Where to rent camera and video gear in Lower Manhattan

Lower Manhattan has more places to rent camera and video equipment than any other kind of rental business. In our neighborhood research, camera and video was the largest category in the five ZIP codes we mapped (10002, 10003, 10009, 10012 and 10013), with 16 businesses. The list and the prices below come from that research, as of March 2026. Rates change, so confirm with the business before you plan a shoot around them.

The businesses split into two groups. Rental houses lend you equipment to take away. Studios rent you a room, and the lights, stands and backdrops come with it. If you need a camera for a weekend, you want the first group. If you need a place to shoot with lighting already rigged, you want the second.

Rental houses: gear you take with you

These businesses rent cameras, lenses, lighting or grip equipment that leaves the building with you.

K&M Camera and the International Center of Photography sit a few blocks apart on the Lower East Side, which makes them the closest options for stills photographers in 10002. ICP's list runs from digital bodies to medium format and large format film cameras, and it also offers darkroom access. Production Junction, on East 10th Street, is the cinema house of the group, with ARRI and RED camera packages and the lighting to go with them. Moonzescope on Grand Street rents both ARRI camera gear and its own film studio, and it's one of the few places in the neighborhood that puts a price on its website.

Tribeca Lighting and Tribeca Teleprompting are specialists. Go to the first for stage and event lighting, and to the second when someone on camera needs to read a script.

Studios with equipment included

These businesses rent space by the hour or day. The gear stays in the studio.

For a product shoot, Noho Productions specializes in still life and includes props. For portraits in natural light, LeVue Studios is a daylight space with a published hourly rate. For a podcast or interview, Hoff Studios and WTF Media Studios both come set up with cameras and microphones, so you can walk in and record.

"Call for rates" means the business doesn't publish prices online. Studios usually quote by the hour with a minimum booking, so ask about the minimum when you call.

A short trip north

A few larger rental houses sit in Chelsea, outside the five ZIP codes this guide covers: Adorama Rentals (42 W 18th St), CSI Rentals (133 W 19th St), Scheimpflug Camera Rentals (162 W 21st St) and Hand Held Films (129 W 27th St). If nothing downtown has the package you need, they're the next place to look.

What's hard to find

Professional rental houses are built for productions. They stock cinema packages and studio strobes, and they price for a paid shoot. Smaller, everyday gear is harder to rent nearby: a mirrorless camera for a family trip, a tripod for an afternoon, a ring light for a video call, a GoPro for a weekend upstate or a projector for a movie night. Plenty of people in the neighborhood own exactly those things and use them a few times a year. The same is true of tools: see where to borrow or rent tools in the Lower East Side, or browse all our guides. If you live in the launch area, our guide to borrowing and renting in Stuyvesant Town covers what's closest to home.

Renting from a neighbor

Leen is an app for renting things from people near you, cameras and lenses included. It hasn't launched yet. It's launching in Lower Manhattan, starting in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, and you can join the waitlist to hear when it opens.

Here's how a rental works in the app. You find an item by category or inside a community you belong to, and the price is on the listing. You pick your dates and see the total before you send a request. Your card is charged through Stripe only when the lender accepts. You plan the pickup in the rental's chat, and either of you can add condition photos at pickup and return.

If you own camera gear that sits in a drawer most of the month, you can list it the same way; our guide to renting out what you own covers pricing and handoffs. Listing is free. Leen hasn't published its fees yet, and we'll tell the waitlist before any fee applies.

Before you rent camera gear

• Call ahead. Rental counters often hold one of each body or lens, and few show live stock online.
• Ask what the business needs from you at pickup, and how long it takes.
• Check the kit at pickup: batteries, chargers, memory cards, lens caps and the case.
• Take photos of everything before you leave, from a shop or a neighbor.
• Agree on the return time, and what counts as normal wear, before you go.