Z180-600 Ship Date - B&H

[BasilG]

Announcement is not Release. Release is not not Shipping. Shipping doesn't mean on store shelves (or in customer hands).

Nikon:

1) Announces a lens

There is a delay, in this case two months.

This is normal.

At least you agree it is normal for Nikon game playing with delays, and still not have product in customers hands.

2) Releases a lens

There is yet another delay. Sometimes pushing 6-months.

No delay here so far. They said August, they are planning to meet that date.

Actual Nikon said: "will be available in August 2023". Waiting till last day of August to start shipping is not "available".

3) Says lens will start shipping

There is yet another delay

Not sure what the difference is between this and 2).

Making a statement that they will ship sometime in future isn't same as saying lens is shipping now.

4) Finally, the lens shows up on store shelves in limited quantity.

Again not sure what the difference is between this and 2). Some people will have their lens on the date that was promised.

Only a very few and those who have same day delivery as date shipped.

What follows is months of months of out of stock, some more lenses come in and are shipped out, only to be placed on back order.

Shame on Nikon for making popular products.

After all these years, Nikon should be able to predict and manufacture sufficient products to meet demand. Using such an excuse is really pathetic.

As far as "Official time-frame" Nikon has missed those dates before with lengthy delays.

My previous statement mostly says it: "the announcement" date should be on "the shelves" date. Anything else are game steps adding delays along way.

Who does this for major products? Sony? Canon?

Simply because Nikon's competition don't announce and ship on same day, does not excuse Nikon having added steps to buy them time with delays between steps.

Sorry, but I don't understand your issue. The lens announcement stated that it would ship in August. If it ships in August, they haven't played any games. Period.

Agreed.

Not ship in August, be "available" in August. See quote above.

Just because YOU prefer the announcement date to be the shipping date with 100% of the (unknown) demand met on that date doesn't mean that Nikon is "playing any games."

Agreed again. Which other manufacturer releases and ships major products on announcement day?

Sony has in past. Products were shipped prior to announcement and kept under wraps, till announced.

Ok, in the past. How about now?

This Nikon Z lens is way over due. Nikon should NEVER have put Z 200-600mm f/nothing lens on Z lens roadmap nearly four years before it would see light of day as Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR lens.

The continued excuse making for Nikon's four steps with delays is desperately sad.

I don't see four steps. I see two. Announcement and release. Or three - roadmap, announcement, and release, though you did not mention the first. All the rest is made up in an attempt to smear Nikon (even though most other manufacturers do exactly the same, again, except roadmap because they don't reveal one).

 

[ProDude]

The non stop drum beating on this issue, if there really is one, is getting quite tiresome.

That's for sure. I just feel sorry for those that actually expect to get one in their hands prior to the mid to late September time frame at the earliest. Probably later for most folks.

 

[ghostfox_1]

The non stop drum beating on this issue, if there really is one, is getting quite tiresome.

That's for sure. I just feel sorry for those that actually expect to get one in their hands prior to the mid to late September time frame at the earliest. Probably later for most folks.

I'm just going to be happy once they start shipping out. Even if I don't get one first batch, we can at least see reviews and get more information

 

[shuncheung]

The non stop drum beating on this issue, if there really is one, is getting quite tiresome.

That's for sure. I just feel sorry for those that actually expect to get one in their hands prior to the mid to late September time frame at the earliest. Probably later for most folks.

I'm just going to be happy once they start shipping out. Even if I don't get one first batch, we can at least see reviews and get more information

After watching two rounds of service advisories for the Z8, why are people so eager to et the 180-600? Nikon first put the 200-600 on their roadmap almost 4 years ago. Some have been waiting for a few years; another couple of months shouldn't make much of a difference.

I would rather let other people test the first batch or two and watch some user tests on actual production units. Back in 2015 I pre-ordred the 200-500mm/f5.6 because I had a trip coming up. I got one of the very first 200-500 but it soon had a service advisory, which was a lens firmware upgrade. In those days you needed to ship the lens back to Nikon for a firmware upgrade, and I ignored the recall

 

[ghostfox_1]

The non stop drum beating on this issue, if there really is one, is getting quite tiresome.

That's for sure. I just feel sorry for those that actually expect to get one in their hands prior to the mid to late September time frame at the earliest. Probably later for most folks.

I'm just going to be happy once they start shipping out. Even if I don't get one first batch, we can at least see reviews and get more information

After watching two rounds of service advisories for the Z8, why are people so eager to et the 180-600? Nikon first put the 200-600 on their roadmap almost 4 years ago. Some have been waiting for a few years; another couple of months shouldn't make much of a difference.

I'm sure you'd feel this way about a new camera body too. Or anything else. Right?

4 years wait for anything is pretty ridiculous. Especially a more prosumer focused lens. And going even further, nikon claiming they had no idea demand would be this high? Clearly they've done something wrong, or hired people who don't actually have a clue.

 

[shuncheung]

After watching two rounds of service advisories for the Z8, why are people so eager to et the 180-600? Nikon first put the 200-600 on their roadmap almost 4 years ago. Some have been waiting for a few years; another couple of months shouldn't make much of a difference.

I'm sure you'd feel this way about a new camera body too. Or anything else. Right?

4 years wait for anything is pretty ridiculous. Especially a more prosumer focused lens. And going even further, nikon claiming they had no idea demand would be this high? Clearly they've done something wrong, or hired people who don't actually have a clue.

We need to keep in mind that 4 years ago, most of us had no idea what Covid 19 was. Nikon first put out that roadmap in October 2019, and shortly after that, the world literally changed drastically. Additionally Nikon's priorities shifted to the Z9 and lenses that support it. A bunch of lenses such as the 400/2.8 TC, 600/4 TC, 400/4.5, and 800 PF preempted the 200-600/180-600.

But Nikon claiming no idea about the high demand is the same marketing nonsense I am very tired of. They priced the 180-600 @ $1700, 15% below Sony's 200-600 initially. Of course the demand is high. It was exactly like that for the 800mm PF; my estimate was $10,000 +- $2000 to give it a wide margin, but Nikon came in at $6500. Of course demand was high.

In any case, unless one has some trip coming up soon, I wouldn't go out to get one of the first 180-600. In 2021 I waited two months and verified that there were no wide-spread, serious issues with the new Z9 before I ordered one. Recalls are not the end of the world, but they sure are PITA, especially if you need to send your brand new camera twice.

 

[BasilG]

We need to keep in mind that 4 years ago, most of us had no idea what Covid 19 was. Nikon first put out that roadmap in October 2019, and shortly after that, the world literally changed drastically.

I believe that this did play a major role, and I am wondering if they redesigned it to be 180-600 after making the Tamron 70-180/2.8. This pure speculation on my part though.

But Nikon claiming no idea about the high demand is the same marketing nonsense I am very tired of. They priced the 180-600 @ $1700, 15% below Sony's 200-600 initially. Of course the demand is high. It was exactly like that for the 800mm PF; my estimate was $10,000 +- $2000 to give it a wide margin, but Nikon came in at $6500. Of course demand was high.

I agree that this is nonsense. They simply do not want to expand production capacity to the level that will meet initial demand because building this up this costs a lot and it will never be needed again after the first few months.

 

[shuncheung]

We need to keep in mind that 4 years ago, most of us had no idea what Covid 19 was. Nikon first put out that roadmap in October 2019, and shortly after that, the world literally changed drastically.

I believe that this did play a major role, and I am wondering if they redesigned it to be 180-600 after making the Tamron 70-180/2.8. This pure speculation on my part though.

But Nikon claiming no idea about the high demand is the same marketing nonsense I am very tired of. They priced the 180-600 @ $1700, 15% below Sony's 200-600 initially. Of course the demand is high. It was exactly like that for the 800mm PF; my estimate was $10,000 +- $2000 to give it a wide margin, but Nikon came in at $6500. Of course demand was high.

I agree that this is nonsense. They simply do not want to expand production capacity to the level that will meet initial demand because building this up this costs a lot and it will never be needed again after the first few months.

PF elements and large FL elements are two separate categories. It is time-consuming to manufacture/fabricate those. The 180-600 has no really special elements and its front filter size is 95mm. I don't expect supply to be a major issue; one may have to wait a few weeks. However, all bets are off if there is some major recall. That seems less likely for lenses, though.

 

[astirusty]

The non stop drum beating on this issue, if there really is one, is getting quite tiresome.

That's for sure. I just feel sorry for those that actually expect to get one in their hands prior to the mid to late September time frame at the earliest. Probably later for most folks.

I'm just going to be happy once they start shipping out. Even if I don't get one first batch, we can at least see reviews and get more information

After watching two rounds of service advisories for the Z8, why are people so eager to et the 180-600?

I don't see the linkage. Are you implying Z 180-600 len's tripod mount might suddenly fall apart? Or lens itself my need shims somewhere in optics?

Nikon first put the 200-600 on their roadmap almost 4 years ago. Some have been waiting for a few years; another couple of months shouldn't make much of a difference.

Should Z 180-600mm lens go routes of a couple of previous Z lens; you will be able to repeat that, three times.

 

[astirusty]

But Nikon claiming no idea about the high demand is the same marketing nonsense I am very tired of. They priced the 180-600 @ $1700, 15% below Sony's 200-600 initially. Of course the demand is high. It was exactly like that for the 800mm PF; my estimate was $10,000 +- $2000 to give it a wide margin, but Nikon came in at $6500. Of course demand was high.

I agree that this is nonsense. They simply do not want to expand production capacity to the level that will meet initial demand because building this up this costs a lot and it will never be needed again after the first few months.

Sure, that is understandable. But there is an associated cost with savings of low production rates.

Customers giving up on your products, because your products continual take 6-12 months to become available. Leading to bad reputation.

For example: Right now I have been in market for medium sized piece of construction equipment. I tossed in towel on one brand after reading they had a bad reputation of taking forever to fulfill orders.

 

[astirusty]

The 180-600 has no really special elements and its front filter size is 95mm. I don't expect supply to be a major issue; one may have to wait a few weeks.

My "B+W 95mm Master Clear MRC Nano 007M Glass Filter" awaits Z lens.

 

[PaulBearer]

Odds are the new lens will be a lot more popular than the z8 was. The product works very well, and the price cannot be beat.

 

[shuncheung]

Odds are the new lens will be a lot more popular than the z8 was. The product works very well, and the price cannot be beat.

I doubt that is the case. There will be demand for the 180-600, but such long a lens is a niche product. And IMO the 180-600 will not be that useful without the AF from the Z9 or Z8 behind it. If more people own the 180-600 than the Z8, are they all Z9 owners?

 

[BasilG]

We need to keep in mind that 4 years ago, most of us had no idea what Covid 19 was. Nikon first put out that roadmap in October 2019, and shortly after that, the world literally changed drastically.

I believe that this did play a major role, and I am wondering if they redesigned it to be 180-600 after making the Tamron 70-180/2.8. This pure speculation on my part though.

But Nikon claiming no idea about the high demand is the same marketing nonsense I am very tired of. They priced the 180-600 @ $1700, 15% below Sony's 200-600 initially. Of course the demand is high. It was exactly like that for the 800mm PF; my estimate was $10,000 +- $2000 to give it a wide margin, but Nikon came in at $6500. Of course demand was high.

I agree that this is nonsense. They simply do not want to expand production capacity to the level that will meet initial demand because building this up this costs a lot and it will never be needed again after the first few months.

PF elements and large FL elements are two separate categories. It is time-consuming to manufacture/fabricate those. The 180-600 has no really special elements and its front filter size is 95mm. I don't expect supply to be a major issue; one may have to wait a few weeks. However, all bets are off if there is some major recall. That seems less likely for lenses, though.

The D850 and Z9 did not have PF and FL elements. This is a general production strategy with high-end items, independent of the specifics.

 

[shuncheung]

We need to keep in mind that 4 years ago, most of us had no idea what Covid 19 was. Nikon first put out that roadmap in October 2019, and shortly after that, the world literally changed drastically.

I believe that this did play a major role, and I am wondering if they redesigned it to be 180-600 after making the Tamron 70-180/2.8. This pure speculation on my part though.

But Nikon claiming no idea about the high demand is the same marketing nonsense I am very tired of. They priced the 180-600 @ $1700, 15% below Sony's 200-600 initially. Of course the demand is high. It was exactly like that for the 800mm PF; my estimate was $10,000 +- $2000 to give it a wide margin, but Nikon came in at $6500. Of course demand was high.

I agree that this is nonsense. They simply do not want to expand production capacity to the level that will meet initial demand because building this up this costs a lot and it will never be needed again after the first few months.

PF elements and large FL elements are two separate categories. It is time-consuming to manufacture/fabricate those. The 180-600 has no really special elements and its front filter size is 95mm. I don't expect supply to be a major issue; one may have to wait a few weeks. However, all bets are off if there is some major recall. That seems less likely for lenses, though.

The D850 and Z9 did not have PF and FL elements. This is a general production strategy with high-end items, independent of the specifics.

We were talking about lenses. The bottleneck for the Z9 was undoubtedly the stacked sensor. When Nikon started production of the Z9 in late 2021, it was still in the middle of the pandemic IC-chip shortage. Hence Nikon had a hard time getting enough sensors, and the production of just about everything was seriously affected by the pandemic back then.

By mid 2023, the pandemic-related chip shortage was over and Nikon managed to produce 12K Z8 a month according to Ricci. But then Nikon had two defects on the Z8, which lead to not one by two massive recalls/service advisories among probably 30K+ units. There are potential problems either way.

The D850 shortage was weird. I think it was mostly in the US. I remember back then Europeans had a much easier time getting the D850 back in 2017. I think it was more like a Nikon distribution problem.

I'll give you another example. Nikon announced the D5 in early January 2016. I waited a couple of months to make sure that there were no major issues in the early samples. I waited until April 13 to order one. Without NPS priority, my wait was about a month and it was finally shipped to me on May 12, and the D5 was in stock for good at B&H at that same time. Therefore, there wasn't any serious shortage for the D5 at all.

 

[adski]

Odds are the new lens will be a lot more popular than the z8 was. The product works very well, and the price cannot be beat.

I doubt that is the case. There will be demand for the 180-600, but such long a lens is a niche product. And IMO the 180-600 will not be that useful without the AF from the Z9 or Z8 behind it. If more people own the 180-600 than the Z8, are they all Z9 owners?

The Sony 200-600 is one of the most popular birding and wildlife lenses today. You’ll find it on all bodies, from a6000 to the a1. I have an a1 + this lens, and I have a Z6 mk i, and a Z9, with a 180-600 on order. It won’t go on the z6, but that’s not to say I wouldn’t put it on a Z6/7ii or good APS-C body (a D500 replacement) if one comes along.

 

[shuncheung]

Odds are the new lens will be a lot more popular than the z8 was. The product works very well, and the price cannot be beat.

I doubt that is the case. There will be demand for the 180-600, but such long a lens is a niche product. And IMO the 180-600 will not be that useful without the AF from the Z9 or Z8 behind it. If more people own the 180-600 than the Z8, are they all Z9 owners?

The Sony 200-600 is one of the most popular birding and wildlife lenses today. You’ll find it on all bodies, from a6000 to the a1. I have an a1 + this lens, and I have a Z6 mk i, and a Z9, with a 180-600 on order. It won’t go on the z6, but that’s not to say I wouldn’t put it on a Z6/7ii or good APS-C body (a D500 replacement) if one comes along.

Your post highlights the situation for Sony as well as for Nikon. Sony's 200-600 is popular for birding and wildlife because Sony do not have as many super tele selections as Nikon have now. I have a Z9 also, and I have a 600mm/f4 AF-S VR and a 500mm/f5.6 PF in the F mount; I also have the 400mm/f4.5 and 800mm PF in the Z mount. Hence I don't have much interest in the 180-600.

On the other hand, Sony has more bodies with pretty good AF for action photography, besides the A1, there is also the A9 and even some APS-C bodies. For Nikon, if you get the 180-600 but do not pair it up with either the Z8 or Z9, it is kind of meaningless. Did you see the current thread that some Canon user wants to buy the 180-600 plus an inexpensive ~$1500 Nikon body with decent AF to go with it: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4725376? Sadly, the simple answer is that no such "inexpensive" body exists today.

What Nikon will introduce in the future remains to be seen, but at this point, I seriously doubt that a niche lens such as the 180-600 will outsell the popular Z8, which is a very general-pupose camera. I am planning to get a Z8 also in the future; some people have multiple Z8s, but I don't see very many people with multiple 180-600 lenses.

 

[benelkind]

Odds are the new lens will be a lot more popular than the z8 was. The product works very well, and the price cannot be beat.

I doubt that is the case. There will be demand for the 180-600, but such long a lens is a niche product. And IMO the 180-600 will not be that useful without the AF from the Z9 or Z8 behind it. If more people own the 180-600 than the Z8, are they all Z9 owners?

The Sony 200-600 is one of the most popular birding and wildlife lenses today. You’ll find it on all bodies, from a6000 to the a1. I have an a1 + this lens, and I have a Z6 mk i, and a Z9, with a 180-600 on order. It won’t go on the z6, but that’s not to say I wouldn’t put it on a Z6/7ii or good APS-C body (a D500 replacement) if one comes along.

Your post highlights the situation for Sony as well as for Nikon. Sony's 200-600 is popular for birding and wildlife because Sony do not have as many super tele selections as Nikon have now. I have a Z9 also, and I have a 600mm/f4 AF-S VR and a 500mm/f5.6 PF in the F mount; I also have the 400mm/f4.5 and 800mm PF in the Z mount. Hence I don't have much interest in the 180-600.

On the other hand, Sony has more bodies with pretty good AF for action photography, besides the A1, there is also the A9 and even some APS-C bodies. For Nikon, if you get the 180-600 but do not pair it up with either the Z8 or Z9, it is kind of meaningless. Did you see the current thread that some Canon user wants to buy the 180-600 plus an inexpensive ~$1500 Nikon body with decent AF to go with it: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4725376? Sadly, the simple answer is that no such "inexpensive" body exists today.

What Nikon will introduce in the future remains to be seen, but at this point, I seriously doubt that a niche lens such as the 180-600 will outsell the popular Z8, which is a very general-pupose camera. I am planning to get a Z8 also in the future; some people have multiple Z8s, but I don't see very many people with multiple 180-600 lenses.

It's the #1 lens on B&H. I ordered it for my Z50.

 

[ProDude]

It's the #1 lens on B&H. I ordered it for my Z50.

Yes, well I'm waiting to see how available this lens ends up being. If it's in an in stock situation at year end I may be tempted. Otherwise I'll just wait till that time comes.

 

[ghostfox_1]

Odds are the new lens will be a lot more popular than the z8 was. The product works very well, and the price cannot be beat.

I doubt that is the case. There will be demand for the 180-600, but such long a lens is a niche product. And IMO the 180-600 will not be that useful without the AF from the Z9 or Z8 behind it. If more people own the 180-600 than the Z8, are they all Z9 owners?

The Sony 200-600 is one of the most popular birding and wildlife lenses today. You’ll find it on all bodies, from a6000 to the a1. I have an a1 + this lens, and I have a Z6 mk i, and a Z9, with a 180-600 on order. It won’t go on the z6, but that’s not to say I wouldn’t put it on a Z6/7ii or good APS-C body (a D500 replacement) if one comes along.

Your post highlights the situation for Sony as well as for Nikon. Sony's 200-600 is popular for birding and wildlife because Sony do not have as many super tele selections as Nikon have now. I have a Z9 also, and I have a 600mm/f4 AF-S VR and a 500mm/f5.6 PF in the F mount; I also have the 400mm/f4.5 and 800mm PF in the Z mount. Hence I don't have much interest in the 180-600.

On the other hand, Sony has more bodies with pretty good AF for action photography, besides the A1, there is also the A9 and even some APS-C bodies. For Nikon, if you get the 180-600 but do not pair it up with either the Z8 or Z9, it is kind of meaningless. Did you see the current thread that some Canon user wants to buy the 180-600 plus an inexpensive ~$1500 Nikon body with decent AF to go with it: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4725376? Sadly, the simple answer is that no such "inexpensive" body exists today.

What Nikon will introduce in the future remains to be seen, but at this point, I seriously doubt that a niche lens such as the 180-600 will outsell the popular Z8, which is a very general-pupose camera. I am planning to get a Z8 also in the future; some people have multiple Z8s, but I don't see very many people with multiple 180-600 lenses.

It's not niche. You want to claim it is, but it's the entry price point for legitimate wildlife lenses in z mount. Every thing else is between 2 and 8 times more expensive.