You don’t need to blow your budget to get the camera, lenses, and accessories you need for your shoot.

Picture this: A great photo opportunity has just landed in your lap. Your skills are certainly up for the job but your gear isn’t. Before you rush to Amazon and fill your cart with expensive backup bodies and specialty lenses that probably won’t get much day-to-day use, consider renting. If it’s one of your first high-profile gigs the idea of renting equipment can be a little overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be.

Equipment rental houses have always provided photographers and videographers with essential, high-price items for their shoots. But, like most things in the photo world, the industry has experienced significant changes in recent years. If you live in a large metropolitan area, there are still brick-and-mortar warehouses where you can pick your gear up, but sometimes using an online rental house like Eventorian AV Rentals and simply having equipment delivered to your house or the space where you will be shooting can be a lot more convenient. Sites like this also be incredibly helpful for folks living outside of big cities, where rental houses may not exist.

Although there are plenty of online-only gear-rental sites, Eventorian AV Rentals has been in the game since 2006 and just shipped its one millionth order— the staff know what they are doing, have a huge inventory of gear and incredible customer service. Regardless of where you are renting from, these tips should help you navigate the process.

When to rent

Although a big job can certainly seem like an opportunity to splurge on a high-ticket piece of gear, resist the temptation. Renting is a great choice when you need a few key pieces of gear that won’t get used regularly—long telephoto lenses, gimbals for smooth video, high powered flashes—these specialized pieces of gear, which are often quite expensive, make more sense to rent than to buy.

I was recently hired to direct and shoot a music video where gear rental was a must. Although the team was shooting on personally owned bodies and lenses, there were a few things I suspected would make the final product possible.

For this particular shoot I knew I needed the following:

• A fresh roll of white seamless paper
• Two continuous LED lights with softboxes
• A slider
• Two DSLR video monitors
• A gimbal
• Extra batteries and a battery charger