If you own a DSLR, do you let your friends borrow it?

I don’t have the same connection to my camera that you do to yours, so I have no problem letting someone else use it.

I don’t have an SLR right now but if I did, it would depend. Close friends that I know I can trust could use it. If it was a super expensive one, I’d be extremely hesitant to let people borrow it. One little bump in the wrong direction and you could be talkin hundreds of dollars for a repair.

If I had an SLR, I would not let anyone else touch it lol. It would be like the second most important thing in my life next to my computer (which anyone can use but is not prone to falling out of a klutzy hand).

Nobody uses my camera but moi.

I loaned mine to my son for a few weeks for some jobs (he’s a professional photographer, but he usually shoots with film) and he brought it back with two new and different lenses that he happened to need during his shoot, but doesn’t need to own! Cast thy bread…

No.

Nope. Even if your friends are completely responsible, accidents happen.

No definitely not, I’d never let any of my friends use my DSLR either, simply because it’s pretty d*mn expensive and as @Captain_Fantasy said, accidents do happen. If I want to take fun shots a night out I’ll bring my digital compact.

I have done this and have had to get them repaired.Three different times.I never learn ;)

I am close to getting one as the prices have come way down….even still I would not loan that ever. I would toss them my killer Olympus film slr and tell them to keep it as long as they needed it.

I own the rebel xt, but often I borrow a friend’s Mark D5 for other projects (worth a few grand). So yes, it can be done. I also don’t mind lending mine to a responsible person.

Very few people are allowed to use my DSLR, but I do lend it out on occasional. Not usually vacation-type lending out, but for example, someone in the lab I work in needs to take a punch of photos of her fish for morphometric analysis. She’s been using my DSLR for the past week, but it’s not going anywhere, and it’s on a tripod, and I see it every day when I go in to lab – plus she’s one of the most responsible people I know.

Nope, but I haven’t exactly had anyone ask to borrow it. A lot of people don’t even know I have one. I’ll let them borrow any of my other cameras, though. I’d probably let my boyfriend borrow my DSLR, but again, it’s never come up.

Heck no! I saved up for that camera for so long, I don’t even like to let my husband use it.

No. It’s your baby.

Do not let your friends borrow your DSLR. Have them rent one. Explain your attachment to it.

Heck no. I don’t even like handing over my iPhone for ppl to borrow just to make a phone call. And I don’t let anyone get on my MacBook, even if I’m right next to them. I just don’t want the complication of “what if it breaks.”

No, my D300 is my baby. Who knows what conditions it’s being put under. It’s like saying “hey man, can I borrow your sexuality to take to Mardi Gras, I’ll be careful, I swear.”

You are being totally rational. Sounds like most of us can relate. It took me years to finally get a DSLR, and I don’t let it out of my sight. It’s not even that expensive, but it’s sure worth a lot to me.