that would be Henri Cartier-Bresson for long...

I dunno about you, but Leicas are pretty damn expensive. And just curious, who's Bonsan?

Nikons camera devision made a small profit for the quarter. The percision optics (semiconductors) Lost a boatload. Enough that they have had to really wind things down.

The shortage is reflective of nikons conservative approach. To manufacturing.

What would yesterdays pros use today? I don't know. Probably the best equipment that was condusive to their style of shooting. For bonsan, that would probably be a lecia with a 50mm Prime.

How much of Nikon's loss is associated with their semiconductor equipment division?

I can't imagine falling in love with the 24-70 at it's size and weight(900grams), more than the 105/2.8 macro (790grams), which is borderline for me in terms of ease of use.

I know this is an equipment website, but some of the best photographers I know use crap equipment. I wonder what Henri Cartier-Bresson would shoot today? I'd doubt he go out loaded down with a D3 or D700 or equivalent with huge zoom, probably have a tiny Canon Powershot (5 mega pixels) from 5 years ago.

What does Nikon losing money have anything to do with the 24-70...???

Here is exactly what is going on.. I wish I had opted for the Canon 50D Mark II instead of my D700!
Wednesday, August 5th
Nikon Corp.'s /quotes/comstock/11i!ninof (NINOF 16.55, -16.55, -50.00%) /quotes/comstock/!7731 (JP:7731 1,674, -16.00, -0.95%) U.S.-listed shares slumped 50% after the Japanese camera maker swung to a fiscal first-quarter net loss of 3.99 billion yen ($42 million), or 10.09 yen a share, from a profit of 17.95 billion yen, or 45.16 yen a share, a year before. Sales for April through June totaled 175.1 billion yen, down 26.4% from the 237.9 billion yen a year earlier.

Probably the same thing that's happening with almost all popular Nikkor lenses from time to time. Nikon USA ran out. Lenses are not continuously produced by Nikon, but are made in batches. If the in country stock runs out, it'll be on back order for a while. Be patient. Sorry.

B&H, Adorams,and Amazon are all three listing this lens as out of stock/back ordered. Does anyone know what's going on?