A little while ago a reader emailed me about renting camera gear. Honestly, I thought that it was possible in Korea, especially for foreigners. I know it is a silly notion because these services are very common in the West, especially in the US. However, it never crossed my mind until someone emailed me about it.
With some research I have found a few places that you can rent gear. A special thanks goes out to the SPC for their informative posts on this, they were really helpful.
Probably one of the larger shops and by that I mean, it has the most selection. from the comments on the Seoul Photography Club forum, it seems that you have to make a reservation through their site and then pick up your gear from either their Hapjeong or Gangnam location. Their site looks great and there is literally tons of gear to rent. Also a lot of videography gear as well.
For the Canon users Β out there, this is a decent site. It has a decent selection tripods, video cameras, DSLRs, and gear to go with them. Sadly, they have a limited selection when it comes to brands namely only Canon for the DSLR cameras and lenses. Β What makes this site stand out is the fact that they offer 3 different lens “sets” at affordable prices. There is the zoom, prime and tilt shift sets. All of these sets are comprised of the Canon L series lenses which are their premium lenses. Also from the looks of things, they off taek-bae or quick service delivery options.
For those who do not live near Seoul, Camedia Square is located in Haeundae near the Haeundae Grand Hotel. This offers the usual assortment of cameras, lenses, camcorders, tripods, etc. While they offer a few different choices for DSLRs, their lenses are all Canon.
So there you have it a short list of the places that I have found online. Now, this is not a complete list but it is a start. Your local camera shop may rent out gear but many don’t. In many cases these shop don’t speak much English, so it is best to have a Korean friend help you. Also be sure to have your alien registration card or passport ready as they will no doubt need it for the rental.
The benefit of using services like these is that when you want to test out a specific lens before you buy, you can. It will give you an idea of what you can do with it before you drop major cash on a lens or camera that you might not like or use. For professional gigs, you may need a lens to shoot sports or portraiture. When I was shooting for the AFC Champions League, I would have loved to have known about these places in order to have used the huge/expensive pro lenses.
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Justin Howard
I had a very good experience with SLR Rent in Hapjeong. They have a fantastic selection of gear on offer as you have mentioned. If I were buying a lens in Korea I would almost certainly try it out at SLR Rent first. For lenses like, in my case, the 70-300mm VR where I can’t justify the purchase but want to use it occasionally nonetheless, it is great. I was also able to renew over the phone as well!
As an additional tip Jason, can I also recommend that you test the lens out before signing and paying for it. Similar to if you were purchasing a second-hand lens; test the blades and take some test shots.
Juan
Thanks for the rental place in Haeundae! Wish there was something closer in Ulsan. We went there last week and rented a prime and macro lens. They seem to have decent stock. Just a note on the location. CamediaSquare is in the Ocean Tower, next to the Grand Hotel. They are on the 19th floor room 1914. Also don’t forget to take your passport. I did not have mine and my ARC was not enough. So they had to chat to my school to send faxes for approval.
WYS
I used SLR Rent last year to rent a D700 and 70-200mm f2.8 VRII and their service was great. I reserved the gear a couple of days in advance and picked it up with no hassle. The bare D700 body I choose to rent ended up coming with the battery grip, 3 fully charged batteries (1 in body, 1 in grip, 1 spare), a 32gb CF card, a usb card reader, and a carrying bag. One thing to know before hand though is that you need to leave your passport with them for the duration of the rental, applies to both foreigners and residents. This is a pretty common practice in Korean rental business and isn’t just SLR Rent’s policy.
Also choosing the rent the 70-200m f2.8 VRII was great decision and I purchased it after renting it.
Jennifer You
This was so helpful! Thank you!
Marco
Very helpful. Right now I’m trying to get in contact with them on Facebook but they no reply. I hope to receive an answer soon.
Thank you.
Jason Teale
Awesome. Also check and see if they have a cell or Kakao number. A lot of these places use Kakao more than anything.
Vu
I can’t thank you enough for sharing this information!
I am planning to help a friend with his wedding photos but I’m on an old lens/camera. We went to SLR Rent (my wife is Korean so she does the talking :D) and just as you said, they are wonderful. Even the staffs are very helpful and “much into” photography and full of passion instead of doing just reception services. One even brought out his D3 or discussed with me his own D100 when I explained what I wanted to do and the limitations of my D200. Very cool place and great people. It’s a bit hard I can tell if I don’t speak Korean but they will pull it through with all they can from body language to as much Kor-English they have. It was a beautiful trip and even my Korean wife was blown away by such services. We are heading this weekend to test out the different set-up. It’s a heaven to test out things before making a purchase for oneself but I have to say, if they do deliver the rental parts to your door, say you have special membership / reserved status or something alike, I would not even bother buying the gears myself with all they have over there!
One update: it seems you need to have an alien card that has at least a room of >6-months valid time or have a Korean native put his/her name down for you to guarantee the rent as a foreigner.
Jason Teale
thank you so much and I am glad that things worked out for you