Rent Tripods & Other Support Equipment

Photographers, vloggers, filmmakers, and multimedia artists, from beginner to advanced, enjoy the convenience and selection of our cameras, lenses, lighting, and production equipment with low (or no) deposits for most rentals. But did you know that we also rent accessory items like tripods, filters, and matte boxes?

BL carries popular tripod brands like Manfrotto, Benro, Peak Design, Sachtler, and Really Right Stuff.

The Benefits of Renting Support Gear from BL

There are rentals for a lot of things, from power tools to purses, but you might not realize just how useful renting photo and video equipment is. For one, buying the gear you want for each of the types of gigs you do can get very expensive prohibitively so for the hobbyist. But that doesn't mean you should go without trying the latest tech! Here are just a few of the benefits of renting:

• Convenience when traveling. Leave your personal gear at home and eliminate the risk of it getting broken or stolen.
• Special occasions. Photographing air shows once a year is the perfect use case for renting vs shelling out upwards of 10K on a super telephoto lens!
• Gain experience. Don't learn on the job study a piece of gear ahead of time! Rent a camera or lighting kit and get hands-on with it before jumping into a major event assistants, take note!
• Low-cost testing. Not sure if you want to upgrade or if some certain new shiny system will work with your current accessories? Instead of using credit to purchase something expensive and relying too much on a decent returns policy, why not just borrow the item for as little as dollars a day?

What You Can Expect When Renting Tripods and Other Support Equipment

Tripods have a lot of small details to pay attention to in order to find the one that really suits your shooting style and personal ergonomic preferences. Here are just a few of the features different tripods offer:

• Twist-lock or lever-lock legs. Many find that lever locks are faster and more secure but twist-lock is popular on really lightweight designs suitable for packing long distances.
• Bowl head or flat head mounting. Bowl base heads and legs allow for really intuitive camera movements but are quite large and sometimes cumbersome. Flat head mounting is very common and adaptable to many head types.
• Carbon fiber or aluminum build. Choosing carbon fiber seems like a foregone conclusion given how much lighter and stronger the material is but not every project demands it and they are a lot more expensive.
• High or low payload. A good rule of thumb is to add up the weight of your camera rig, double it, and then choose at tripod with a payload of that amount. Any more than that and you're needlessly carrying around a very heavy set of sticks. Any lower than that and you risk instability. Many tripods have center columns with hooks on the end to hang a camera bag or sandbag for extra stability (remember, it must be actually hanging and not sitting on the ground to work). Other tripods will have center or ground spacers to help with both stability and faster leg setup. Ground spreaders are recommended only for very flat surfaces, like studio floors, and not for work out in the field. Mid-level spreaders are great for unpredictable environments.

If you ever have any trouble figuring out which tripod goes with which head or if your setup is appropriate for a certain payload, our crew at BL are all shooters themselves and are happy to walk you through every step of the way! Contact BL for assistance on your gear order.

For a few recommendations right off the bat, check out these customer favorites: