, three Canon Cinema EOS cameras, plus the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K, occupied spots in the latter half of the top 19. Solid performance. This year, we see the Canon EOS C70 (RF mount) and Sony FX3 in the top 10, at positions 4 and 9, respectively. The FX6 and FX9 appear at #14 and #16, while the RED Komodo 6K is at #19. No EF-mount Cinema EOS cameras made the cut. However, the Canon EOS R5 and R6 take the top two positions, and they're both great cameras for video applications, alongside excellent still photography capabilities.

Given the frequency of Canon and Sony equipment in the top 20, it is no shock that Canon and Sony were the most popular camera brands in 2022 at Lensrentals. Canon may have lost some rental market share, dropping from 37.5% to 35.8%, but it still takes the top spot. Sony increased its share from 28.9% to 31.1%, maintaining a very strong second position and closing the gap on Canon. Sony was the only camera brand in the top 5 to gain ground relative to 2021, with Blackmagic, Nikon and Panasonic also losing market share, although less than Canon. With a pretty impressive sixth-place showing, Leica gained a small amount of share in 2022. Fujifilm, RED, BirdDog, Insta360, GoPro and ARRI round out the rest of the list.

 

 

Canon lenses were slightly less popular in 2022 than in 2021, but they are still extremely popular among Lensrentals customers. Canon lens brand market share dipped from 38.8% to 37.3%, far ahead of Sony in second place with 19.1%. That 19.1% is very impressive, however, compared to the 15.6% in 2021. Sigma, a maker of lenses for nearly every lens mount, including its own, is positioned strongly in third place with 9.7%, ahead of Nikon at 8.5%. Speaking of Nikon, the F mount is generally losing steam, as expected, but the Z mount isn't picking up all the slack. Where are the Nikon shooters going? Perhaps they haven't abandoned Nikon but are just not renting as much gear right now? Time will tell. Nikon's Z system cameras and lenses are very good, so I hope the market reflects that better soon. There's a large gap between Nikon and the fifth-place brand, Zeiss, at 3.3%. Zeiss is followed by Fujifilm, Angenieux, Tamron, Fujinon, Leica, Panasonic, Atlas, DZOFILM, Tokina, Olympus and Venus Optics (Laowa). I'm not entirely sure why Fuji is separate from Fujinon, but if you combine them, Fujifilm at large would be in the fifth position behind Nikon with 5.1%.

 

 

If you want to break it down further, you can also look at lens rentals by lens mount, which is fascinating and helps show more of the move from DSLR to mirrorless. Canon EF still topped the charts in 2022, although with a 4% reduction compared to 2021. That's the largest decrease of any mount on the list and follows a similarly large reduction from 2020 to 2021. Some of that decrease has been addressed by a 2.3% increase in demand for Canon RF-mount lenses. That increase should continue in 2023, with more RF lenses hitting store shelves. Hopefully, there will be third-party RF-mount lenses soon, which will further bolster the strength of the RF mount in general.

 

 

I want to make a few more observations about the demand for specific lens mounts. Sony E-mount is strong, of course, with the largest increase and a sizable lead over third place. I'm interested in non-full-frame lens mounts. While we can't separate the demand for APS-C lenses for Sony E, Canon RF or Nikon Z lens mounts, since these APS-C cameras use the same mount, we can look at Micro Four Thirds and medium-format cameras. Micro Four Thirds lenses saw a reduction in rentals, although they're still in sixth place, which is quite strong, and above the Nikon Z and Fujifilm X mounts. As for medium format, which is admittedly a very niche market, Fujifilm GFX and Hasselblad X saw slight decreases from 2021 to 2022. Part of that could be due to a general lack of new lenses on the part of the GFX system in 2022, and the Hasselblad X system saw its biggest new release in years – the Hasselblad X2D 100C – near the end of the year. I am curious to see how the GFX and X systems will perform in 2023. Digital medium-format photography has never been more affordable or accessible, but it still lacks the versatility of full–frame camera systems, especially concerning video performance.

Were there any cameras or lenses on the top 20 list that surprised you? What are your thoughts on the DSLR to mirrorless shift? Let us know in the comments below. If you want to rent any new cameras or lenses, please head to Lensrentals. Their selection, shipping times, and customer service are fantastic.

All images courtesy of Lensrentals. To view any of the charts at a higher resolution or to read additional analysis by the Lensrentals team, head to the Lensrentals blog.