My heart goes out to all of those who continue to suffer as a result of the tragedy in Japan, but I realize that it may be quite a while until things get back to normal there. So here is my concern, that the limited supply of lenses from Japan will become so constrained that we might not be able to get these for some time. For this reason, I have been ordering some lenses that I might not otherwise purchase, for instance, I just purchased a tilt-shift lens out of concern that the supply might dry up. I have noticed that D3s cameras which were in stock almost everywhere recently, are no longer. Is anyone else looking at "collecting" made in Japan lenses? Is buying products from Japan another way besides making donations to help them?
Is anyone else worried about lenses from Japan?
(37 posts) (15 voices)-
Posted 2 years ago #
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Ultra- I would suggest jumping on that now while supplies last. No one will know what will happen the next few months in the market of nikon products.
My concern is the D800. Ive been saving and saving and is ready for a instant purchase of a D800. Im hoping that this tragedy will not affect the camera being released but with the extent of damage, i have to tell myself it could be 2012 before i get one if im not the FIRST person/persons preordering one.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Yes, I am concerned about the shortages of lenses and cameras in the near term.
Yes, continuing to purchase from japanese companies is a good idea to help their GNP maintin itself as best as possible.
But no, buying a product is not an alternative to making a disaster relief donation. Buying a lense or camera already in the supply chain (and even a new camera or lens produced in Thailand or elsewhere) really doesn't do much of anything to help for disaster relief. It will make your retailer happy, Nikon USA happy, and you happy. Which is not a bad thing, but don't seriously rationalize a purchase as contributing to disaster relief.Posted 2 years ago # -
well, the prices have jumped, in all the stores, even the used and refurbished equipment.
Some of Nikons equipment is made in Thailand, and the supply should not be affected, but the price went up anyway.
And then, folks rushing out and panic buying is pushing the price up, and not helping any.
Demand being greater than supply will do that, and the merchants will take advantage to the point of creating shortages so they can jackup the prices.I think that in a few months when the panic buyers have spent their money, and Nikon Japan gets its production back up and running, the folks who rushed out to buy just because they thought the supply was going to dry up, [so I have to get that piece of equipment NOW], would be kicking themself.
It is a bad thing to kick youself, get a friend to help.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Price was steady at $1680 +/- for last six months or so, then went to about $1880 after the Japan disaster. B&H price at $1800 doesn't seem too bad considering other vendors prices right now.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I don't have a "need" for anything so I'm just going to wait if the prices are out of whack. I'm looking at the older 85mm, 24-120mm F4, and the Fuji X100. The first two are holding steady in price, The X100 is at MSRP and pre-order.
Looking for different lenses the only real price increase I have seen is that they have gone up to MSRP. Nothing different then when they are first released. $100 more - I'll buy it - $200 more retailers can let the man with deeper pockets than me buy it.
The exotics (300mm+, T&S lenses, Most F1.4s) most always are back ordered (months) so really I don't see how the current situation changes much but just a bit more of a delay.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Unless you have a need, why would you buy now ? Eventually they will have production back to normal. Seems like a waste, it's not like they are going out of business and you wont be able to ever get a specific lens. /shrugs
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hi all,
These price jumps likely don't have much to do with the recent problems in Japan. It takes a long time to raise prices in a in a worldwide distribution market chain as long as Nikon's. It is likely an unfortunate bit of timing.
It would be nefarious if it was tied to their national calamity. (I would likely consider a brand switch if it could be proved. No one raises the cost of their goods to cover their costs of losses for a fire or flood - that's goofy. There's other financial tools for that.)
I do think their hikes have been pretty steep and without much sense tied to it, but I do remember that Nikon doesn't take baby steps when raising prices.
Getting gear should be something that is fun, and not something that is done with any anxiety. If you feel that it is something you 'ought' to do, you 'ought not' to do it.
My best,
Mike
Posted 2 years ago # -
Mike - I suspect that a lot of the price hikes (raising MSRP) by manufacturers have little to do with the disaster - at this point in time. However, street prices are going up on a lot of items because of the disaster. As was discussed in another recent thread, retailers like Amazon adjust their prices daily based on demand and inventory. There seems to have been a lot of folks running to their keyboards to purchase Sendai manufactured products that will be out of production for at least a while. The retailers raised prices in response to demand, not the mfrs.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hi Warprints
"The retailers raised prices in response to demand, not the mfrs."
I think I can get that, so I do apologize for my rather caustic tone. It should be directed towards sharks rather than fish. ;-)
I hope everyone has what they need to do their job(s) they have coming up.
My best,
Mike
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hey smarterchild I'm with you there I have been saving for the D800 since Christmas 2010 and I'm ready to go. I really think it was going to come out this August but with the disaster in Japan who knows now...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Mike Gunter said:
I hope everyone has what they need to do their job(s) they have coming upI've just got an opportunity to get a good vantage point outside the cathedral in London on royal wedding day. Can I find any rental firm with stock of 400/500/600mm lenses for the 29th.......Nope, and I don't feel like splashing £6000 even if I had the money and could find someone with one in stock. Looks like I'll have to give this one a miss :-(
Posted 2 years ago # -
SkintBrit said:
I've just got an opportunity to get a good vantage point outside the cathedral in London on royal wedding day. Can I find any rental firm with stock of 400/500/600mm lenses for the 29th.......Nope, and I don't feel like splashing £6000 even if I had the money and could find someone with one in stock. Looks like I'll have to give this one a miss :-(It'll be daylight, so do I sense a teleconverter on a 200mm in your future?
I know it's not as good, nowhere near as good in fact, but at a pinch...
As I was typing that, the thought occurred to me is that yesterday I had to resort to using my P&S to get a shot as I was away from my SLR gear. I happened to see the ideal portrait for someone... I had to use a couple of filters in CS5 to sharpen and de-noise it, but it works!
Now, I know its really scraping the barrel, but Nikon do make some very affordable super-zoom bridge cameras and 400mm is certainly reasonable if the light is good... So it doesn't *LOOK* like you using a pro camera (of course you are NOT), but to get acceptable (but not outstanding) results and for just a few hundred quid you are all set...
Ok... I know... I'll go and hide in the corner for the rest of the day now :)
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hehe bjrichus, yes you have a point. I could buy quite a few super zooms for the price of a 400 2.8, I could even nearly buy one for the rental cost! :-). The other option I have, because as you say it should be light (even if it is pouring down with rain) is to use my 70-300 4.5-5.6 VR and shoot in DX crop on my FF bodies. This would give me a 450mm, all be it at 5MP. I'm not sure that will be long enough though, and I don't think I can use TC's with it. I'll have to do a rece'e and see exactly how far away I would be. Thanks for your input my friend.
Posted 2 years ago # -
SkintBrit said:
Hehe bjrichus, yes you have a point. I could buy quite a few super zooms for the price of a 400 2.8, I could even nearly buy one for the rental cost! :-). The other option I have, because as you say it should be light (even if it is pouring down with rain) is to use my 70-300 4.5-5.6 VR and shoot in DX crop on my FF bodies. This would give me a 450mm, all be it at 5MP. I'm not sure that will be long enough though, and I don't think I can use TC's with it. I'll have to do a rece'e and see exactly how far away I would be. Thanks for your input my friend.My Pleasure.
The 70-300 in DX mode might work, I have certainly done that kind of thing before.
If you are worried about the distance, the P500 zoom range is: "4.0-144.0mm (angle of view equivalent to that of 22.5-810mm lens in 35mm [135] format)" according to the Nikon web site.
Even at f5.7 at 160ISO (it's fastest aperture and slowest speed for finest detail) and longest zoom (810mm) at 10 or 12MP when on a mono or tripod should let you get in close enough to capture most of the wrinkles for a 10x8 print from a second floor balcony down to London street level.
Posted 2 years ago # -
SkintBrit said:
I've just got an opportunity to get a good vantage point outside the cathedral in London on royal wedding day. Can I find any rental firm with stock of 400/500/600mm lenses for the 29th.......Nope, and I don't feel like splashing £6000 even if I had the money and could find someone with one in stock. Looks like I'll have to give this one a miss :-(Ouch!
I hope that is one you weren't counting on.
Were you looking to add some photos to stock? It sounds like a possible rainmaker for a lot of folks.
My best,
Mike
Posted 2 years ago # -
@bjrichus
For my news work I carried an Olympus P&S in my pocket for years. I can't remember the model but it had a flash that screwed into the body and the whole thing fit into a coat pocket easily.
In pre-terrorist worries security, I could check my cameras at some locations and walk in with my Olympus camera in my coat and get the picture. ;-)
My best,
Mike
Posted 2 years ago # -
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@bjrichus
"you can't (legally) now sneak stuff past TSA!! LOL!!"
This was long before there was a TSA (and had nothing to do with air travel). ;-)
I would love to be working now with all the advanced gear. It would be so much easier than toting what I carried.
My guess is that working folks are still carrying a lot, just because. The bigger the organization, the faster and bulkier the lenses.
My best,
Mike
Posted 2 years ago # -
So is the stock and price issue like a circle of cause and effect with no real connection to the disaster at this point? Are people rushing to buy stuff before prices rise and stock runs out, therefore driving prices up and depleting stock long before the disaster actually has any economic effect? ...or am I way off? I don't understand economics.
smarterchild said:
Ultra- I would suggest jumping on that now while supplies last. No one will know what will happen the next few months in the market of nikon products.Well, I was going to take your advice (or rather use it as a weak excuse to do what I wanted to do anyway, haha) and buy the 24-70. Long story short it turns out my debit card has a spending limit. Oh well. I should have that fixed tomorrow and be good to go - as long as B&H doesn't run out of 24-70 stock in the next 28 hours.
Posted 2 years ago # -
A lot of stuff was out of stock prior to the quake. I bought the 14-24 and 70-200 along with a D7000 on March 4th. I was going to order through B&H as I have ordered a lot through them and have always been very happy with them. They were out of all three items the full week leading up to the order. I ended up calling Adorama and ordering from them (I was very happy with their service as well). They happened to have them in stock at that time.
I quite watching after the earthquake, but B&H never had those items back in stock to that point. So things were already thin in the supply chain to begin with for the top lenses. I'm sure when the quake occurred, the vendors realized that they had their stock hand and what was already in transit and that might be it for months.
So most raised prices to MSRP. That makes sense to me and actually benefits the pros as it would keep hobbyists like me from ordering, leaving the limited supplies to those who earn their living with the stuff. Not a bad outcome.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I'm not sure about anyone else, but I don't "rush out and buy" $1,500+ items of anything. Some may be doing planned purchases earlier.
Most shops I have dealt with have A (one)lens on hand or maybe two and you can try it and then you order one so it is a "new" not demo one. I do believe most keep very little stock on hand, and once sold, they order a replacements. For the higher $ items companies just don't mass produce 1,000 of lenses after the initial release anymore. It works well until there is a major disaster.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I went to my local (full price) Nikon dealer (NOT Ritz/Wolf/Worst-buy) and took a look at what they had in stock.
They had:
*LOTS* (perhaps a dozen?) D7000/lens kits @ MSRP.
*MOST* of the Coolpix cameras @ MSRP or small discounts.
*SOME* extra DX lenses of the most popular types (i.e. 70-200 f3.5).
*SOME* of the usual other usual bodies (2 x D3100 and 1 x D5000 body).
*NONE* *ZERO* *NADA* Nikon FX gear in (except rental) stock.None of this gear was at anything less than MSRP.
The did NOT have any other new lenses.
The estimate for D5100 bodies being in stock was 6 weeks (where did that estimate come from? The manager because the weekend help didn't know - and I suspect the 'manager' doesn't really know either with that reply).
They had a 70-300 DX VR1 (not the VR2) zoom used at $489. A few other odds and ends but VERY LITTLE used gear at all for any brand. The case the normally put used gear in was 80% empty and it's usually mostly full...
My guess here is that if you want something and can't get it online, forget it for a few months.
As the cops say: "Move on. Nothing to see here" - literally.
Posted 2 years ago #
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