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Lensrentals has published its roundup of the most popular rented gear for 2021, showcasing what camera equipment was the most rented throughout 2021. As we’ve seen over the past few years, both Canon and Sony top the charts across nearly every category.
Looking first at the most rented new products of 2021, Canon took the top position with the EOS C70 Cinema Camera (RF mount). Cinema cameras occupy multiple spots on the list, including the Sony FX3 in second and the Sony FX6 in fourth. The Nikon Z7 II, although announced in 2020, is eligible for the list, landing in the seventh spot. The black-and-white specialty camera, the Leica Q2 Monochrom, is a fascinating inclusion at ninth. Likewise, the medium-format Fujifilm GFX 100S coming in at 12th is excellent news for the GFX system. The most popular new lens of 2021 is the Sony FE 50mm F1.2 GM.
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By removing the qualifier for new products, the top 19 most popular photo and video gear of 2021 is full of Canon and Sony gear. Aside from the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K (EF mount) in 13th position, every other product is made by Canon and Sony. The top four products are the Canon EOS R5, Canon 5D Mark IV, Canon 24-70mm F2.8L II and the Canon EOS R6. Sony follows in the next three spots with the Sony A7S III, Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS and Sony A7 III.
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Looking at the camera brand market shares, Canon, unsurprisingly, takes the top spot with 38.05%, slightly down from 38.46% in 2020. Sony is second with 26.26%, which is up from 22.8% in 2020. Blackmagic comes in at a distant third with 7.85%, followed by Nikon, Panasonic, Fujifilm and Leica, respectively.
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The list becomes much more diverse when we look at lens brand market shares. Although Sigma is in a pretty close third position with an 11.45% market share, Canon and Sony still take the top two spots with 37.16% and 15.76%, respectively. Nikon sits in fourth with 9.93%, and then there’s a big drop to Zeiss in the fifth position with 3.37%. However, Fujifilm and Fujinon are separated in the list, with Lensrentals noting that Fujinon-branded lenses feature higher build quality and performance. If you combine them, they amount to 5.3%, which would beat out Zeiss for fifth place.
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Considering cameras rented by lens mount is interesting. Lensrentals saw huge growth in rentals from 2020 to 2021, but the percentage share for each mount stayed pretty close year over year. Sony E mount moved up to third place and jumped 4.99% overall. The number one lens mount, Canon EF, dipped 3.9%, but otherwise, each mount was relatively consistent. Canon EF is still a standard lens mount not only for Canon’s popular DSLR cameras, but also for cinema cameras from brands such as RED and ARRI.
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If we look at lenses rented by lens mount, Sony’s good year of new lenses helped buoy E-mount lenses to the second spot (22.81%) behind Canon EF (38.56%). Canon RF and Nikon F lenses proved popular, finishing third and fourth with 12.45% and 11.41%, respectively. Nikon Z lenses only gained 0.4%, whereas Canon RF gained an impressive 5.01%. It’ll be interesting to see how that trend fares in 2022.
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For additional context and commentary, head over to Lensrentals to read the full breakdown. Looking forward, what do you think will change in 2022? How popular will the Sony A7 IV, Canon EOS R3 and Nikon Z9 be among renters?
All images courtesy of Lensrentals