Nikon Frustration

[flyguy]

Am I the only one beyond frustrated by the current state of business with Nikon and its products? B&H and Adorama have next to nothing when it comes to the most popular Nikon lenses especially. Yes, I have read about the "alleged" chip shortage....is it for real or contrived? Call me a conspiracy theorist, yet I wonder out loud about a lot of things that do not add up. I was in need of a replacement Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 FX lens, non VR model. I could not find a new one so had to settle for a pre owned one from one of the only brick and mortar camera shops around any longer. The chip shortage? I have a Nikkor 24mm manual focus legacy prime lens that has been on order through B&H for months now; this lens has no chip. When a company wants you to go in one particular direction, they can do things to force your hand and make you do things their way. Adobe did that when they made Lightroom and Photoshop a monthly subscription rather than sell you a one time license with a few upgrades. Is Nikon manipulating their market be making DSLR lenses in particular more and more difficult to acquire? Seems pretty easy to do if they so choose. Invest in Nikon mirrorless or invest in someone else's mirrorless system because the DSLR supply chain has been broken and might not ever get fully back to what it used to be? Are there companies out there using the pandemic as an excuse to manipulate the market or make potential customers buy in to only what those companies have to offer whether it is what they want or not? Lead; Follow; or get out of the way???

 

[NorthernFocus]

IMO you're half right. They can't afford to make flush inventory for both lines. They've made the decision where they're going and it's not more DSLRs. So yes they're forcing us to make a choice. Canon shooters are in the same dilemma. Scarce inventory of high end lenses.

 

[Backdoor Arts]

Yes, I have read about the "alleged" chip shortage....is it for real or contrived? Call me a conspiracy theorist, ...

Hey, conspiracy theorist, the Canon rep I know said that I will likely get the 14-35mm before he even sees one. A brand new Canon 100-500mm does not exist on a single shelf for purchase in the US. He can't get products into the hands of pros begging for them. So sure, it's contrived.

The world rages with Covid, and countries without a vaccine are getting hit even harder now as new variants threaten to shut down reopening shipping pipelines and manufacturing. God forbid we have to shoot with what we have for another year.

 

[bluebird]

Its all at the Tokyo olympics for the pro's https://nikonrumors.com

 

[FB101]

Call it chip shortage if you want, chip shortage is a symptom of a much deeper disruption of supply chains around the world. Chips are short but so are many raw materials and key components. So are sea containers and boats. Airlines are charging 2 to 3 times historical freight rates because everything is behind.

So the situation is very real. Now if you are canon or Nikon, and you can run at 20% capacity - you are going to get very picky about what you make and focus on what is critical to the future of the company. Nothing nefarious in that, just the right thing to do to make it through.
does it suck? You bet! I missed my chance at moving to the R5 and 100/500 early on and so now my options are up in the air whenever a viable solution becomes available again.

And to be honest, there are some great deals to be made on used dSLRs and lenses as people move to mirrorless. I grabbed a Nikon 24/70 f:2.8 G a couple weeks ago, mint ++ condition for less than $900. That’s less than half of the price of a new version with VR.

 

[Abinoone]

Am I the only one beyond frustrated by the current state of business with Nikon and its products? B&H and Adorama have next to nothing when it comes to the most popular Nikon lenses especially. Yes, I have read about the "alleged" chip shortage....is it for real or contrived? Call me a conspiracy theorist, yet I wonder out loud about a lot of things that do not add up. I was in need of a replacement Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 FX lens, non VR model. I could not find a new one so had to settle for a pre owned one from one of the only brick and mortar camera shops around any longer. The chip shortage? I have a Nikkor 24mm manual focus legacy prime lens that has been on order through B&H for months now; this lens has no chip. When a company wants you to go in one particular direction, they can do things to force your hand and make you do things their way. Adobe did that when they made Lightroom and Photoshop a monthly subscription rather than sell you a one time license with a few upgrades. Is Nikon manipulating their market be making DSLR lenses in particular more and more difficult to acquire? Seems pretty easy to do if they so choose. Invest in Nikon mirrorless or invest in someone else's mirrorless system because the DSLR supply chain has been broken and might not ever get fully back to what it used to be? Are there companies out there using the pandemic as an excuse to manipulate the market or make potential customers buy in to only what those companies have to offer whether it is what they want or not? Lead; Follow; or get out of the way???

Yes, it is a world-wide conspiracy by ANTIFA to wreck the lives of fascist photo enthusiasts! Seriously, the chip shortage is very real, as is the disruption to supply chain logistics caused by Covid, and it's hitting many industries world wide. Try finding a popular new car at sticker price - many, many models are limited, and often selling above MSRP. And Nikon isn't the only camera manufacturer affected by the current situation - Canon and others are too. I agree wholeheartedly that it's a big pain for everyone wanting a new camera or lens but, in the grand scheme of things, clearly a first world problem. But, there's a silver lining to this dark cloud: my bank account is much healthier because of it!

 

[StephenP]

Most companies that want to weather unexpected storms, even before Covid-19, use the model of supply=demand. I make furniture using hand tools for 90% of the build. One of the companies that I purchase from is famous for not having certain items in stock. I had a nice conversation with the founder/owner about it, and he told me they have what they consider to be the core group of tools that they try to keep in stock, at all times. The specialty tools are manufactured in batches of 6-12 when they have the time. Because of the number of tools they offer, having a stockpile of tools isn't financially feasible.

What does this have to do with photography?

Camera manufacturers aren't going to produce a lot of products that are not considered to be everyday purchases. So a lens like the Nikon MF ais is going to be in short supply. I would think that any model that has VR and Non-VR models, Non-VR would be the last ones produced. It's frustrating for the consumer, but necessary for the survival of the company.

 

[Strodav]

Make all the excuses you want but there is no question Nikon failed the professional community by not having the Z9 ready for the Olympics. Pros would be at a competitive disadvantage using Nikon gear right now, which is why the vast majority of pros at the Olympics are using Canon and Sony gear. Nikon is also failing the enthusiast community by not being able to keep up with demand on more popular existing products and failure to keep up with the competition with new products. Blame it on falling behind on milc technology, Covid, chip shortage, financial woes requiring consolidation of manufacturing sites and laying off R&D personnel, and the shift to mirrorless at the expense of the dslr product line. It doesn't matter why it's happening.

Nikon's biggest assets are brand name and the loyalty of their existing customer base. Those assets are being diminished more and more with each passing day Nikon fails to deliver. You saw Steve write that his new materials have to include Sony and Canon gear because that's the way his customer base is going.

 

[GrandNagus50]

Given the current circumstances in the world, I find the ongoing level of complaining about camera gear availability dismaying. I have been watching the Olympics; who gives a rat's ass about what the photographers are using? The truth is that all of the major companies are unable to supply popular products at the moment. This will likely pass, but given the state of the "battle" against Covid world-wide (battle in quotes reflecting the apparent futility of the overall effort), these shortages might just go on and on. In a few months time, when Nikon does indeed release the Z9, the fact that it was delayed and not "seen" at the Olympics will be of little import. If it's a great camera, Nikon will be fine; if it's a dud, well, that's another matter.

 

[Charles Loy]

Its all at the Tokyo olympics for the pro's https://nikonrumors.com

Looks like most of those photos were made with a Canon, poor focus on most.

 

[Palouse]

You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

 

[Abinoone]

Make all the excuses you want but there is no question Nikon failed the professional community by not having the Z9 ready for the Olympics. Pros would be at a competitive disadvantage using Nikon gear right now, which is why the vast majority of pros at the Olympics are using Canon and Sony gear. Nikon is also failing the enthusiast community by not being able to keep up with demand on more popular existing products and failure to keep up with the competition with new products. Blame it on falling behind on milc technology, Covid, chip shortage, financial woes requiring consolidation of manufacturing sites and laying off R&D personnel, and the shift to mirrorless at the expense of the dslr product line. It doesn't matter why it's happening.

Nikon's biggest assets are brand name and the loyalty of their existing customer base. Those assets are being diminished more and more with each passing day Nikon fails to deliver. You saw Steve write that his new materials have to include Sony and Canon gear because that's the way his customer base is going.

Not sure I share your pessimism about Nikon, but I tend to be a Pollyanna when it comes to venerable old companies like Nikon. Have they had a couple of disappointments? Sure, but so have the other companies. It's always a game of leap frog in this industry anyway - one jumps ahead for awhile, then another. I still think Nikon optics are the best in the world (even if they don't yet have the animal eye AF that everyone is so wild over) and they will catch up/leap ahead again before long in camera bodies. I predict some nice surprises ahead!

 

[FB101]

Make all the excuses you want but there is no question Nikon failed the professional community by not having the Z9 ready for the Olympics. Pros would be at a competitive disadvantage using Nikon gear right now, which is why the vast majority of pros at the Olympics are using Canon and Sony gear. Nikon is also failing the enthusiast community by not being able to keep up with demand on more popular existing products and failure to keep up with the competition with new products. Blame it on falling behind on milc technology, Covid, chip shortage, financial woes requiring consolidation of manufacturing sites and laying off R&D personnel, and the shift to mirrorless at the expense of the dslr product line. It doesn't matter why it's happening.

Nikon's biggest assets are brand name and the loyalty of their existing customer base. Those assets are being diminished more and more with each passing day Nikon fails to deliver. You saw Steve write that his new materials have to include Sony and Canon gear because that's the way his customer base is going.

Not making excuses, to your point they missed the turn to mirrorless pretty nicely. They had actually started quite well and the wheels fell off mid turn.
But the initial comment was that Nikon is using a made-up supply challenge to drive change to mirrorless and I simply don’t think that’s the case. The supply chain crisis is real, but doesn’t negate the fact that, to use a US football analogy, Nikon fumbled.

 

[FB101]

Not sure I share your pessimism about Nikon, but I tend to be a Pollyanna when it comes to venerable old companies like Nikon. Have they had a couple of disappointments? Sure, but so have the other companies. It's always a game of leap frog in this industry anyway - one jumps ahead for awhile, then another. I still think Nikon optics are the best in the world (even if they don't yet have the animal eye AF that everyone is so wild over) and they will catch up/leap ahead again before long in camera bodies. I predict some nice surprises ahead!

One thing seems for sure, the public spanking they took over the last 8 months seems to have jolted them out of complacency. How fast they can rebound and how they will choose to rebound are the key questions but Nikon is a venerable and proud company with deep heritage so the unanimous take down of 2021 can’t feel good, especially in a year of olympics, at home to make matters worse.

 

[Woodyg3]

A few thoughts:

Pros could easily shoot the Olympics with ten year old DSLRs and get fantastic results, so I don't think Nikon has let any of them down because the Z9 isn't available yet.

Those of us who live in parts of the world where Covid vaccinations are widely available and where infection rates have gone down greatly might have a hard time understanding how difficult it still is in many other areas of the world.

Chip shortages are real, and the problem has been coming on for a long time due to the small number of manufacturers.

Top end photography equipment is a small part of the market. Demand may be high here at the Back Country Gallery forum , but worldwide it's pretty low compared to other products that Nikon or Canon makes. When production needs to be limited, our fun toys are going to be less likely to be available than copiers, medical equipment, laser printers, etc.

 

[Woody Meristem]

Not sure I share your pessimism about Nikon, but I tend to be a Pollyanna when it comes to venerable old companies like Nikon.

There was a venerable old company in Rochester, NY that sold its products in yellow boxes -- I can't remember its name, maybe you can -- but it failed to keep up with a changing market and, although it's still in business, not many photographers use its products in 2021.

 

[DRwyoming]

There was a venerable old company in Rochester, NY that sold its products in yellow boxes -- I can't remember its name, maybe you can -- but it failed to keep up with a changing market and, although it's still in business, not many photographers use its products in 2021.

And even crazier, that company invented the first practical digital camera but didn't want to let it compete with their existing product lines

This man invented the digital camera in 1975 — and his bosses at Kodak never let it see the light of day

Steven Sasson pioneered both the digital camera and the DSLR, but his bosses at Kodak never put full effort behind him.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[Abinoone]

There was a venerable old company in Rochester, NY that sold its products in yellow boxes -- I can't remember its name, maybe you can -- but it failed to keep up with a changing market and, although it's still in business, not many photographers use its products in 2021.

Yes, that's true, and it happened very fast. On the other hand, there are venerable old companies that have managed to change with the times (e.g. IBM, Bausch and Lomb, Zeiss), and my money says Nikon will be among them.

 

[Abinoone]

And even crazier, that company invented the first practical digital camera but didn't want to let it compete with their existing product lines

This man invented the digital camera in 1975 — and his bosses at Kodak never let it see the light of day

Steven Sasson pioneered both the digital camera and the DSLR, but his bosses at Kodak never put full effort behind him.

www.businessinsider.com

Years ago, as an IBMer, I visited Kodak many times, and was proudly shown around their R&D labs - at the time (maybe 30 years ago), they seemed infallible. Oh, how the times were a'changin!

 

[EricBowles]

Make all the excuses you want but there is no question Nikon failed the professional community by not having the Z9 ready for the Olympics. Pros would be at a competitive disadvantage using Nikon gear right now, which is why the vast majority of pros at the Olympics are using Canon and Sony gear. Nikon is also failing the enthusiast community by not being able to keep up with demand on more popular existing products and failure to keep up with the competition with new products. Blame it on falling behind on milc technology, Covid, chip shortage, financial woes requiring consolidation of manufacturing sites and laying off R&D personnel, and the shift to mirrorless at the expense of the dslr product line. It doesn't matter why it's happening.

Nikon's biggest assets are brand name and the loyalty of their existing customer base. Those assets are being diminished more and more with each passing day Nikon fails to deliver. You saw Steve write that his new materials have to include Sony and Canon gear because that's the way his customer base is going.

Maybe - but wasn't the Olympics scheduled for 2020? And wasn't Nikon's product release for 2020 planned earlier - probably in 2018. They don't just release a single product - they release a group of products that fit together. So a sports camera needs fast, long lenses.

Personally, my Z7II with the 105 MC is great.

 

[Whiskeyman]

Make all the excuses you want but there is no question Nikon failed the professional community by not having the Z9 ready for the Olympics. Pros would be at a competitive disadvantage using Nikon gear right now,...

I believe that many pros felt this way a long time ago, when Nikon reduced their support to professionals at many venues where photography was a feature byline. That Canon not only didn't reduce support at such, but even increased their support, drove a lot of pros from Nikon to Canon. I once read about a "Nikon Pro" who got to an event where his equipment was missing, either stolen or lost-in-transit, and when he asked NPS on-site for help, they basically said "No." He approached Canon services and they provided him with all of the gear he needed for the event. Wanna guess what brand of gear he used after that? That example is multiplied many times over, and now, where Nikon was once king, you'll see mainly Canon gear being used.

 

[Abinoone]

I believe that many pros felt this way a long time ago, when Nikon reduced their support to professionals at many venues where photography was a feature byline. That Canon not only didn't reduce support at such, but even increased their support, drove a lot of pros from Nikon to Canon. I once read about a "Nikon Pro" who got to an event where his equipment was missing, either stolen or lost-in-transit, and when he asked NPS on-site for help, they basically said "No." He approached Canon services and they provided him with all of the gear he needed for the event. Wanna guess what brand of gear he used after that? That example is multiplied many times over, and now, where Nikon was once king, you'll see mainly Canon gear being used.

Fair enough, but Nikon seems to be providing a good show of support at the Tokyo Olympics. https://nikonrumors.com/2021/07/25/...ar-room-at-the-tokyo-olympic-games-2021.aspx/

 

[NorthernFocus]

Not sure I share your pessimism about Nikon, but I tend to be a Pollyanna when it comes to venerable old companies like Nikon....

It's a monumental task to transform a "venerable old company" to stay competitive when the market makes a fundamental shift. Even more so in the Japanese business culture. If you haven't ever worked with a traditional company in Japan it's hard to imagine. Of the three bigs in the camera market the cultural hurdles will likely be most difficult for Nikon simply because they are a much smaller organization and can't bring in "new blood" from another part of the company. Time will tell.

 

[Abinoone]

It's a monumental task to transform a "venerable old company" to stay competitive when the market makes a fundamental shift. Even more so in the Japanese business culture. If you haven't ever worked with a traditional company in Japan it's hard to imagine. Of the three bigs in the camera market the cultural hurdles will likely be most difficult for Nikon simply because they are a much smaller organization and can't bring in "new blood" from another part of the company. Time will tell.

Yeah, you are absolutely right. Not to over generalize, but Japanese culture has a strong affinity for conformity and obedience - a hard milieu for breakthrough thinking. But other companies have done it, and I'm optimistic that Nikon will too. Again, I'm a Pollyanna!

 

[fcotterill]

Nothing has changed in practice and pragmatism. "Date the Bodies; Marry the Glass" has never been more appropriate, as Mirrorless cameras evolve - vacuuming up consumers' spendings. Most photographers operating on finite budgets, over the past decade and often longer have invested a large sum in long lasting lenses.

Even a Teleconverter often costs $400, let alone a telephoto. I have also invested in equipment that is known to work reliably: and has high probability of working reliably far from a city. This global reputation is founded in years of experience among experienced professionals that the products maintain high probabilities to keep on working for the years ahead.

If, currently, new products are delayed by parts and/or the pandemic, then instead spend the time hunting down a Used copy from a reputable seller.

Wait grasshoppers....

Followup on Upcoming Z Products | Thom Hogan

A short followup on upcoming Nikon Z System products

www.zsystemuser.com