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LensRentals released its yearly report, which shows its most popular photography and videography equipment rentals from 2025. As the largest rental company in the United States, its data provides one of the best insights into what professional photographers, videographers, and serious enthusiasts are renting.
The market share distribution shows that Canon and Sony have continued to be the dominant forces that control the U.S. professional rental market sector. Canon expanded its ownership stake to reach 26.51% (which surpassed 25.69% from 2024 and 23.96% from 2023). Sony achieved a 21.66% market share. The two brands generate almost half of the total market share in terms of rental revenue for Lens Rentals.
The Sony/Canon hegemony has the “distinct threat” of becoming permanent because mirrorless systems have reached the mature development stage. Unless there is a major market disruption, it will be difficult for anyone to overtake Canon or Sony, and making inroads into the market will become progressively more challenging.
Nikon’s Continued Absence
The 2025 data show Nikon continuing its decline in the LensRentals rankings in terms of professional rental equipment.
Nikon maintained its position as a leading DSLR manufacturer together with Canon in the DSLR era, but now controls only 5.56% of the market, which decreased from 5.91% during 2024. The Z8 and Z6 III bodies, which Nikon released, received positive feedback, but the company failed to convert this positive reception into actual rentals.
The Z8 camera managed to enter the top 20 camera rankings by securing 17th position. No Nikon lenses appeared in the top 20 positions, and no Nikon products were in the top 20 of most popular rentals. Even RED, now part of Nikon, has seen its share of market share drop, compounding the problem going forward for Nikon.
Top Rented Cameras
Canon achieved excellent results in its camera operations. The EOS R6 Mark II became the top rented camera of 2025, according to the data, which is no surprise. The EOS R6 Mark II was a dominant camera, as Canon stated it was the top-selling full-frame mirrorless camera globally. The EOS R5 Mark II achieved second place while the original R5 model maintained its position at number four.
The Canon EOS 5D Mark IV continues to rent out well, placing 6th on the list, but we are certainly seeing the retirement of the DSLR lineup, as that is the only DSLR that placed in the top 20.
The top 20 positions of Sony included nine camera models, which included video-specific FX6 and the popular a7 III (7th) and RX100 VII compact cameras.
The GoPro HERO13 Black placed 10th in the ranking, and the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 was at position 16.
Beating out other notable camera companies such as Fujifilm, Panasonic, and Olympus, which failed to reach the top 20 rankings.
Top Rented Lenses
Canon maintained its top market position in the lens segment of LensRentals 2025 report. The RF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS USM lens maintained its position as the most popular rental lens among all users. The Canon RF 28-70mm f/2L USM was in second place.
Canon placed 4 lenses in the top 5, and 11 lenses in the top 20. The Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II placed in position 5, while Sony overall had 8 lenses in the top 20.
The rankings showed that zoom lenses dominated all other categories, showing that the rentals tended to lean towards the practicality of a zoom lens range over a fixed focal length. Seven out of the top ten positions were held by zooms in the focal range of 24 to 200mm. This makes sense as it’s long been the bread-and-butter professional lenses in this focal range, comprising 24-70, 70-200 professional lenses.
The first prime lens from Canon became available when the RF 50mm f/1.2L lens reached the 9th position. That lens and the Canon RF 85mm f/1.2L are the only primes that were in the top 20.
None of the other camera manufacturers had a lens in the top 20, and only one third-party lens made the top 20, the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DN Art for the Sony E mount.
Closing Thoughts of LensRentals 2025
The top rentals from LensRentals in 2025 don’t reveal any major surprises. They are dominated by professional gear from the major manufacturers. The only surprise is just how much Sony has supplanted Nikon and continues to do so, even with Nikon’s gear being impressive and solid, featuring good cameras, autofocus, and lenses, not to mention excellent ergonomics. Nikon, for some reason, never managed to execute the pivot to mirrorless successfully in the hearts and minds of its professional user base, much to my surprise.
Of course, this is just rental gear, before some Nikon user gets offended. It could be that Nikon users love their gear so much that they always buy it because they’ll never part with it after using it. But if this were the case, I wouldn’t expect rental lenses to be nonexistent. Who doesn’t want to try out new lenses when they are so easy to rent through LensRentals? What professionals wouldn’t rent an additional camera or more lenses for specific jobs, as they do with Canon or Sony equipment?
As far as Canon, the company continues to lead the USA market and shows no signs of slowing down.
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