Friday, June 7, 2013

A Walk Around The World With Ridge – Kingdom Camera Rentals

Before our last journey to Walt Disney World, a new company Kingdom Camera Rentals approached Growing Up Disney to look at their services. Once I had checked out their site I wanted to try renting from them.

Kingdom Camera Rentals is not only a reference to the Magic Kingdom but also the Kingdom of Heaven and is a Christian company. I met with the co-owner, Lenise, when she dropped off my lens and had a very nice talk about photography, Disney, business and even introduced her to DisneyDad and Mom. It was a very enjoyable conversation. But enough of the chatter let’s talk about the site and the equipment.

First thing I notice about a site is how easy it is to find information. Use their site and you will see that there is a very logical flow to the information and it has a clean look. The site isn’t cluttered and is full of good information.
www.kingdomcamerarentals.com
I used the Canon 18-200 IS USM lens for my time at Disney. The lens isn’t bulky, looks good on the camera body, and the pictures are pretty crisp. I used this lens as my primary for the time I had it and can’t say that I am disappointed. One thing to be noted about this lens is that it does what is called lens procession. It’s a fancy way of saying it will come out of focus if you aren’t holding it. When you lean the camera forward the lens is going to expand as if you were trying to zoom in. So to keep this from being a problem when not in use there is a lens lock switch on the underside. It didn’t take long to get used to this and it’s designed in such a way that you can operate it without fumbling around for it. So overall I give the lens good marks but you be the judge with my pictures.

So why rent? Well as we all know camera gear can be extremely expensive. I know firsthand when I think about the fact I drag a couple grand worth of gear into the parks every day. Wide angle, zoom, fisheye, prime… I never know what I am going to want to try. But cost is killer in this game. I’m not making any money off my pictures so I can’t write this stuff off as business expense. So try renting. The cost of most lenses is very reasonable for a 3 day trial. If you like it you can rent it for longer. Since most of my personal trips are 4 days or less a 3 day rental is perfect. You can take out insurance on them so if there is an accidental damage you’re covered.

I’m a Canon guy but they have it Nikon as well and it isn’t just lenses they have lots of other equipment available from camera bodies to SD cards. On my next trip I will be renting a Canon 7D, yay! Now there are other companies available for online rental however they are located in Orlando and don’t bring you your equipment and those other companies charge a lot to ship their lenses. So local is really the way to go. I am very satisfied with my rental experience and will look at this as a way to try more lenses in the future and expand my shooting.

What is your favorite lens and what camera set up do you use?
Audrey
Beast's Castle
Cheetahs
Rhino
The Eastman Family

Zebra

Tree Topper At Epcot

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