This is the week -- how hard WILL the D3 be to get?

Sorry for stating the obvious, but I've been reading (aka lurking on) this forum obsessively for weeks now eager for any news on the D3. So now it comes down to it! The official launch date is Fri, Nov 30th. We shall soon see if the D3 is as hard to get one's hands on as rumor would have it. I read on the nikonwatch blog that it might be a full year before the "unwashed public" can walk into a store and buy a D3 off the shelf. Good golly Miss Molly.

Will I get anything else done this week? Unlikely.

I'm an amateur and this will be my first Nikon. I decided to make the leap to a D3 because I take a lot of concert/performance photos and I could use the low light capacity and frame rate. I have no issue with pros getting their D3s first. Makes sense. But if I don't receive mine by Dec 20th, when I leave to visit my family for Christmas, I will be in a real connundrum. I have a bunch of new Nikon lenses on my shelf (including a 85mm 1.4, which is what I'd use for indoor Christmas shots) and no Nikon body. My old camera has a 35mm 1.4 which is lovely, but the lens is on the fritz and I don't intend to spend any more on non-Nikon gear. There are probably others like me who are switching brands and who have a lot of spanking new Nikon gear sitting around waiting for an engine.

No real point to this thread except to express anticipation and a sense of curiosity about how this will actually shape up. I can't wait for reports of "I got mine!" to start and to see a) where people who are getting them live and b) how many are pros.

Personally, I've had my D3 on order in with Ritz since early Oct and also have fully prepaid for one at a small local camera shop in Seattle at which I am #4 on the list. The local shop says they've ordered 12 units and are confident they'll get them all in December. We shall see. We shall see... Fun times, Maynard.

If you don't get the D3 by the 20th, then buy either the D300 or D40 with the intent of having a second body or sell after you do get a D3.

IF your D3 does not arrive in time ... you could rent a Nikon body for your trip.
--
Porky

http://www.trailergypsies.com

fishguy said:

If you don't get the D3 by the 20th, then buy either the D300 or D40
with the intent of having a second body or sell after you do get a D3.

Click to expand...

Believe me, I'd love to buy a D300 as a backup, and slap an 18-200mm lens on it to boot. That would be a nice "travel lite" combo. But that's another $2500 and isn't in the immediate plans, especially since I've prepaid for the D3. I'd probably resort to a used D40 as a stop gap measure, reselling it when the D3 arrives. But I'll wait to see how allotment is shaping up this week. As I said -- fun times! Really, it's rather exciting. Though I can see 'exciting' become 'annoying' if the wait drags on into spring '08!

My gut says I will get mine before Christmas. But I probably have too much faith in the consumer culture.

Renting is a good idea also. Thanks!

I exactly where you are but for the type of shooting I do. This is worse than when I got my first BB gun at age 10. Except that then I at least was able to sneek into my parents bedroom ... under the bed ... and carefully unwrap it, fondle it and then rewrapped it. This is MUCH worse. #%^/

habbakkuk said:

I exactly where you are but for the type of shooting I do. This is
worse than when I got my first BB gun at age 10. Except that then I
at least was able to sneek into my parents bedroom ... under the bed
... and carefully unwrap it, fondle it and then rewrapped it. This
is MUCH worse. #%^/

Click to expand...

Yeah, you got it. Thanks for putting it so succinctly.

I've got all my new lenses lined up on a shelf, my filters, my extra battery, my flash cards. I have a new Lowe pack on order.... It's like decorating a nursery in anticipation of the new bundle of joy. Crazy, man.

I, to am in the same boat - waiting for my ship to come in ( so's to speak ).
I've been getting by with an S2Pro, had my D3 on order since Oct.

I prepaid at the local camera shop 2 weeks ago during a special event when they were paying the sales tax - the owner then offered me the first one in the shop.
The salesman has been taking my regular phone calls very good nature'ly.
Hoping to make the 3 hour drive Fri or Sat - fingers crossed.

Yes, alot like Christmas, in fact my wife told me, when I get back with it shes wrapping it and putting it under the tree till the 25th - BUMMER ; maybe she just means the box ; )
--
Brian C. Faulstich

Brian Faulstich said:

Yes, alot like Christmas, in fact my wife told me, when I get back
with it shes wrapping it and putting it under the tree till the 25th

• BUMMER ; maybe she just means the box ; )

Click to expand...

Take it out of the box and put a brick in its place.

--
http://www.icapture.it

“Be kind whenever possible...It is always possible.”

$800-900 today, ~$700 at xmas.

I Sold my D2x and have a d2h as backup which I may sell for the amazing-value D200!
Great backup for a great price.

Best wishes on D3 wait.....me to.

V.
--
.

----------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.pbase.com/vernix
===================================

Every advance in our knowledge of the cosmos has revealed that we live on a cosmic speck of dust orbiting a mediocre sort of star in the far suburbs in a common sort of galaxy, among a hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe...
still...
...when I look at all those stars I am struck by how insignificant they are.

Wow, Vernix. Just checked D200's on ebay and there are a lot on the market for under $400. Of course, who knows what the price will be when the auctions end. Still... a much better deal than a D40 and worth a try if my D3 is delayed. Lots of peeps upgrading to the D300 it appears.

I ordered my D3 about 2 weeks ago. I'm not a pro so I expect delivery in March-April. If you wait till next week you will be competing with lots of folks you will not order till the camera is out and images are more available. I suspect the backlog for this camera will NOT behave like other cameras. Previously the first month or so the back orders get filled and you can expect to find one with some hunting in the third month. By month 5 they are "on the shelf" With the D3 I suspect the back orders will actually get worse once the cameras are in the pros hands because of the amazing shots we will begin to see next week. So with demand outstripping supply the waiting period will extend at least for the first 6 months or so. Clearly this is my wildass guess.
--
Ken Eis

Just for informational purposes, I just sold my D200 in really good condition on bay for about $950.

Jane Holmes said:

Wow, Vernix. Just checked D200's on ebay and there are a lot on the
market for under $400. Of course, who knows what the price will be
when the auctions end. Still... a much better deal than a D40 and
worth a try if my D3 is delayed. Lots of peeps upgrading to the D300
it appears.

Click to expand...

--
Chuck Currey

KenEis said:

I ordered my D3 about 2 weeks ago. I'm not a pro so I expect delivery
in March-April. If you wait till next week you will be competing with
lots of folks you will not order till the camera is out and images
are more available. I suspect the backlog for this camera will NOT
behave like other cameras. Previously the first month or so the back
orders get filled and you can expect to find one with some hunting in
the third month. By month 5 they are "on the shelf" With the D3 I
suspect the back orders will actually get worse once the cameras are
in the pros hands because of the amazing shots we will begin to see
next week. So with demand outstripping supply the waiting period will
extend at least for the first 6 months or so. Clearly this is my
wildass guess.
--
Ken Eis

Click to expand...

I've been thinking this is the way it's going to go for a while now. As vaporware and then with few samples floating around, the D3 hasn't had much of a track record. Yet. When it hits the streets and the blogging, mid-level and web-known pros get theirs, word will spread quickly. Alas, as they say, it will be too late. The real rush hits then.

That's why I pre-ordered mine back in August with Ritz. They get plenty of bodies on a release (normally), and they won't dink around with games. Get in line. Keep your spot. You get it when they do. I made the first shipment and got my D300 already. Who knows? Maybe we early pre-orderers will have a 'Yellow and Black' Christmas!

Of course I've got a concert to shoot on the 15th of Dec; I've already got the 300, adding the D3 would be too good to be true!
--
I can only count from 1.4 to 2.8 - is something wrong with me?

Jane Holmes said:

My gut says I will get mine before Christmas. But I probably have
too much faith in the consumer culture.

Click to expand...

I hope you do get it, Jane, but my reading of the tea leaves doesn't make me optimistic. Nikon USA might get one more shipment of D3's from Japan before XMAS, but that's 50-50 at best, if past experience is any guide. And there won't be a lot of cameras in that shipment. A lot of people will be waiting 2-3 months, or more, for this camera, I think. Nikon is often heavily backordered for many moons in situations like this (and I speak as a former Nikon USA sales rep, with long, bitter experience of Nikon product supply issues.)

That said, the best chance to get one is to aggressively canvas small local Nikon dealers, who will very likely get disproportionately large allocations of cameras (i.e. number of D3 units in comparison to their yearly Nikon dollar volume) for the first few months of D3 availability. It was always this way when I was a sales rep (most of the 1990s), and I doubt it's changed now.

Jane Holmes said:

Personally, I've had my D3 on order in with Ritz since early Oct and
also have fully prepaid for one at a small local camera shop in
Seattle at which I am #4 on the list. The local shop says they've
ordered 12 units and are confident they'll get them all in December.

Click to expand...

What Seattle shop had the gall to ask for a full deposit? The only shops I really trust - Glazer's and Kenmore - are asking for deposits of less than 10%.

Brian Faulstich said:

I, to am in the same boat - waiting for my ship to come in ( so's to
speak ).
I've been getting by with an S2Pro, had my D3 on order since Oct.

Click to expand...

Yeah, same ... only its a G9. Even though brand new its just not cutting it. %^0

Brian Faulstich said:

I prepaid at the local camera shop 2 weeks ago during a special event
when they were paying the sales tax - the owner then offered me the
first one in the shop.
The salesman has been taking my regular phone calls very good nature'ly.

Click to expand...

I try and limit myself to only calling once a week or so. ;} He DID tell me however they got 100 D300 ( sold em all) and is hoping to get as many as 20 D3 cams. I'm in single digits on the list so hope is growing.

Brian Faulstich said:

Hoping to make the 3 hour drive Fri or Sat - fingers crossed.

Click to expand...

I'm going to be waiting at the front door Fri. well before they open. If they don't give me my camera I'm going to threaten to pitch a tent on the sidewalk until they do .... no I am not kidding.

Brian Faulstich said:

Yes, alot like Christmas, in fact my wife told me, when I get back
with it shes wrapping it and putting it under the tree till the 25th

• BUMMER ; maybe she just means the box ; )

Click to expand...

completely unacceptable. Wrap HER! ... untill the 25th.

Brian Faulstich said:

--
Brian C. Faulstich

Click to expand...

Eamon Hickey said:

Nikon is often heavily backordered for many moons in
situations like this (and I speak as a former Nikon USA sales rep,
with long, bitter experience of Nikon product supply issues.)

Click to expand...

Their success in fulfilling D300 pre-orders, at least for the smaller dealers, seems to indicate a departure from past performance. I called about 6-7 different shops in my area last weekend, and 3 of them had filled all of their pre-orders, with a few units left over in stock. In fact, one shop was offering a nice promotion on their D300s.

peripheralfocus said:

That said, the best chance to get one is to aggressively canvas small
local Nikon dealers, who will very likely get disproportionately
large allocations of cameras (i.e. number of D3 units in comparison
to their yearly Nikon dollar volume) for the first few months of D3
availability. It was always this way when I was a sales rep (most of
the 1990s), and I doubt it's changed now.

Click to expand...

Still seems to be the case!

Marianne Oelund said:

Jane Holmes said:

Personally, I've had my D3 on order in with Ritz since early Oct and
also have fully prepaid for one at a small local camera shop in
Seattle at which I am #4 on the list. The local shop says they've
ordered 12 units and are confident they'll get them all in December.

Click to expand...

What Seattle shop had the gall to ask for a full deposit? The only
shops I really trust - Glazer's and Kenmore - are asking for deposits
of less than 10%.

Click to expand...

It's a Talls Camera. What I was told was that I could put down a partial, but that if someone else came in and put down the full amount my spot in line would be bumped. So I put down the full amount and am "guaranteed" camera #4. I figured Glazers would already have a list a mile long.

Marianne Oelund said:

Jane Holmes said:

Personally, I've had my D3 on order in with Ritz since early Oct and
also have fully prepaid for one at a small local camera shop in
Seattle at which I am #4 on the list. The local shop says they've
ordered 12 units and are confident they'll get them all in December.

Click to expand...

What Seattle shop had the gall to ask for a full deposit? The only
shops I really trust - Glazer's and Kenmore - are asking for deposits
of less than 10%.

Click to expand...

Mine tried to hit me For 20%. D3 and 24/70. I said no way (empty threat) waved 7 Franklins in their face and they jumped on it. #%^}