congrats smarterchild on the new glass! I go to roberts as well(the carmel store) I think the shortages suck, but i have a feeling that it is really putting the hurt on local camera stores. I know that they don't get a lot of stock to start with and when they do, its months after the product has come out. Oh well, fingers crossed the new 50mm is in stock next month. :)

Supplies of high end bodies are limited right now. It could be days or weeks, since it isn't just a matter of whether Nikon has them. It also depends on how many people are ahead of you on the waiting list at a given store.

Okay so my other topic got closed, I'll just ask it here: does anyone know who I can contact to get any prediction about when my newly ordered body will get here? The major retail store I ordered it at couldn't give me anything (booh) but perhaps the Nikon office in my country will be able to tell me something? The salesperson in the store did tell me that all D700 bodies coming in recently were backorders.

Cool!

Show us some nice bokeh!

smarterchild said:
Finally got lucky with the 85mm 1.4 G! Ive been on Roberts waiting list for about 2 months and while in Indy I got a call from Roberts saying they have a copy if I wanted it. I was over there in about 5 mins and got the lens with a Hoya protector filter for 1900$ much better deal then ebay and amazon currently.

Congratulations smarterchild, you've been waiting for that one for quite a while. It is a superb piece of glass.

sevencrossing said:
Do people think this because a big demand for the 3x, or that as they don't sell many 3x's stocks were low in the first place?

The latter I would think.

Finally got lucky with the 85mm 1.4 G! Ive been on Roberts waiting list for about 2 months and while in Indy I got a call from Roberts saying they have a copy if I wanted it. I was over there in about 5 mins and got the lens with a Hoya protector filter for 1900$ much better deal then ebay and amazon currently.

I placed an order on Friday for the 35mm 1.8 dx at best buy and I got an email that they are shipping it to the store today

The status changed to back ordered so maybe I just got lucky

In the UK the D3s and D700 are both available (although no discounts)

only the D3x is not available

Do people think this because a big demand for the 3x, or that as they don't sell many 3x's stocks were low in the first place

Basicccc said:
now that amazon has some lenses in stock. is it safe to assume that other retailers will have them as well?

No.

You'll have to try each retailer individually and see. :(

now that amazon has some lenses in stock. is it safe to assume that other retailers will have them as well?

I also had a hard time finding the 35mm 1.8 lens that's so popular. I think it's useful to break Nikon scarcity down into its components--there are things that are manufactured in Japan that are directly affected (D3s camera and its parts were made in a factory that was near or in the disaster area). Some things perhaps less direct but perhaps still affected (maybe some part for a product made outside of Japan like lens glass or something). Then there is just plain old fashioned not enough production

So, for me, that lens is out there and vendors are receiving fresh supply infrequently. It's like getting a wii when they came out, or an ipad2. Now, the price gougers are performing a valuable service--what if I *had* to have this lens quickly? If so, then I can pay a premium and get it quickly. I dislike places that are charging a price premium when it's not in stock, but I note that such places (ritz) are not charging as much as other places that claim to have it. So I guess the ability to "reserve" one is also somewhat of a service, albeit one I decided not to buy.

Anyway, I placed an order for this lens on Amazon (amazon as the seller) and it took a full month (still hasn't shipped but it's "about" to), but I will be getting this lens next week, it'll have been 4 weeks, and I was charged the MSRP for it. Fair enough.

For others looking for this lens, the amazon system seems to work well--you order it, it's backordered, they sit on the order until they get some in stock and then fill the order.

I will say this though--when I bought into the Nikon "system", I was doing so partly out of tradition (I have a few older nikon lenses lying around and an older camera from the 80's). and partly out of how I liked the products they had. But one thing that never played into my decision was, how hard it might be to actually find some of these things at retail. I'm looking into getting a flash, and I hope it's a lot easier to find than this 35mm 1.8 lens was. Will it be a huge problem to find a replacement DSLR body when/if I outgrow my D5000? I'm not complaining, and there's probably a huge and excellent used equipment scene with Nikon; but scarcity is not something I knew to think about.

Nikon rumors now saying October 2011 for the D800 and January 2012 for the D4. Some still believe might still be August for the D800, but there will be delays because of the disaster that happened in Japan in March. We knew this pretty much already though...

NSXType-R said:
Put your name on a waiting list. And still pay $300 for the lens.

Whew, and I thought paying $220 was a bit ridiculous.

Dammit!
I sold mine for $195 last year, lol, should've held on to it, that's a 50% return, better than my 401k choices. . .

bjrichus said:
That is up to you, but it's actually outside the terms of a merchant agreement - at least it was last time I looked - and means I need to make a mental note to "Never use Abes, unless I don't care about who has my money", which actually I do, so....

Anyway, how long was the wait for it?

still waiting - put in the order about 2-3 weeks ago

don't expect it anytime soon

Put your name on a waiting list. And still pay $300 for the lens.

Whew, and I thought paying $220 was a bit ridiculous.

Newbie here, just got the D5100 today and have been looking for a 35mm f/1.8 lens. Does anyone know off hand where I can find one in stock? I am not willing to shell out $300 for a used one on ebay. Freestyle in CA has an estimate of July 1st arrival.

alchse said:
Abes took my whole payment for the 35mm 1.8 I ordered......but I got the order in for $195 all in so I'm fine "loaning" them the money till it comes in.

That is up to you, but it's actually outside the terms of a merchant agreement - at least it was last time I looked - and means I need to make a mental note to "Never use Abes, unless I don't care about who has my money", which actually I do, so....

Anyway, how long was the wait for it?

i called nikon canada today asking them how much longer they're going to take for repairs( so far waited 3 weeks) and they told me they're waiting for parts from japan....

Well I got my fingers crossed, maybe Toyota has a lot of parts made in the "devastation zone" and I am sure it takes way more parts to put a car together than a camera. I will say with a Nikon plant being in the "zone" doesn't look to promising.

NikoDoby said:
There was a news story about how severely Toyota has had to cut production due to the earthquake. They are limiting their production runs to three times a week. However even on those days production will only be at 50% or less.

They have said that they will cease production in Canada and the US for an entire week in May. One week for each country. Toyota plans to continue this schedule until June when they will reevaluate the situation.

Toyota is a mega company with over 300,000 employees. Nikon has less then 30,000. If Toyota is forecasting major global delays in production, then what does this tell us about Nikon?

Yeah I saw that this morning and immediately got nervous. . .I guess we shall see, right?

bjrichus said:
they cannot collect a payment, which means no profit for them.

Abes took my whole payment for the 35mm 1.8 I ordered......but I got the order in for $195 all in so I'm fine "loaning" them the money till it comes in.

adamz said:
guys, please don't blame companies for making profit.

My 2c worth...

Photo retailers are *not* philanthropic charities, don't you know?

You may also not know that the retailers will raise the sticker price to the point where customer flow slows down enough (because the price is "too high"), to not make up for the profit lost at the higher price. They'll then have a "Sale" (or other kind of "special event") and the price will go DOWN depending on local/country laws (must have been at the higher price for 'so many days' for it to be a 'sale' or whatever) to a point where increased customer flow due to the lower price raises profit above whatever the appropriate point is.

This all depends on a sustained stock level that is, which is the wild card in all this... No stock? Then they'll simply take orders for a product but not have a delivery date. The idea is to lock you into buying it from THEM when stock does come in. Remember when you left a "deposit" for something, instead of just leaving your card details on file?

I'm not criticizing the retailer channel here, just stating how I see it work, is all.

Remember, there are complex so-called business intelligence computer packages to work out the points above and below whatever the points to raise/lower prices etc are. And you all thought setting prices was all guess work? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....

Oh and by the way, retailers hate all this as much as we (the buyers) do. While they cannot ship a product to a customer, they cannot collect a payment, which means no profit for them.

guys, please don't blame companies for making profit. I know how it feels when You finally manage to save enough and the price goes up, but that's life. as for the prices in US, IMHO they became ridiculous high lately. right now, most of the products in US are at almost the same price level as in Poland or lower (usually the price gap between Poland and US is app 20-25% in favor of US), i.e. 35/1.8 polish price is app $250 (vat included), d3s $5900, d700 $2850 (and if You are non EU client You can get back 23% vat).

There was a news story about how severely Toyota has had to cut production due to the earthquake. They are limiting their production runs to three times a week. However even on those days production will only be at 50% or less.

They have said that they will cease production in Canada and the US for an entire week in May. One week for each country. Toyota plans to continue this schedule until June when they will reevaluate the situation.

Toyota is a mega company with over 300,000 employees. Nikon has less then 30,000. If Toyota is forecasting major global delays in production, then what does this tell us about Nikon?

JJump said:
What gets me angry is when they raise the prices of in stock, already paid for lenses. If Company X paid $400 for Lens Z and was selling Lens Z at $900 for a $500 profit per lens, there is no reason to suddenly mark it up to $1000 to make an extra $100 on account of anticipating paying a higher wholesale cost, or having to wait longer to get new stock. If they have to replenish stock at a higher price from Nikon, that is one thing, and by all means, raise your prices once you run out of the old ones you paid at the old rate, and are about to sell the new ones you had to pay more to get. But to simply raise prices on stock they've already paid xxx amount of dollars for, is very greedy, IMO.

The reason retailers are hiking their prices is simple, they know due to inventory constraints, they will be selling a lot less this year. Therefore they need to make more profit on every unit they sell if they are to remain in business. MAP is a thing of the past for now, get used to paying full retail until this disaster works itself out. I can't blame them a bit for raising prices, this will be a very lean year for camera retailers.