Renting lenses is fun!
- Aug 19
- 3 min read
Happy World Photography Day! Today I want to talk a little about a small experiment I did that changed my photographic perspective for just one weekend.
Last month, a friend from grad school reached out to me with an opportunity. His friend was planning to propose to his girlfriend, and he wanted someone to photograph this occasion. I had just made an upgrade to a new full-frame mirrorless camera, so I jumped at the opportunity. I'd never photographed a proposal before, so the nerves were real. Moreover, I didn't really have a lot of lenses to pair with this new camera, something I'd need to photograph a couple from a distance like a cree-uh-photographer.
To give some context: with my camera upgrade, I'd decided to switch from a Canon DSLR crop-sensor to a Nikon mirrorless full-frame sensor camera. Not only do Canon DSLR lenses not fit on Nikon mirrorless cameras without adapters, using a crop-sensor lens on a full-frame camera is like having having a cabriolet sports car but driving the SUV through scenic roads. Yes, the SUV might have some advantages, but most people will look at you weird for not making the fullest of what life has to offer you — wind in your hair and bugs in your mouth. Full frame lenses project a bigger image, covering the full-frame sensor while crop-sensor lenses project a smaller image. The problem is, new lenses are expensive, and full-frame lenses even more so, some costing several thousand dollars. So I decided to check in with my local camera store in Chicago for some rental options. Luckily, they had quite a few for my new camera. Moreover, I could have the lens for a whole weekend and just have to pay for one business day! A pretty sweet deal.
The question now was, which lens? I already had a 24-70mm f/4 that came with my camera. That's a pretty standard zoom lens, roughly the equivalent of 1x-3x on an iPhone. I also had a 50mm f/1.8 that I could adapt to the mirrorless body. I decided to go with a 105mm f/2.8 macro lens because of a few reasons:
I have a strong aversion from zoom lens in most cases and prefer primes. So although a 70-200mm would've been a fine choice, it would've been artistically hampering.
The macro capabilities could lead to some interesting photos, especially considering the ring.
Christopher Frost, who famously photographs brick walls in his lens reviews, called this lens optically perfect.
As an added bonus, I also got to keep the lens for the weekend, and would have to return this lens early Monday morning. I decided to maximize on this opportunity and took some photos in and around my apartment.
Macro lens fun
A macro lens allows you to get really close to anything and photograph it in stunning detail. This reframes any mundane corner into a whole new world for photographs.
Too bad I had to return the lens the following day! This was thoroughly enjoyable. Turns out they also have Fuji GFX 50S available as well! In the words of Terrence Howard, Next time, baby!
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