Nikon AF-S Nikkor 500mm f/4G ED VR lens discontinued?

15 Comments

1. Jack
   Posted February 18, 2009 at 9:16 pm | Permalink

   I doubt that’s accurate. That lens just came out a little while ago.

2. Joe S
   Posted February 18, 2009 at 9:25 pm | Permalink

   B&H has been really screwy lately. I’m not sure if you guys caught this, but it was down for about an Hour today, and no pictures were showing for a rather long time.

3. johnny
   Posted February 18, 2009 at 9:28 pm | Permalink

   B&H posting inaccurate availability data. Now that’s something I’ve never heard of

4. steve
   Posted February 18, 2009 at 9:33 pm | Permalink

   Still shows up on Nikon’s site

5. blake
   Posted February 18, 2009 at 10:05 pm | Permalink

   B&H is wrong, these Long super prime lenses’ release schedule generally line up with an olympic game.

6. niknik
   Posted February 18, 2009 at 10:56 pm | Permalink

   $8999.99 at calumet, got mine there for $7700.00 during christmas

7. Jeff
   Posted February 19, 2009 at 12:55 am | Permalink

   $8199.95 at Adorama (USA)
   The only reason they would discontinue would be to upgrade it and that’s doubtful so soon. It’s very popular.

8. niknik
   Posted February 19, 2009 at 2:11 am | Permalink

   or after march1st. price increas

9. Steve
   Posted February 19, 2009 at 2:53 am | Permalink

   It is still available on Amazon for $7,899.95: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00009XV9L/?tag=nikon09-20

10. jmh
    Posted February 19, 2009 at 6:43 am | Permalink

    B&H must have a new guy doing web site maintenance…..

    More likely it’s “Back-ordered” like the ‘Import’ version. Makes no sense to have the US model alone discontinued – and as noted above – NikonUSA still lists on its web site. Given the relative newness of this lens and unmet demand, I rather doubt it’s been discontinued.

11. acb
    Posted February 19, 2009 at 6:52 am | Permalink

    may be possible that they’re cutting costs and keeping only the 400 f2.8 and 600 f4 leaving out the middle ground. I’m assuming none of these lenses are easy or cheap to produce especially in an economy where cutting costs is pretty much mandatory to stay afloat.

12. ace
    Posted February 19, 2009 at 10:40 am | Permalink

    B&H sold Nikon and Canon product below cost last holiday season (BOTH MANUFACTURES DID NOT LIKE IT)now it is payback time,They can not get the lens from Nikon and the call it discontinued ,

13. Henry Posner
    Posted February 19, 2009 at 11:17 am | Permalink

    Sorry. This was a programmer’s typo and it’s being corrected. The Nikon 500mm f/4G AF-S ED VR lens is NOT, as far as we know, discontinued.

    –
    Henry Posner
    B&H Photo-Video

    • [NR] admin
      Posted February 19, 2009 at 8:28 pm | Permalink

      Thanks for clarifying Henry!. So, what are the new models from Nikon for this year?
      I will update the post.

14. Zoetmb
    Posted February 19, 2009 at 9:56 pm | Permalink

    >>>B&H sold Nikon and Canon product below cost last holiday season (BOTH MANUFACTURES DID NOT LIKE IT)now it is payback time,They can not get the lens from Nikon and the call it discontinued ,

    That’s B.S. With sales overall lousy and Circuit City out of the picture (not that Circuit City sold the expensive lenses) and other chains about to go under, Nikon and Canon need stores like B&H more than ever. The fact is that B&H selling at any price does not hurt Nikon since they still pay the same wholesale price. Besides, if Nikon wants to, they can now legally enforce both minimum advertised price and even minimum selling price (Supreme Court ruled as such last year, although Nikon hasn’t enforced it yet.)

    The reality is that Nikon cannot make enough of this lens and they’re probably pushing the lenses in markets where the currencies are strong against the Yen.