Too many "when will I get my lens" and "Why are prices going up" threads.
Please use one of the other threads.

http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=3468
http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=3398

your lens won't be coming for awhile the lens plants will take much longer to get up and running. .

I hate to bring more bad news but you probably heard about the 7.1 earthquake that hit Japan again closing the Sendai plants down again. I'm sure this will not help you with the order at all.

I hope this is the final disaster for the Japanese what terrible few months it has been..

Humm...hope this does not end up to be a double post but my last one had some error envolved.

I was able to order this without paying for yet, but of course will have to pay for it when it ships. I ordered it before the latest round of price increases so I don't plan on putting out like 300 orders to see who wins. I agree on the rental part but probably would have this in my possesion for a month so at that cost I will probalby keep it on hand to use when ever I feel like it.

Yes I feel your pain. I try not to order anything now unless it is in stock but like you said 400mm VR lenses are not a common thing. My area has lots of everything all the time so I don't have to worry usually. Renting can be very expensive I know because I hit the $8,000 mark in 2010 on rented gear. Are you able to order it at least without paying first? The disaster in Japan will not help matters I positive as well....

if you need it in the short term, just rent it, lensrentals, etc generally have good availability. otherwise prepare to wait.

With these kinds of low volume lenses, it's often hit or miss. When I ordered my 135DC, I was expecting a wait time of months, but it came in less than 1 week later. Of course, my situation is much less common unfortunately.

With a 400, you can expect to wait a long time. Even before the current situation, those lenses were back ordered and very hard to find, so now it will be even worse. But as long as you're patient, you should be able to get it sometime (even if it is months from now), this is the kind of lens that will probably last you the rest of your life, so waiting a few months shouldn't be so bad (once the waiting is done, of course).

Not exactly exotic, but as many on the forum know it took 6 months for me to get my 85 1.4G, and that was before the current situation in Japan. Good luck, as gelu88 said, order from a few places and keep pestering them.

Thom Hogan has covered this issue regularly and based on his comments its very possible that you'll be waiting a number of months. Nikon has a VERY poor record of meeting demand of exotic lenses.

you're best bet would be to place an order at numerous stores, both online and offline, and hope one comes through soon.

But then again i have no direct experience with this, its what i've been reading.

Hi,

Every time I've ordered anything exotic, it weighed heavily on me until it came in - unfortunately on it's on good time. I have no good advice or anything to offer but to make friends with the folks at customer service.

My best and good luck,

Mike

Well I ordered a 400mm lens from Adorama on March 23rd. I just wonder what type of wait times I am looking at. I think they told me when I ordered that I was either number 3 or 4 in line for it depending on how they counted.

I would have purchased this from my local dealer but they can not get "pro stuff" as they call it. They did tell me around this time is when Nikon does inventory so I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

I called Nikon but they couldn't answer my questions, like are there any in the Nikon's warehouse in the US or are they totally out of stock (I also understand that what I am asking is a bit unreasonable so not upset at the answer but wish I knew something more than my order number. The number I called was for customer support. I did not expect them to tell me but would have liked them to give me a number of someone that might know the answer my question).

I would love to know that Nikon has some here in the US. They just have not shipped them yet after doing inventory but figure someone has a better idea than I do where to ask or a war story about how their order went through.