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by Richard B. on Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:46 pm
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Hello, 

Nikonrumors reports that Amazon has pulled their listing for this lens and is canceling pre-orders. Has anyone, including NPS members, received or know of someone who received this lens in the last few months? Curious to know if anything is flowing through the pipeline. 

Thanks. 

Richard
 

by E.J. Peiker on Mon Mar 04, 2019 2:19 pm
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Sure, people receiving them everyday, it really ticked up in the last few weeks. I personally know three people that too delivery in the last three weeks - all non-NPS members.
 

by Tim Zurowski on Mon Mar 04, 2019 3:45 pm
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I have been trying to get one within Canada for the past month, and cannot find one in stock anywhere. The stores I have contacted indicated they are expecting a shipment around the end of March. Not holding my breath on that one though.
 

by Mike in O on Mon Mar 04, 2019 4:47 pm
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It sounds as if Nikon is shifting its lens making to the other mount.
 

by Anthony Medici on Mon Mar 04, 2019 5:17 pm
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I also took delivery in the last three weeks and I'm not NPS. I did get on the waiting list at the store I used right after the lens was announced. I believe I was the first non-NPS person that received a lens from there following a small number NPS members getting their lenses at that store.

My feeling is simply Amazon took so many pre-orders they are letting those people out of their commitments to the pre-order to allow them to seek the lens else where. And if they maintained a page without inventory, they would simply end up in the same situation again.
Tony
 

by E.J. Peiker on Mon Mar 04, 2019 6:29 pm
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Agree with Tony!
 

by Richard B. on Mon Mar 04, 2019 11:13 pm
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Thanks everyone. I appreciate the encouraging information.

Richard
 

by Anthony Medici on Tue Mar 05, 2019 12:22 pm
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Mike in O wrote:It sounds as if Nikon is shifting its lens making to the other mount.
Nikon seriously underestimated demand for this lens. If they were to do a 400 or a 600 PF, the demand would be even higher.

The issue is how long it takes for Nikon to make the glass for the lens from start to finish. My understanding of the process is that Nikon needs a year or two lead time for very exotic glass that's in their big telephotos. (Even if the 500 PF is a really small version of big glass, I think the glass needed for this lens still needs the lead time.)
Tony
 

by Mike in O on Tue Mar 05, 2019 12:28 pm
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Anthony Medici wrote:
Mike in O wrote:It sounds as if Nikon is shifting its lens making to the other mount.
Nikon seriously underestimated demand for this lens. If they were to do a 400 or a 600 PF, the demand would be even higher.

The issue is how long it takes for Nikon to make the glass for the lens from start to finish. My understanding of the process is that Nikon needs a year or two lead time for very exotic glass that's in their big telephotos. (Even if the 500 PF is a really small version of big glass, I think the glass needed for this lens still needs the lead time.)
I think you underestimate the huge undertaking Nikon needs to make to feed the insatiable appetite that the Z mount requires.  Why put your resources into a mount whose days are numbered?  That lead time for glass also works for the Z mount.
 

by Anthony Medici on Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:33 pm
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I might agree with you if Nikon never puts out an F-mount body again. And since I believe both the D5 and the D850 as well as some other f-mount bodies will be getting a new iteration, I believe that your reasoning is incorrect. Nikon has been equipment for years to put out around 6 lenses a year and since the Z-mount only used 3 slots last year and will use only 3-4 slots this year, it leave capacity for other lenses to be produced.

Nikon has been notorious about misjudging which lenses/bodies will be popular. It missed the mark entirely with the 500 PF. And the 500 PF can sell to BOTH body mounts making it more valuable in F-mount than in Z-mount where the latter would only be good for people that have the new camera rather than to all the current and future F-mount body holders.
Tony
 

by Mike in O on Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:58 pm
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Anthony Medici wrote:I might agree with you if Nikon never puts out an F-mount body again. And since I believe both the D5 and the D850 as well as some other f-mount bodies will be getting a new iteration, I believe that your reasoning is incorrect. Nikon has been equipment for years to put out around 6 lenses a year and since the Z-mount only used 3 slots last year and will use only 3-4 slots this year, it leave capacity for other lenses to be produced.

Nikon has been notorious about misjudging which lenses/bodies will be popular. It missed the mark entirely with the 500 PF. And the 500 PF can sell to BOTH body mounts making it more valuable in F-mount than in Z-mount where the latter would only be good for people that have the new camera rather than to all the current and future F-mount body holders.
Speaking as a Sony A mount shooter, we have been in this boat for a long time.  Our 2 latest bodies top out at 12 fps (77II & 99II) but they reach a point where they can go no further (mechanical aperture, like Nikon).  If Sony allows Nikon to use the A9 sensor, it will need native lenses to make use of the speed that the sensor and processor drive the lenses (currently 20fps).  Though the 500pf will be usable on Nikon's newest mirrorless, it will not be native and will be held back by lens motors and not be designed for contrast AF (or hybrid) where corrections are done at 160th of a second.
 

by E.J. Peiker on Tue Mar 05, 2019 4:34 pm
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E lenses like the 500PF and any of the newer lenses with the letter E after the aperture in it's name have fully electronic aperture control, no aperture stop-down tab.
 

by Mike in O on Tue Mar 05, 2019 5:19 pm
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E.J. Peiker wrote:E lenses like the 500PF and any of the newer lenses with the letter E after the aperture in it's name have fully electronic aperture control, no aperture stop-down tab.
Yet the D5 is still limited to 12fps with full control.
 

by Anthony Medici on Tue Mar 05, 2019 6:23 pm
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Mike in O wrote:Yet the D5 is still limited to 12fps with full control.
Which is really off topic from that amazon delisted the nikon 500 PF unless you think the Nikon D5 frame rate caused Amazon to delist the lens. Which follows some what from you thinking that Nikon is reducing production on the lens because they put out the Z-mount bodies and now want to concentrate on Z-mount lenses and that is what caused the delisting by Amazon.

The simple explanation is that Amazon decided that Nikon could not fulfill the backorders in a timeframe that was acceptable to Amazon so Amazon took action for its customers.

I agree that Nikon seriously underestimated demand for the 500 PF which is why it is generally why it is not in stock anywhere.

I do not agree that this has anything to do with the Z-mount bodies or the Sony camera body capabilities.

And I know from following Nikon since I purchased a D1 in 2000 that Nikon can only produce so many exotic lenses per year and needs a years lead time to increase production of an exotic lens. So it is likely that Nikon will not increase production of the 500 PF, it will simple continue to make those lenses at the same pace it has been until it catches up with demand. That pace is not sufficient for Amazon so Amazon chose to not deal with it anymore.
Tony
 

by ricardo00 on Wed Mar 06, 2019 2:05 pm
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Anthony Medici wrote:
I agree that Nikon seriously underestimated demand for the 500 PF which is why it is generally why it is not in stock anywhere.
  I also think that Nikon didn't expect so many people willing to pay $3,600 for the 500mm PF lens when there were already so many other excellent cheaper options (ie. the 200-500mm, the 300mm pf, the 150-600mm lenses, etc).  However I do wonder if there is something else going on with Nikon preferably sending to smaller local Nikon dealers (as opposed to the big online stores).  One of the Nikon reps I met at the introduction of the D500 at my local photographic store (which has subsequently gone bankrupt) implied at that time that I would be more likely to get my new D500 at introduction if I bought it at this store versus one of the big NY retailers.  Also reports of people having very short waits (or even finding it in stock) at their local photographic store versus the many month wait at the big online retailers?  What do you think Tony, is this a new policy by Nikon?
 

by Anthony Medici on Wed Mar 06, 2019 2:59 pm
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Nikon tends to evenly distribute the lenses/cameras through out its network. It wouldn't be fair to give 40 lenses/cameras to B&H or Amazon and leave 39 other brick and mortar locations without any. This has been the same for years. It's been over eight years since I've gotten a new release at a large store rather than a small shop.
Tony
 

by ricardo00 on Wed Mar 06, 2019 3:10 pm
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Anthony Medici wrote:Nikon tends to evenly distribute the lenses/cameras through out its network. It wouldn't be fair to give 40 lenses/cameras to B&H or Amazon and leave 39 other brick and mortar locations without any. This has been the same for years. It's been over eight years since I've gotten a new release at a large store rather than a small shop.

  Okay, interesting to know.  Four years ago I pre-ordered the Nikon 300mm f/4 PF lens and got it from B&H when it was first released.  However I don't remember if there was a back log of orders for this lens at the time.  I would have thought Nikon would ship lenses to stores based on their number of pre-orders. 
 

by Anthony Medici on Wed Mar 06, 2019 3:51 pm
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They might if they have enough to cover ALL the pre-orders, not just one location's pre-orders. If all can be covered they would not going to give stock items to other locations when they have locations with pre-orders. But if they can't cover all the pre-orders, they are going to send 1 or 2 items to each location that does have a pre-order. That means locations with lots of pre-orders won't get theirs before other locations.
Tony
 

by Richard B. on Wed Mar 06, 2019 8:01 pm
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Inquired of B&H today as to the number of pre-orders ahead of me, if I placed an order. They would not give me my place in line, but they did say they had "significant" pre-orders for the lens. Wonder what significant means to a house like B&H?

Richard
 

by Tim Zurowski on Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:05 pm
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Well one store I talked to in Canada said they had 30 pre-orders, so one would assume a larger store in the USA like B&H would be significantly higher.
 

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