Increased price of Nikon 35 mm 1.8

[sunilmendiratta]

<p>Today i was checking price at amazon for Nikon 35 mm/1.8 lens and it is now $324. Sudden raise in price?<br>

Let's see at some other places as well over the time.<br>

Regards,<br /> Sunil</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>There seems to be some temporary shortage for this lens and some stores are gauging. Amazon themselves is still selling @$200 but is out of stock. B&H still has it @ $200 but they are also out of it: <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/606792-USA/Nikon_2183_AF_S_Nikkor_35mm_f_1_8G.html">http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/606792-USA/Nikon_2183_AF_S_Nikkor_35mm_f_1_8G.html</a></p>

[dan_brown4]

<p>Nikon has been drastically increasing its price structure over the last couple years.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, it must be working for them :-/</p>

[joewhite]

<p>I'm hoping that any possible price increase won't affect backordered items!</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>I don't follow the yen to dollar rates as a rule, but the dollar to euro has slowly but inexorably moved down from about $1.20 per € in 2004 to ~ $1.38 per € again this morning. It's a subtle way of making imports more expensive to solve the balance of trade problem. You can blame the US Treasury more than Nikon or vendors. This goes back across multiple regimes in the White House, so it's "bi-partisan".</p>

[dbcooper]

<p>You don't always get the best deal at Amazon, but sometimes you do. You should comparison shop them against other online vendors like B&H, including shipping costs and sales tax. There's up/down drift in some of their prices, especially from non-Amazon vendors at the site. If an item is scarce, some Amazon vendors will price-gouge rather badly, although Amazon-direct is pretty good about not doing that. I think Amazon keeps them on board because of item availability...at least their customers can get it at all.</p>

<p>Mind the shipping costs, too. Some non-direct vendors will appear to have a slightly lower price and then jack up the shipping. As for availability, you never know....some good Amazon outside vendors (e.g. Adorama) don't offer their complete catalog through the Amazon site.</p>

<p>Be sure to check shipping rates and especially sales tax at checkout, too. Since Amazon put a warehouse in my state, some Amazon-direct items end up being more than ordering from another vendor in another state, and the reverse can be true as well. I learned that the hard way one time when sales tax burned up most of an instant rebate on a Nikon lens I ordered from them. I used to use Amazon a lot more than I do now because I travel for my work, and Amazon would ship to a non-billing address without a hassle. These days I tend to use Amazon only if B&H doesn't carry or hasn't got a particular item. YMMV. </p>

[tonyboy92002]

<p>I am so impressed no one in this forum with the 18-55mm kit lens is even arguing whether they need a 35mm lens.<br>

Look on the kit lens, it says right there, 35mm. Set it there, spin the dial to open the aperture was wide as possible, move up or back as far as you need, compose and start shooting.<br>

The low-light argument for spending more money on the 35mm I believe is just Nikon hype, because my D3100 has some kind of wide ISO capability like 400 before noise even shows up.<br>

More expensive stuff won’t make you an artist, you either have it or you don’t. Read three of Joe McNally’s best selling books if you don’t believe me. </p>

[elliot1]

<p><em>"I believe is just Nikon hype</em>" Low ISO is <strong>always</strong> preferred for best color, detail and dynamic range. Noise is not an issue at any ISO as it can be easily removed but detail, or lack of it, and limits on color/dynamic range at higher ISOs with every camera bodies is. Don't knock the lens and the enhanced abilities it gives the photographer until you have tried it.</p>

<p>Many photographers prefer shooting with natural light rather than flash, which is an additional benefit of this lens.</p>

[jay_poel]

<p>Tony, have you had a f/1.8 lens on your camera before reaching this sweeping conclusion? Yes, higher ISO can make up for the wider aperture advantage but it doesn't help make your viewfinder brighter or allow you to shoot where f/4 would give your 1/30s @ 1600 ISO. You could shoot 1/160 @ 1600 at f/1.8 which could be critical for stopping motion such as shooting a concert.</p>

<p>Typically primes are also sharper than the kit lenses. I don't have the 35mm or the 18-55mm to do a direct comparison but I do have an 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 and a 50mm f/1.8. I also have a 24-70mm f/2.8 and a 70-200mm f/2.8 VR that are on my camera 90% of the time - I don't mind the wieght and size because of the brighter viewfinder and faster shutter speeds I can get.</p>

[elliot1]

<p>Jay, the 18-55mm is gives very sharp images. As does the 35mm f1.8.</p>

[jay_poel]

<p>That's why I said "typically" Elliot. I know KR raves about the 18-55mm VR lens. My dad has the 35mm f/1.8 and I liked the results on his D80 but haven't tried it myself. :)</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>Incidentally, Nikon USA has it listed at the original $199.95 price. There has been no price change since its introduction a couple of years ago: <a href="http://www.nikonusa.com/Nikon-Products/Product/Camera-Lenses/2183/AF-S-DX-NIKKOR-35mm-f%252F1.8G.html">http://www.nikonusa.com/Nikon-Products/Product/Camera-Lenses/2183/AF-S-DX-NIKKOR-35mm-f%252F1.8G.html</a></p>

<p>A number of the major mail-order firms are temporary out of stock. You can check your local Best Buy; they may have it in stock (I think I saw that locally just a few days ago). Or you can always order from Amazon at the $200 price, and they'll ship it when they receive more. I wouldn't buy from the price gaugers.</p>

[mark_drutz]

<p>Shun is right I believe. B&H and other reputable stores list it at $199.95, but they are all out of stock. That allows those who have them to charge whatever the traffic will bear. Of course, when the stores like B&H get them in, they may charge more, but no where near $325.</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>Getting a 35 f/1.8 is not only about sharpness or low light. There is also this nice compositional aid called depth of field. Having f/1.8 gives you choices that a f/4 lens simply can't offer. There is plenty reason to get fast lenses, and Nikon isn't hyping any of it.</p><p>I just checked the pricing with the major webshops in the Netherlands, and no significant price change there (€185). Even with a stronger euro, and yen, I find $324 a steep price.</p>

[sunilmendiratta]

<p>Well that is a great news because 35/1.8 is same as 50mm/1.8 on canon ae1 or Nikon Fe(Just for sake of comparison) due to 1.5x crop factor and those who shot from film days will 100% agree on this focal length and 1.8 aperture is classic.<br /> I started this thread to know if nikon has increased the price or it is just temporary.</p>

<p>Sunil</p>

[jay_poel]

<p>Good point about DOF Wouter.<br>

What I can't figure out is why Nikon USA is listing it at $199.95 and Nikon Canada is listing it at $279.95 - kinda irks me as our dollar is stronger right now. Maybe I'll pick one up in Florida when I go next month.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Canadians definitely get the short end of the stick -- everything still costs like it was the old loonie-dollar but meanwhile the US dollar is worth less. I'm very aware of this, because a good part of my money is spent in Vancouver by my daughter who is in school there.</p>

<p>Thank goodness we still don't have value added tax. Even with the Euro as high as it is, the prices over there are still remarkably close to the same in Euros as we pay over here in dollars, as a result.</p>

<p>What a rotten taxation scheme VAT is. Instead, as it's been suggested, there should be a "Value-Subtracted Tax" - so even thinking about making a smiley-face button would then be taxed at thousands of currency units.</p>

<p>Sorry, just put it down to "old man shouts at cloud".</p>

[jay_poel]

We get hit with the damn HST - 13% on top of almost everything. I buy software online because it in US dollars and

not taxed. I wonder if a US warranty is honored by Nikon Canada?

[alan_bessler]

<p>I would stick with <a href="mailto:B@H,Adorama">B@H,Adorama</a> Amazon has not been good to me in the past,all though to be fair there price is $199.95 but out stock. Those other prices are not Amazon,but appear to be a few no name pirates! My 2 cents.</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>I have ordered from Amazon for over a decade and have never had any problems with Amazon themselves. However, you need to be careful and make sure that you are ordering from Amazon; sometimes you could be ordering from 3rd parties via their site. Once I did that unintentionally, getting a BluRay disc of some opera performance. The disc box arrived opened and the content was a different opera. Again, I wouldn't order from those price gaugers via Amazon's site.</p>

<p>I have had nothing but great experience with B&H for even longer. Yesterday I returned a defective refurbished 70-300mm AF-S VR to B&H. (Apparently Nikon does not check their refurbished items that carefully, but that is another thread.) Even though it was not B&H's fault, the return process is as painless as it can be so far.</p>

[zack_zoll]

<p>Lenses and flashes always go up in price. Nikon usually raises the price of lenses about 5% per year (or sometimes every other year), which is pretty close to being in line with the rate of inflation. Cameras do not go up in price, as they don't stick around in the lineup long enough to be affected by inflation.</p>

<p>JDM, there is a counter argument to why the Euro has become weaker against the dollar in recent years: Ireland and Greece have put the European Union under a great deal of financial stress, making the Euro weaker against <em>everything</em>. Also it is much easier to artificially devalue currency (as China has been accused of doing recently) than to artificially inflate it. It can be done, but I think you're giving the guys in Washington way too much credit to suggest that they're smart enough to pull that off on such a massive level.</p>

<p>So if you live in the European Union and the price of imports went up over the last two years, blame Greece and Ireland.</p>

[elliot1]

<p>I have noticed that unlike B&H, Adorma, Ritz, pricing on Amazon can fluctuate both up and down over a very short period of time. This has happened to me with several items I monitored recently prior to purchase.</p>

<p>Supply and demand seems to determine the price on this lens at certain stores, like Amazon. Timing (and availability) is everything. If you are not in a rush for the lens, time is on your side and the lens should be available soon at a price you will be happy with.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Zack, your argument might work if the Euro <em>were</em> weaker against the dollar, but it's <em>stronger</em>, not weaker.</p>

<p>Countries, as China illustrates particularly, have considerable control over the value of their own currency. It's true they can't control what the others do, but with the Europeans (read German bankers and conservatives) scared of the slightest hint of inflation, it's easy to predict how the Euro will be treated by the EC.</p>

[matt_t__brooklyn_]

<p>About two weeks ago I picked up a Nikon factory refurbished 35 / 1.8 from Adorama for $160. Not sure if they still have any in stock, but it was a great deal. Only difference from new is that it is a 90 day warranty. </p>

[aaron l]

<p>The whole yen exchange rate going from 110Y to 85Y per $1 has a big impact...</p>