Is it possible to rent a ridiculously high-end digital SLR?

[CaesarX]

I may need a ridiculously high-end digital SLR for a quick shoot a few months down the road, and i wanted to check if anyone knows whether places that will rent out something like that for a day even exist? And if they do, how much would it cost to rent an $15K cam?

 

[isekii]

why not just get an SLR camera

on ebay or something ..

Like a Nikon N70 ? ? and have it developed and put on photocd ?

 

[Wallydraigle]

There are places out there that do rent out cameras, but even if you find one such place they probably won't have the camera you are interested in. What camera are you looking for?

 

[Howard]

It depends on the camera.

What are you going to use it for? If you're trying for max quality, I would rent something like a Hasselblad 555ELD and a Phase One digital scanning back for still pictures, or a Phase One H1 digital imaging system and a Hasselblad H1 medium format.

 

[CaesarX]

Why not buy one? Well, it may have something to do with the fact that i'm not INSANE. I'd rather put 1/2 down on a BMW M Roadster than buy an SLR Anyway, i'm looking for something with outstanding quality, but more importantly, resolution. I will need to take several pictures of a house, and i need the resolution to be high enough for print, even poster-size if possible. These pictures will need to be as future-proof as possible, because they will be used many years down the road, and they will need to look up to par to the latest photographs.

 

[ElFenix]

if sheer resolution is all you need rent a medium format camera... it doesn't matter how high end your 35mm SLR is its still limited to the resolution of a 35mm slide

 

[CaesarX]

So how high up does it go? Resolution is the most important aspect, but quality never hurt anyone either

 

[Utterman]

Check your local speciality camera shop. The store around where I live does. Here's their rental page

 

[silverpig]

See if you can find a Sigma SD9 (based on the X3 chip)... Best quality out there.

 

[Howard]

I just checked out some pics taken by the X3 sensor. Not bad, I admit. But if you're looking for straight-up resolution, try this one: Heh

 

[Howard]

I still think you should rent a nice film SLR and use a high-quality drum scanner to convert the pics to digital.

 

[Wallydraigle]

Originally posted by: silverpig
See if you can find a Sigma SD9 (based on the X3 chip)... Best quality out there.

Not quite yet. The Foveon chip might someday be the next greatest thing, bit it's just not quite where it's at yet. Right now it has major trouble with artifacts in the image, and some funky dynamic range issues. Add that to the fact that the only camera currently boasting the X3 chip takes Sigma (gag! :disgust: ) lenses. The best DSLR based on a 35mm body currently is Canon's 1Ds. With 11+ million pixels you can make huge prints. In a few months Kodak will have their new camera with a 14 million pixel sensor on the market. But since it's not out yet, no one has any images. There are 1Ds images on the net, and in a few months you might even be able to get a hold of one. They are just reaching the market now. If that's still not enough resolution, your best bet is to use a medium, or even large format film camera. That you should be able to rent somewhere, I guess. I really doubt you'll find high end digital stuff for rent, and the cost would be prohibitive. Hope you find something that will work for you.

 

[Lucky]

Originally posted by: CaesarX
Why not buy one? Well, it may have something to do with the fact that i'm not INSANE. I'd rather put 1/2 down on a BMW M Roadster than buy an SLR Anyway, i'm looking for something with outstanding quality, but more importantly, resolution. I will need to take several pictures of a house, and i need the resolution to be high enough for print, even poster-size if possible. These pictures will need to be as future-proof as possible, because they will be used many years down the road, and they will need to look up to par to the latest photographs.

It would be much wiser (not to mention cheaper, and easier) to buy/rent even a $200 camera and have the pictures drum scanned for $20-$25 a pop.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: CaesarX
So how high up does it go? Resolution is the most important aspect, but quality never hurt anyone either

resolution = image quality

a medium format is going to have better sheer image quality than pretty much any digital (maybe the eos 1d, maybe)

and a large format is going to be better.

when your film is the size of the average print you can't have bad image quality