The Wolverine flashPac 7000 is a simple device. All it does is let you copy files from portable memory cards directly to its internal hard drive. There’s no color LCD, no preview of photos, it job is to store your photos, and that it does well.

With a single press of a button, you can transfer all your photos using its built in 7-in-1 Card Reader. The Wolverine flashPac is powered by rechargeable batteries, so data can be transferred anywhere.

Built-in Memory Card Slots for:

• Compact Flash Type I/II (CF)
• Micro Drive
• Smart Media (SM)
• Memory Stick (MS)
• MS Pro
• Secure Digital (SD & SDHC) / MultiMedia Card (MMC)
• xD Card

Lens rentals has recently become a booming business, and one company has stood out among the rest as a leader. I recently had the opportunity to correspond with Roger Cicala of LensRentals.com to discuss what makes his company stand out. He was kind enough to answer several of my questions.

LensRentals.com

Question 1: When did LensRentals.com start, and what was your motivation?
I started it 3 years ago. My first thought was to model it as a ‘photographers coop’ so local photographers could share resources. That didn’t work so I started a local lens rental business, which also didn’t work. So sitting there with about 30 lenses I put up a little web page thinking maybe somebody would be interested in renting. I found there was nowhere online you could reserve a lens for future delivery, so I offered that option (everyone else was ‘rent today, we ship it otu today’). Within a month all my lenses were rented and I bought 30 more. The next month I emptied out my savings and had 100 lenses. After about 6 months I realized my business model was flawed: to take reservations you had to have a lot of copies, otherwise there was a huge loss of efficiency. So I sweated for a while, took out a loan and a mortgage, and rolled out Lensrentals similar to what you see now.

Question 2: There are other rental sites on the web, what sets yours aside from the rest?
For our first year, we were very different: we were the first place that took reservations, guaranteed to buy new lenses to fill 2 week or longer orders, carried camera bodies, rented supertelephoto lenses, used FedEx Express for shipping, carried Nikon, etc. We were obviously successful and a lot of other sites have added those services too – heck, we even helped a couple of rental houses start up.

Today we don’t look that different from several others at first glance, other than our selection and the size of our inventory. Behind the scenes we’re different though: we’re now a full-time freestanding business with 10 employees so there are people in the office answering phone calls and emails all day, not just after they get off work in the evening. We also are a lot more automated: trying to track inventory by hand or using a database or spreadsheet just doesn’t work when you’re handling much over 500 lenses, which is why there aren’t a lot of large online rental houses. The software it requires is remarkably expensive.

Question 3: You were the first to offer insurance, and reservations. Can you explain how those work?
The reservation system is very straightforward for the customer: you put in an order, tell us when you want to receive it, and it will be there. We’ve missed 11 of our last 6,500 reservations and 10 fo the 11 were because of shipping delays. We lost one order ourselves. From our side it can be very complex: when a customer puts in an order for a Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS for example, our software looks at 93 copies, returning anwhere from tomorrow to 2 months from now, checks the new order against 100 to 110 pending reservations and makes sure we have a copy, plus enough back up to make sure we can still cover the order if some lenses return late or damaged.

The damage insurance was started because our customers had coverage for theft or loss, but their photographer’s or homeowners insurance often didn’t cover the cost of a damaged lens. This way if they drop a lens they don’t have to worry about it, the damage insurance covers the cost of any repairs.

Question 4: So if I reserve a lens for three months from now. When would I pay for it? What’s the process?
You wouldn’t pay for it until we’re packing it for shipping, about 4 days before delivery. Until then its reserved for you, but if you change your mind you can log on to your account page and cancel the reservation yourself.

Question 5: Obviously renting a $5000.00 lens would cost more than a $500.00 lens. How do you determine the price?
Price for lenses is pretty straightforward, mostly depending on the expected resale value after two years and the price of the lens, and the frequency with which it rents. That’s why a third party lens may be a bit more expensive than a Canon or Nikon lens of the same retail price: the third party will have a lower resale value. We may also have to increase price a bit for specialty lenses that don’t rent very frequently, like tilt-shift lenses.

Cameras and flashes are more difficult. First they rarely have a lot of resale value at the end of their life. They also are far more likely to be “written off” during their rental life. The electronics are delicate and don’t ship well. So a $3,000 camera will cost a lot more to rent for a week than a $3,000 lens.

Question 6: Do you sell used lenses and equipment? If so, when do you decide to sell them, and do they carry any kind of warranty?
We sell all of our lenses after 2 years maximum in service, or 48 weeks of rental, whichever comes first. We give a 5 day inspection period with every sale – if you don’t like it you can send it back for a full refund. Lenses that sell for more than $1,000 also come with a 90 day warranty: we’ll cover the cost of any repairs arising from failure during routine use.

Question 7: Would it be possible to ship a lens directly to a hotel or resort I would be staying at?
We can’t ship to resorts or hotels: they have language in their contract that states if they sign for the lens and then lose it, they aren’t responsible. Instead we ship “hold for pickup” to FedEx Kinkos everywhere in the country. There’s one close to almost every hotel and resort in the U. S.

Question 8: Do you have a mailing list or a blog that announces new products you carry, and used products you are seller?
We don’t at this time. We list our ‘for sale’ lenses on the front page of our website, and have little news bulletins there too, for new releases, etc. We don’t believe in bulk mailing our customers at all, but we do have a list of people who want to be notified when a certain lens comes up for sale. We do that individually, and about half of our ‘for sale’ lenses never get listed, there are people waiting to buy them.

Question 9: The holidays are coming up. Do you offer Gift Certificates?
We do, they’re available on our cameras and accessories page. We also have a pretty large used lens sale in November that a lot of people use to buy Christmas presents.

Question 10: You recently introduced an iPhone version of your web site. What was the thought behind that?
Several of us have iPhones and saw how much more conveniet it was to go to “iPhone ready” pages, so we thought we’d just set it up and see if there was interest. We’ve actually been surprised by how many people use that page, even some with other phone browsers.

Nikon 500mm Lens

LensRentals.com is the perfect solution for those of us photographers on a budget. Just so you know, that 500mm f4 $8000.00 lens would only cost me $399.00 to rent for 7 days.

I’d also like to point out that LensRentals.com also rents camera bodies, support systems such as tripods, and Bush Hawk shoulder supports. Visit their website to see all the items that they have to offer.

LensRentals.com

Nikon 18-200mm VR

The lens is compact, but yet offers great features and flexibility. If you are traveling and need a single lens for the trip, this is it. The Vibration Reduction feature allows you to take clear shots, while hand-holding the lens. It uses Nikon’s VR II system which offers the equivalent of using a shutter speed 4 stops faster.

Not only is the focusing fast on this lens, it’s quiet. I uses what Nikon calls a Silent Wave Motor. Perfect for nature photography. The lens is DX format, and can be used on FX cameras in DX crop mode. It accepts screw on filters of 72mm, and comes with a flower shaped bayonet hood, and lens cap.

The following photos were taken with the Nikon 18-200 VR lens.

Jewel of the sky

Little Blue Heron

The Pod (Red)

Put simply, the Pod is a bean bad with a bolt attachment that attatches to the standard tripod mount on most cameras. The Pod comes in different colors, but those colors have meaning. Each color is a specific design difference, whether specializing for point and shoots, or video cameras, or for a standard DSLR.

I use the Red Pod for my camera. I often attatch it to my zoom lens mount, rather than my camera. The Gree Pod has the mounting bold to the rear, to allow shorter lenses to rest on the pod, while allowing the camera to remain steady.

The Pod has a velcro bottom, which allows you to increase, or decrease the amount of pellets inside the pod. By adding pellets, you make the pod more firm. By removing pellets, you can make the pod more loose and forming. For example, if you are placing it on a rocky surface, rather than a railing, less pellets may be best to allow the bottom ot conform to the shape of the rocks below it.

The pod can also support the weight of the entire camera. This means you can prop the camera up on the pod, set the time, and get in the photo yourself. According to their own web site, the pod can support the weight of a average male. Sturdy little thing.

The Red Pod retails for $24.99, while the Green Pod retails for $26.99.

To Learn more about the Pod, visit their web site at www.thpod.ca

Check out the Pod Store for more options and pricing.