Nikon 24mm f/1.4 lens (imported) in stock now

By [NR] admin | Published: May 11, 2010

B&H has the Nikon 24mm f/1.4 lens IMPORTED (grey market) version in stock now:

More info on what is "grey market".

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  • newbie

    What does grey market version mean?

    • enesunkie

      Imported and no US warrenty.

      • ArtTwisted

        ie not really worth it. The warranty is important for everyone.

  • usually grey market is cheaper, bit not in this case

    • grumps

      Usually only very slightly, like $50 or so! Mostly I find grey market import just fills the gap of being available to buy over not! I usually wait for US versions due to warranty and peace of mind especially for such expensive equipment!

  • Quite expensive, if they need more profit, they need to sale this at lower price to get more customer.

    • Alberto

      They don’t have to sell so much to make big profits. Look at Apple. They don’t sell a lot but they post profits after profits, and have BILLIONS in reserves. Problem is Nikon tries to follow Apple’s modus operandi by charging a premium, but Canon has just as attractive a product (a similarly appointed 24mm f/1.4 L II lens) that costs slightly less. Not to mention people can’t afford as much as they used to.

    • Dr SCSI

      @Martin,
      Expensive is relative to your income, financial obligations, etc…
      For some, $2200 isn’t expensive at all. However, for most, it is…
      Nikon knows this, and they know they need to earn money for all the R&D going into building quality lenses. If they produced more glass product, and lowered the price by say 20%, they probably wouldn’t sell substantially more product. After all, $1760 for that lens would still be out of the price range of MANY, and at this price point they probably wouldn’t sell tons more than they would at the $2200 price point. Their manufacturing costs would increase while profits decreased. Every manufacturer prefers that the demand for their product be slightly higher than their production; this ensures they keep the prices/profits high. Overproduction vs. Demand = decreased profits. So if you all NEED that 24mm f/1.4, put one on order and wait for it. Otherwise, just wait another year until all of the PROs have paid the price premium for being first to have the new glass, and then you can buy at the 10% discounted rate. Plus, we can only hope the Dollar to Yen rate climbs, making it cheaper for most of us over the next several months.

      As for imports vs. USA models, how many of you have had a Nikon lens break on its own? I usually find the imports are 5-10% cheaper than the USA warrantied models. Usually if you break a Nikon lens, its because you dropped it or got it wet or something of the like; not covered by any warranty anyway. I do believe the imports are still covered by an international warranty of 1 year (someone correct me if I am wrong). The reason B&H is chargning the same price for their import version of the 24mm f/1.4, is because they can, and it makes good buisness sense. The demand is high and the consumer will pay. I personnally won’t, but many others will.

      The best priced lenses are the used lenses anyway! Find a reputable e-tailer which fairly and objectively evaluates used lenses and resales them. B&H, KEH, Cameta, Adorama, etc. all sale used gear at decent prices. Who knows, a year from now, we may see the 24mm f/1.4 lenses going used for 30% less than current street prices.

  • Alberto

    Usually the imported version is cheaper… in this case, it costs just as much and doesn’t have the USA warranty. I’m hoping perhaps next year I can get this lens. Maybe when the dollar/yen ratio goes back to 120 yen to a dollar… good old days when I bought most of my lenses 🙂

  • zzddrr

    I think Nikon is clearly taking advantage of the F mount.

  • Screw that!!

  • PhotonFisher

    Come to Europe and buy it in the shops – it’s available … during your trip you can shoot images with the 24mm and enjoy the superb image quality.

  • Nikondreamer

    Wow already out of stock again 😐

    This lens is selling like crazy in USA or what?

  • Nikondreamer

    I will buy this lens and 85 1.4 when price stabilizes.

  • pulu

    i don’t think the lens is selling like crazy… there just isn’t any supply. the lens has yet to go in stock at any major distributor outside of b&h. the people who have gotten them all seem to be well connected.

    anyway, gray market or not, i ordered from b&h last night. we’ll see if there are any autofocus problems when it gets here.

  • alban

    Buyer be aware! I don’t know if you have read about the AF lack of accuracy with the 24mm 1.4. My suggestion,WAIT BEFORE PURCHASING a 2200$ mess!

  • converge

    Does anyone know why it’s been difficult to stock this lens in the US? I’m still waiting for mine. I ordered it from Adorama on 4.29.10 and was promptly notified on the same day that it was backordered and that it was expected to ship out 10-14 days. This morning, I received a follow-up e-mail:

    “We are writing regarding the order you placed with Adorama
    (Order# XXXXXXX) for the following Item(s).

    Item Number: NK2414U – NIKON 24 F1.4G AF-S ED U.S.A.

    Unfortunately, the manufacturer let us down, and now we let you down.
    We apologize for being off our estimate.

    Adorama is built on customer satisfaction and we try very hard
    to avoid situations like this.I hope you understand that such situations are beyond our control.

    We will of course rush to ship it as soon as we receive it.

    Please be assured we are constantly following up with the manufacturer to
    get your backorder shipped out.

    However, If your need is time sensitive, you may want to either call our
    sales department at (800) 223-2500, and they will be able to suggest an
    alternate choice, or you may e-mail us at service@adorama.com to cancel.

    We’d be sorry to lose your order, but we’d be sorrier to lose you as a
    customer.

    Thanks again for choosing Adorama.”

  • longtimenikonshooter

    Just ordered one.

  • james blonde

    the AF problems seem to be quite severe, therefore nikon is checking the lens again before releasing it to the market. as for purple fringing and AF, this lens is worse than the cheaper 14-24.

  • AlOn

    Yes, there is a supply problem and better wait it out for a possible recall or exchange. We are talking +2K here!

    Yes, the 14-24 is better minus the weight and the speed.

    Yes, the Zeiss ZF2 21 2.8 gives the 24 1.4 a run for its money minus the AF and the speed. However as we are talking wide angle then AF is not a big factor for LS, obviously not for CU.

    Place your bets:
    Hastle free= 14 24
    IQ= ZF2 21
    Malfunctioning AF= 24 1.4

  • ich bins wieder

    The price tag is crazy. It may be a lens for some pros who mean that they need this piece of glass but the lens is ONLY worth its price tag when used with f1,4, optically the others (f2 and 2,8) are better. I have a Leica Elmarit 2,8/28 with Nikon-F-mount, bought used for 280 euro, haha. It outperforms any Nikon lenses in that region.

  • Dom

    I bought my copy from a local store 2 weeks ago. Super sharp at f.1,4 and frankly I havent even stopped it down past f/5.6 since I got it. Thats not what I bought it for. I shoot weddings and this lens is exactly what the 24-70 couldn’t do for me, open to 1.4.

    I have zero CA (perhaps I am shooting on a D3 and D3s which handles that great) also no AF issues…. There are around 2500 copies out in the US and you hear about 20-50 copies with AF issues to me seems overblown. Chances are that half are user errors/body manlfuntion and the other half maybe sample variation. To me thats normal, and yes for a $2k lens.

  • ArthurH

    Weird, in an earlier topic (May 3rd, Popular Photography Rumor) I already mentioned that this lens is hard to autofocus at infinity at f1.4, it frequently focuesses at something closerby then. But again: when will you ever focus at infinity at f1.4? You use f1.4 when you want to shoot something nearby in order to get the wonderful bokeh this lens offers. And then there’s no problem! If you want to focus at infinity, you use f4 or f5.6, and there’s no problem too then.
    So: if your subject is less than 3 meters away, use f1.4 to get a beautiful bokeh and very good sharpness on your subject. For images with complete depth of field, use f5.6, focus at infinity and your picture is amazingly sharp.
    And of course, also at f1.4, you’ve still got the option of manual focus. Just like the Zeiss 21mm, with the same image quality.

    • Dom

      I agree with you except when someone needs f/1.4 to shoot handheld in low light to get the ISO and SS they want- I bought this lens to shoot at f/1.4 I probably will rarely go past f/5.6 to begin with.

      • ArthurH

        Thanks for your reply. Sorry, forgot to mention that this focus problem is mainly gone by f2.0. So for low light photography, from about f1.8/f2.0 this works good.

  • longtimenikonshooter

    I heard the Chinese are buying them in bulk. As the result, we have to wait for availability.

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