At least I need to observe how Nikon is releasing this lens to have a better idea what they are doing. I find it quite unusual that so many lenses with such high serial numbers are getting into customers' hands first. I wonder whether Nikon is trying to avoid a repeat of the Z8 massive recall scenario.
Perhaps they used LIFO method in the shipping container?
They are certainly a lot of lenses out there. Given the number of posts I have seen. Here and on FB.
I think it is clear that there are at least a few thousand 180-600 out there, and it is probably fair to classify that as "a lot," but I kind of doubt that there are > 20K so far.
Not that I follow every Nikon lens release so closely, but we did for the two PF lenses: the F-mount 500mm/f5.6 PF and 800mm/f6.3 PF. People can take a look at the excellent chart Alex C. prepared for the 800mm PF a few months ago:
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66999885
The general trend is that serial numbers start from close to 20002001 and gradually go up over time. For the 800 PF, the rate suddenly increased around January 2023 and a few months later, the market was saturdated.
It is puzzling that so far we only see 20025000 to 20031000. Don't quote me on this, but
hyperthetically, if Nikon somehow discovers that the first 20K have some issues they need to repair, that could explain this LIFO (last in, first out) situation.
Think about it, a Z8 package is relatively small. If one needs to ship a 180-600 back to Nikon, that is a huge pain. Many years ago, once I needed to ship my 500mm/f4 AI-P back to Nikon. That is a large package nightmere.
eu.zonerama.com
