CSI Rentals - New York, New York

Derek Halsey

Really great experience renting from CSI Rentals. Extremely fair price, great customer service - left battery and strap and they were quick to find missing piece.

Will rent from them again!

Stefan Johnson

I'm an amateur photographer who rented a Canon R5 with 24-105mm f/4L, since I'm looking to upgrade from my current camera body. Came with necessary equipment for reading the card and extra battery. Checking in and out was seemless and the rental price was a great, alongside a Memorial Day special for one day's rental price for the whole weekend plus a couple days.

The Festive Anthropologist

CSI Rentals totally saved my NYC trip! I mistakenly only brought my wide angle lens (10-18mm)…and had 11 photo shoots scheduled! ?

Luckily, even though I called them at 5PM, I was able to rent from them before they closed at 6PM.

I rented a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM Lens- and it came in a protective case.

Security deposit hold was 1/2 the price of lens.

And I was only charged for 2 days, even though I rented it the evening of 5/18 and returned it before closing on 5/22.

Staff was extremely knowledgeable and friendly- will definitely be using them to test out different lenses!

Here are some photos that CSI made possible (camera body is a Canon 70D).

They have not been edited, and were shot in automatic (shhhh don’t tell!)

Andoni Tsouchlarakis

I had a regrettably abysmal experience renting from CSI Rentals. I looked for a way to have a positive rental experience with this company, but I was unfortunately let down, though the company did at least make an (inadequate) effort to make things right.

• Mar 18 - I completed a reservation for a Sony 100-400 and Sony 2x teleconverter, 3 weeks from when the gear was needed for the solar eclipse with rental date Apr 5.
• Apr 2 - I was informed that a client decided to keep the 2x TC and it would not be available for my Apr 5 rental date, 3 days before my rental date. I was provided with an alternative of Canon gear with a Metabones adapter at a discount. I elected to not accept the alternative, and just rent the lens without the TC, which I had every reason to believe was available.
• Apr 5 (day of rental) - I was informed 1 hour before my pickup time that not only had the other client decided to keep the 2x TC, but they had also decided to keep the Sony 100-400 as well. Because of a self-admitted mistake at CSI Rentals, I was only told the day of my rental that this was the case, when the client had actually made this decision on Apr 2, leaving me no time to formulate a back-up plan. I was sent alternative lens rental sites, but none provided any opportunity for me to get a lens with such an incredibly short turnaround time.

I made a reservation 3 weeks in advance to guard against the exact situation that ended up happening. CSI's policy allowing a client to extend their rental period to cut into another client's rental period put me in an unfortunate position. Had I known that my reservation was subject to a decision another client could make that I had no influence over, I would not have rented from them for a photographic opportunity so important time sensitive.

In the end, they offered me a 26-year-old Canon lens from 1998 (100-400 mark 1) as a 'replacement' at a discount, which I accepted having no other options. I give them 2 stars instead of 1 because they did at least try to rectify the issue, though the alternative gear they loaned me was not even close to a full replacement for the gear I had reserved. Their communication regrettably came at the 11th hour and created, on the whole, an awful rental experience and I do not plan to rent from them again.

Josh Levine

I needed a $1400 esoteric lens for a single shot that needed to happen by the end of the day. I ordered the lens on the CSI website for $40/day and went and picked it up 2 hours later, took the shot, returned the lens the next day. Places like this make the impossible into the easy. This is what NYC get-it-done culture is all about.

BTW, the lens was a Canon 180mm f3.5 macro and it was so worth the effort.

Andrew Schito

These guys are the best. My gear got caught in customs for a shoot I needed to film. I went to a competitor who told me they couldn't rent to me in that short of time. I found these guys who were super accommodating. The gear was well organized and worked great. The price was competitive too. If I'm in NYC again, I will rent from them again. Thanks CSI for helping a Canadian out. Respect.

Fast Wong

Have been renting a lot here lately and everything has been awesome! All the equipment is clean and in good shape, the team is super nice, it's been great everytime. Last time I made a last minute request and they went above and beyond to get a few things over from Brooklyn just before they closed for the day. They could have just told me they didn't have it and I booked too late but they went the extra mile, more than I could have asked for. Thank you!

David Urbanke

I rented a camera body and lens from CSI's Manhattan location last week. Because I was traveling, a family member picked up the equipment for me. CSI did not have the order, even though I received confirmation by e-mail, and the person doing the pickup had to wait quite a while for it to be put together. They told me several other customers were also having problems.

The wheel on top of the camera was broken, the body was scratched up in multiple places, and the tether port didn't work. When I brought it in and tried to explain what was wrong with it, they didn't even turn on the camera or check. Instead I was told that I should have used a tether lock for my cord - which I did.

I explained to them that the camera was in such bad shape I couldn't use it at work, and that it made me look bad in front of my client because it was unable to tether. (The tether cord and lock were tested on another camera after the shoot and work just fine, so it was indeed the camera).

After a few minutes of arguing with the employee and trying to show them that the wheel didn't work due to very visible damage (they were telling me it was fine), another employee walked by and pointed out that was the camera that was supposed to be repaired because of the broken wheel. They only refunded the camera body charge because I demanded and still charged me for the lens. I did not receive any kind of apology, I was only met with rudeness and bad attitudes. Between the gear not working and the staff being so unprofessional, I will be switching back to Adorama for my future rentals.