September 6, 2024
Vistek Rentals - I tried before I buyed, how'd it go? + SOTQ
G.A.S. but it's only temporary?
Content warning: not aviation related at all really, but gear is cool!
Non-aviation Photography
Photography first is the motto here, since commercial airliner photography is not terribly exciting…Needed to update some headshots, so perfect excuse to do some (rented) G.A.S. Also, what’s the fun in paying someone for photos when there’s a backpack full of camera gear I lug around to take pictures of planes?
Not sponsored in any way (in fact thousands of dollars have gone to Vistek — as in I bought my camera there)
I needed a few more strobes (lights) to do the shoot, so off to Vistek to rent the gear. Vistek has a quick booking system online, someone calls to confirm the booking, you show up and pick things up and pay a deposit (33% of the replacement value), so do check you have enough balance on your credit card for the hold. The gear is rental gear, so not going to win any beauty competitions, but it’s all functional.
I was looking for 2x Canon 600-EX-RT speedlites, $16+tax for each for the entire weekend! Initially I just wanted one, but made the last minute decision to go for two, which was good in the end. Book online, receive a confirmation call and pick up the gear in the store, really straight-forward.
They hold 30% of the replacement value of the equipment on your credit card, so do the math if you’re renting thousands of dollars in gear, was about $400 in holds for the two flashes.
Available Equipment
There’s an amazing selection of rental equipment available and there were five or six other people picking up various bits of gear, lighting gear/video production gear
Sadly the RF 100-300 f2.8 is not available, nor is the 200-800 at the Toronto location (will see if that changes at all before CIAS and London airshow in the fall)
Sidebar re: Canon RT System
Sidebar about the Canon RT system, worked brilliantly on D1 and was a complete nightmare on D2 (dropping link over and over again) — It seems very sensitive to RF interference, many threads on Canon official website and on the photography forums about the issues. Example
SOTQ - Last month
Sorry long backlog of SOTQs, several weeks below!
July 21
| Site | Queue Length (# of photos) | Last fully screened day | Number of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jetphotos | 25,346 (incr.) | July 6, 2024 | 15 days (incr.) |
| Airliners.net | 6,000 (decr.) | June 30, 2024 | 21 days (decr.) |
July 28
| Site | Queue Length (# of photos) | Last fully screened day | Number of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jetphotos | 29,731 (incr.) | July 9, 2024 | 19 days (incr.) |
| Airliners.net | 6,065 (decr.) | July 6, 2024 | 22 days (similar.) |
August 4
| Site | Queue Length (# of photos) | Last fully screened day | Number of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jetphotos | 29,180 (incr.) | July 16, 2024 | 19 days (incr.) |
| Airliners.net | 6,568 (decr.) | July 11, 2024 | 24 days (incr.) |
August 12*
| Site | Queue Length (# of photos) | Last fully screened day | Number of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jetphotos | 28,572 (decr.) | July 24, 2024 | 19 days (unch.) |
| Airliners.net | 6,783 (incr.) | July 17, 2024 | 26 days (incr.) |
August 18
| Site | Queue Length (# of photos) | Last fully screened day | Number of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jetphotos | 29,537 (incr.) | July 30, 2024 | 19 days (unch.) |
| Airliners.net | 6,868 (incr.) | July 25, 2024 | 24 days (decr.) |
August 25
| Site | Queue Length (# of photos) | Last fully screened day | Number of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jetphotos | 30,201 (incr.) | August 5, 2024 | 20 days (unch.) |
| Airliners.net | 6,758 (decr.) | August 1, 2024 | 24 days (decr.) |
September 1
| Site | Queue Length (# of photos) | Last fully screened day | Number of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jetphotos | 30,331 (unch.) | August 12, 2024 | 20 days (unch.) |
| Airliners.net | 6,653 (unch.) | August 9, 2024 | 23 days (decr.) |