Want to Cash in On Your Studio? Try CameraLends

CameraLends, founded in 2013, is a slightly different take on the traditional rental house. For one thing, there’s no house.

Rather than store a pile of gear in a warehouse, they operate a bit like AirBNB, matching photographers who have gear they want to rent with photographers looking to rent gear. (They even have a dedicated space for wedding photographers.)

It’s an interesting peer-to-peer model, and according to the company, a rapidly expanding one. Since its launch, CameraLends has seen its monthly active users grow 550 percent with sharp growth in the cities of New York, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. CameraLends claims their prices come in between 30 to 60 percent cheaper than a formal rental house. Photographers renting their gear are earning upwards of $250 a month, the company says.

For its next trick, CameraLends is expanding to offer studio rentals alongside its gear. Studio owners can post images and descriptions of their space and wait for interested renters. You can check out an example of a studio listing here.

The listing is free but if someone expresses interest in the studio, the lister must pay CameraLends $9 to unlock access to the lead. Any payments between a studio and a renter are handled independent of CameraLends.

If you’ve got a few open days on the calendar every month, studio rentals may help fill the void.

A closer look at a CameraLends studio rental page.

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