This is interesting:
go to B&H and search for Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D. The result is "out of stock"
now search for Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D. The result is "in stock" and "back ordered" for US and gray market respectively.
What is the difference between "out of stock" and "back-ordered"? Is B&H telling us that they will no longer "back-order" the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D lens? Why not? Hmmm...
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47 Comments
Clearly, our friend Joe has too much time on his hands. Nevertheless, I’m going to throw him a bone here.
Back when I shot film, I had a Canon and my favorite lens was indeed, my beloved EF 50mm F1.4. It’s a beautiful piece of glass. As I mentioned, I am in the market for a Nikkor 50mm and not having owned one, cannot comment on the current 1.4.
I CAN see from dpreview.com that based on specs alone, the Nikkor is inferior. In my view, this fact alone lends credence to the rumored 50mm 1.4 replacement given the importance of 50mm in anyone’s lineup — even more so with the recent introduction of the D700 FX body. And of course, 50mm makes a decent portrait lens on a DX body.
Having said all that, I can’t see how you beat the 1.8 from a value perspective.
Troll!
John, if you have something meaningful to say – please do so. Otherwise you will the first person to be banned @ NR!
besides, Dp review has their head so far up canon’s ass they are seeing L glass
OK talking about dpreview: I got banned there few times, just because I had http://www.nikonrumors.com in my signature – I was not promoting the site or anything…
I am not criticizing NR at all. I am an avid Nikon shooter and love to look at all the rumors and dream. I just found it funny that it took dpreview such a freakin long time to get up a review. Even with new equipment, they take such a long time to get the info out and correct.
Their ownership changes almost a year ago. Since then, they are responding differently. Yea, NR should have a forum, at least.
Concerning NR forum:
. It seems there are enough people who wants to discuss and on sites like dp you get the worst comments if you try to post anything that remotely resembles a rumor, even though their forums are purely gear-forums. 
. Any other good nikon relevant links around?
A forum on NR would be a nice touch
Alternatives to dp:
There are many other nice sites like http://www.steves-digicams.com, http://www.imaging-resource.com and http://www.dcresource.com around. However it would be nice if there was a site like http://www.photozone.de but for full frame tests, that one’s missing…
Nikon links
For Nikon users the http://www.nikonlinks.com is not bad though, although the only supply links and not tests. A “links corner” on NR for an overview of current and previous model info would not be bad – needed to do good future extrapolation..
I had ordered one from MostlyDigital (a shop up here in Canada) that had been backorder since June 20th, but received it today. I too did not have the money or the need for the rumored, more expensive, AF-S, so I’m glad I finally got it.
If you open up a forum, you should have an acceptance process that requires forumers to all actually own Nikon cameras. Flame wars and fanboys are for DPR.
I like this blog the way it is though. The blog comment system is high tech enough that it’s just like a forum, except YOU start the topics, and that way we don’t have to put up with dozens of crap topics from some windbag ranting about their personal opinion. If you started a forum I don’t think I would join, whereas I DO take the time to comment here on the blog in a thoughtful, informative manner. Having a very logical head and good deductive reasoning, I like to think that I can do pretty good at “predicting” the future, or at least advising people on the current purchasing situation…
And in this case, I personally am NOT going to buy another Nikon lens until after Photokina. I can rent until then…
=Matt=
Thanks for the input – I agree with you: there are plenty of equipment review and forum sites, some of them very good. I will stick to the rumors, without forum for now. The comments under each post are much more dynamic and easy to access (I generally hate forums – they are so 1990).
I just noticed the “out of stock” on the 70-200, f2.8 @ B&H as well. It said Back ordered the other day.
I live in Indonesia, in July I ordered a 50mm f 1.4, it appeared to be out of stock everywhere. I asked Nikon Singapore when they expected new stock, they wrote ‘after two months we will ship to Indonesia’, it arrived last Friday. Just the good old AF 50mm f 1.4 D, no AF-S. Made in China, serial number 6122037.
Yes, those are the type of people that need to talk to me.
Who cares. I like canon anyways.
You’re *just a bit* strange if you don’t care and still visit a Nikon rumors blog.
I agree. Why would you post this on a Nikonrumors blog. Are you looking for attention???
I agree. Why would you post this on a Nikonrumors blog. Are you looking for attention???
Sorry posted it twice. It was meant for Joe who commented on like canon.
If you want to get one of those lenses. Try sigma4less.com. They still have them in stock. Just got an f1.4 50mm the other day. Just a tip.
Interestingly, if you search for the Nikkor 70-200 VR, all results come back as back ordered too. Could the have a similar meaning to the Nikkor 50 f/1.4 result above?!
Out of stock means just that — there are none “in house”
Back ordered means that the local distributor has none available, either.
Are we still expecting a new 50mm 1.4? I haven’t seen any updates to the lens rumors lately. I was thinking of getting a 1.8 as the 1.4 is too pricey. I assume the new 1.4 will cost even more? (Still, I need the D90 body to show up first! …already sold my D70 early this summer.)
Thanks – do you know this for a fact, or you are just guessing?
I’ve been looking for a 50mm 1.4 and B+H, Adorama, and Amazon have all been out of stock for weeks. Best case scenario, Nikon stopped shipping well before introducing the afs to try to get rid of all the old stock because the new lens won’t cost much more than the old af-d.
Well, maybe an update is coming and will not try to dupe us like the white brand lowering their prices and not telling that new version is coming out….
I do NOT know for a fact that this applies to B&H; however, it DID apply to the fairly sophisticated inventory control system for the electronics retailer/etailer for whom I worked a couple of years ago.
There is also this: Something could be out of stock and the retailer/etailer would not place an order for more because of knowledge of new product — in which case, there would be NO back order on purpose. In our system, items only went on back order when we actually placed orders with a distributor who could not immediately fill those orders.
But in truth, neither back order no out of stock is the same as discontinued — which was also a stock designation in our system. But even that could have two meanings: we might have chosen to no longer carry the product or the distributor might no longer have the product to supply our inventory.
One more thing: back ordered usually implies that stock IS expected eventually — it just isn’t in the immediate supply chain.
sorry — Anon above was me — forgot to fill out the form….
The next question is: will Nikon tell B&H about a new upcoming product?
You don’t have to guess as to the meaning of “Back-Ordered.” If you visit the B&H page for the 50mm f/1.4, you will see that the phrase “Back-Ordered” is a hyperlink. Click it and you get the explanation: “This item is temporarily not available. We have no estimated arrival date at this time.”
So if you want to use the B&H website to judge whether a product is about to be discontinued, a more likely conclusion would be that it’s the f/1.8 lens that’s about to be dropped, not the f/1.4 lens.
you guys need to just switch to canon.
That’s a no and a yes. With smaller dealers, Nikon has always had a zero pre-announcement policy — even back in the EPOI days. However, with the very largest dealers, there is often a heads-up to the person in charge of making purchase decisions that something is in the works. It is seldom in the form of actual new product information (as in almost never). It is more likely to be that orders for certain products should be curbed in order to reduce inventory depth or that certain products may no longer be readily available after a certain date. The person placing orders can then make a decision to allow stock to deplete in preparation for a replacement model or stock up against a pending shortage or discontinuation.
One more thing: even the Nikon reps don’t have the details about new products until just a few days before the products are announced.
Many of the rumors that circulate are pure speculation based on wishful thinking. Some are reasonable extrapolation of existing product and an understanding of the background technology. Others are actual leaks based on knowledge of or from subcontractors and parts suppliers. And most leaks, as actual release dates near, are from people with access to documentation printers and/or magazine print media, which typically has a two-to-five month lead time to publication.
I received a 50 1.4 from B&H that shipped on August 26th. Prior to that, it had been listed as “out of stock”.
I think people are looking for signs where none exist.
Yes he is. And don’t encourage him.
If you ignore him, he will go away, seeking attention elsewhere.
I am a nikon user for 20 years. I never buy any other brand. But I do not like nikon’s behavior on products availability. Some of the key lenses were not available for professional photographer like me. Nikon should bring them on asap.
Well I do not like Canon! So what is the difference in each comment? None I susspect, so Canon comments are good on Canon sites and so on.
Yodobashi camera in Tokyo still has it. Yen 29,900
Its funny that you guys have to wait for lenses when canon users can get whatever they want, whenever they want.
But what about my freedom of speech that you were trying to protect yesterday when Canon attempted to sue canonrumors.com? hypocrites…
I once asked BH about this. Back ordered is as it sounds – the item has been ordered, but not available for shipping by the vendor. Out of Stock can be 1) an item that hasn’t been ordered yet, 2) an item that has been ordered but is not on back order – it’s expected to arrive. If BH anticipates not ordering or getting an item, it becomes discontinued.
You are right about that. Canon products are easy to get it. But, that is not point here. we like Nikon quality and that’s why we are here. If you are a canon man, you don’t have to be here.Go to canorumor or somewhere else.
Hope it will come back soon, I don’t need the new AF-S for $800…
I find it funny that NR is saying that there is going to be a new version of the 50 1.4 when DPreview just today September the 10th put out their review of it.
ya, they are late about almost a decade and half.
I find this funny too, but let’s set the record straight: I am just gathering information from different sources and presenting it to you, our beloved reader to make up your own mind. Sometimes, when I am really sure about something, I will say that NR is 99% sure bla bla…
Don’t put too much faith in dpreview.com, these guys make so many mistakes – see today’s news about the Leaf AFi-II cameras where they were not even be able to cut and paste from press material correctly – you can’t make any judgement if a new 50/1.4 will be available soon or not based upon anything dpreview.com does.
Just noticed that the Nikkor 50 mm f/1.4D is back in stock at B&H again.