Question from Aggie Professor

[pek8005]

Happy Easter;

My name is Bob Klein, an adjunct professor over in the Borlaug Center on west campus. I am trying to find a place in the region that rents lenses, or a local photographer that would rent their lens to me for an afternoon. While I see you shoot Canon, do you know of anyone locally that rents Nikon lenses?

I have an interest in buying two lenses, and all I want to do is shoot a Consol Bengal Belles dance practice to see if the lens is fast enough for sports photography. I made the mistake of buying a lens last year that was way too slow for the action (and not very sharp).

Finally, is there a TAMU camera club where I can talk to other photographers.
Thank you and sorry to bother you.
Bob Klein
157 Borlaug Center, building 2123
rklein@tamu.edu
979 777 4470

[bondarnes]

Howdy Bob,

And welcome to the Texas Photo Forum. I sent a lot of my money and two daughter to your fine institution and enjoyed being on your campus the last several years for the Texas School of Professional Photography. Owing to renovations at the MSC we had to move the school to Arlington this year.

I doubt that there is a lens rental facility in Bryan/College Station. You will probably have to go to Houston or Austin..sssssss.

You might check at the "Battalion" offices and see if one of the student photographers there would let you try out a lens or two. Other than that your best bet would be one of the online lens rental companies.I have not used any of the ones listed, but they all got a good review on another forum.

http://www.rentglass.com/
http://www.lensrentals.com/for-nikon
http://www.borrowlenses.com/welcome
http://www.ziplens.com/Default.asp?Redirected=Y
http://lensprotogo.com/index.php?pr=Nikon_Lens_Lookup
http://lenslenders.com/rent_lens_cat...php?make=Nikon

I hope this information is helpful. Whoop!!

[ngoduyviet]

Welcome professor,

In addition to Don's list. If you are willing to drive, you can also try lighttec. They have a website with listed Nikon lenses for rent as well
Linky: lighttec.com

[bigjon0107]

Howdy Bob,

The closest place to here that rents glass is down in Houston. But i would also recommend using some of the online places. I have used lensrentals.com and it has been nothing but great service in the past. If you were a Canon shooter, I would be more then willing to send some pieces of glass your way...

There is a camera club on campus...sometimes...some years they are around, some they are not. But if you are looking for someone to talk shop with, i would be more then willing to go on a shoot or grab some lunch and help you figure out your needs/wants (which turn into needs quickly lol) or play with other gear, lights etc..PM if you are interested...we may actually be able to have a College Station meet up part 2.

-Jon
Class of '10

[pek8005]

I want to thank each of you that responded.
I local professional photographer also suggested Precision camera in Austin as a place that rents gear for a good price, including the Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 Lens http://www.precision-camera.com/
As I go over to Austin frequently, I will try and rent a couple of lenses and head off to evaluate the them. For what it is worth, Precision also rents the Nikon D700, which looks like a sweet camera. Let me say that I am not hooked on Nikon, but with two kids heading to college, I have to stay with my camera body and flash. If I want to stay married, I better just try and buy one lens for now.
I will let you know what I find with this the Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 lens for low light action shots. I can’t afford the 70-200 f/2.8 VR lens that replaced the 80-200. Something about my wife killing me if I bought the expensive lens.
Cheers

[bondarnes]

I have the Nikkor 80-200 f2.8 and it is a fine lens. I bought it over ten years ago when I was shooting sports for the high school yearbook. If I were shooting sports again I would probably upgrade to the 70-200 vr. But for my uses the one I have fills the bill just fine.

[pek8005]

Donald;

Did you see any limitations with the 80-200mm for high school sports? I ask this since my daughter is a dancer and dances at halftime of football games (plus dances in gyms with bad light). Hence, I need a fast, sharp lens. Everything I have read is good about this lens, except for the lack of VR feature.

Lastly, it the tripod collar an option I should insist on while looking for a used version of this lens? Or, is using a monopod on the camera body adequate for shooting with this lens.

Thanks
Bob
p.s my money is about to start going to TAMU as well. My son is going into mechanical engineering, and they don't give us any employee discounts!

[bondarnes]

Bobby,

I have read that the newer 70-200VR focuses faster, but I never had a problem with it. It should do fine for what you want. A monopod should steady it enough that you won't miss the VR too much.

This lens is quite heavy and would put a great strain on the cameras lens mount without the tripod collar. I actually had mine strip the lens mount screws from a D70 I used to have.

Also there is an older model that has a push-pull zoom that I would avoid unless the price difference makes it worthwhile.

And I will quit calling you Bobby if you quit calling me Donald.

[pek8005]

Don;
so noted on the name. My wife is a Patricia, but don't ever call her Patty.

I appreciate the comments on the tripod collar. I don't need to mess up the camera.
I'll let you know how this all turns out. I have to shoot photos at a spring dance show at the high school and I hope to use the 80-200 f/2.8 lens. I have the Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens and I really don't like it. Personally, I think Ken Rockwell missed the boat with his love of this lens (in my amateur opinion).
Bob

[sporkthedork]

The 18-200mm VR is a decent travel lens in that it is fairly versatile, but I tend to agree with you, Bob; it comes up well short of stellar in many situations (and mine suffered from a serious case of lens creep). I sold mine and used some of the money to pay for a third of my new 70-200mm VR and I don't regret it one bit.

If you are interested sometime, I would be happy to let you take a look at the lens. My wife is about to start her fourth year of Vet school across the road from your digs. Let me know if you're interested.

Casey

[pek8005]

Casey;

I would love to take a look at the lens. I will give you a holler in the near future. Maybe we can meet up somewhere on campus or at a place of your choice. Of course, after seeing the lens, I will likely want to buy one. Rather like driving a new car; makes it rather hard to go back to your piece-of-junk car.
Thanks
Bob