Nikon USA, 2024 Mother's Day Sale

[mike_halliwell]

59 minutes ago, ShunCheung said:

Their information is completely wrong, at least for Nikon USA D850.

Hummm, is it total fiction or is the Y Axis scale wrong and/or exchange rate inaccurate?

[Hemant Deshmukh]

I had  invested in Trinity,  assuming price drop with discount could be the best. Z systems was on the horizon- this was 6 years back, never thought transition would pick up so fast(totally my assumption and goodwill thinking on my F system will last for 10 years.  Five plus years down. I do not own any F lens or camera, Significant shock on my NAS $$ loss.

Here I go again, Planning to put my NAS fund to test again. Z8 on horizon (Mothers Day Gift - for my kids mom, which I will  use 🙂), Planning push my Z5 on trade. May be thinking about Trinity again (advance invest on Fathers day) . Thanks to PayBoo and Shun...🙏  ( for this post and PayBoo suggestion). 

My point is next technological change in Nikon Systems may be 5-7 years away. We cannot predict currency market  and I may still get 1/3 of my investment back on trade and I am not in Finland ( wow those prices are really high + VAT)

Starting a week on a lighter note. Have a great week ahead to you all.

[Dieter Schaefer]

D850 price history at amazon.com:

 

[Sandy Vongries]

Probably the last Nikon DSLR.  If I had any possible use for another camera, I'd be tempted.

[ShunCheung]

55 minutes ago, Dieter Schaefer said:

D850 price history at amazon.com:

 

Thanks Dieter. That chart looks pretty much correct, but Nikon started shipping the D850 in late 2017 @ $3300, or $3299.95 and slightly discounted to $3296.95 at some stores. We saw the first discount to $3100 in January 2019 as I mentioned, and it was discounted to $2500 many times between 2020 to 2023, until the recent drop to $2200. That is probably the final blow-out sale.

The D850 is certainly my final Nikon (D)SLR, but looking back, I shouldn't have even bought that. After the D850, Nikon has introduced the D3500 in August 2018 and then finally the D780 and D6 in early 2020. Those are the end of the F-mount. The final 120-300mm/f2.8 FL AF-S VR was also introduced in January 2020, along with the D780.

[Dieter Schaefer]

2 minutes ago, ShunCheung said:

The D850 is certainly my final Nikon (D)SLR, but looking back, I shouldn't have even bought that.

Bought my D850 refurbished from Nikon a little over 3 years ago for $2200. Not planning on buying another DSLR either - but glad I got the D850 which pretty much displaced the D500 from my bag.

[ShunCheung]

2 minutes ago, Dieter Schaefer said:

Bought my D850 refurbished from Nikon a little over 3 years ago for $2200. Not planning on buying another DSLR either - but glad I got the D850 which pretty much displaced the D500 from my bag.

For me, the problem is that the D850 cannot do 10fps, 12fps so that it never replaced my D5 and D500. I took the D850 to Antarctica in February 2019 and then realized that my 24-120mm/f4 is not sharp on the wide end and the edges @ 24mm is pretty poor. I was much better off using the Z-mount 24-70mm/f4 S on the Z6 on that trip. However, I was also glad that I didn't take the heavy 24-70mm/f2.8 AF-S VR. By then Z quickly replaced everything F-mount on the wide end. By the time the Z9 was available, Z just took over completely.

[Dieter Schaefer]

3 hours ago, ShunCheung said:

For me, the problem is that the D850 cannot do 10fps, 12fps so that it never replaced my D5 and D500.

Never been a real issue for me. In fact, I wish there was a more convenient but instantaneous way to change the Z9 from 20fps down to 10 or so as I take way more shots than I really want and need.

3 hours ago, ShunCheung said:

that my 24-120mm/f4 is not sharp on the wide end and the edges @ 24mm is pretty poor.

Aside from the 24-70/2.8 versions (some with reservations), Nikon never managed to produce a good mid-range zoom. I am now quite happy with the Tamron 35-150/2.8-4 with the caveat that I don't have easy access to the wider focal lengths - something I thought I miss more often than I actually do.

3 hours ago, ShunCheung said:

Z quickly replaced everything F-mount on the wide end. By the time the Z9 was available, Z just took over completely.

For me that's only true for wildlife photography, for the rest I still rely on my F-mount DSLRs and lenses. Or the Sony mirrorless system. I do have the Z-mount 24-70/4 though - but it's hardly ever used.

[joseph_smith3]

I just took advantage of the Nikon sale and ordered a Z 600mm f6.3 pf lens from a US vendor. I will be using this lens on my Z9. Once I get the lens I will have to decide what to do with my F mount cameras and lenses that I still use. My daughter would love me to give her some of my F mount gear, but whether she will pay me for some of it is another question. I have told her she should switch to mirrorless if she really wants to pursue photography as a hobby. 

I still like to do multiple exposures in camera (with a resulting NEF file) and this is not that easy to do In my Z9 or D850 as in my D800e and D500. Also macro work with full depth of field preview is not a given with my Z9 based on my experiences to date (and my  limited homework on settings.).  I need to do more homework on settings needed for DOF on my Z9 and maybe my D 850 too.  

I do agree that the best solution would be for me to dump all of the F mount gear and switch completely to Z mount. If Nikon had a Z mount 200mm f4 macro lens that would make my decision easier. The images with my F mount 200mm f4 macro lens on my Z9 are so good that I cannot part with it. I have not used the Z mount 105mm macro lens yet. 

 

[Rob Davies]

8 hours ago, joseph_smith3 said:

 

I do agree that the best solution would be for me to dump all of the F mount gear and switch completely to Z mount. If Nikon had a Z mount 200mm f4 macro lens that would make my decision easier. The images with my F mount 200mm f4 macro lens on my Z9 are so good that I cannot part with it. I have not used the Z mount 105mm macro lens yet. 

 

I bit the bullet last year and off-loaded all my remaining F mount lenses and replaced like for like with Z mount equivalents (The 3 trinity lenses, 105 macro and 400 4.5 + the 50 and 85 I already had).

By my calculations I will have a sufficient budget for another lens by roughly 2028.... 😀

[mike_halliwell]

22 hours ago, joseph_smith3 said:

The images with my F mount 200mm f4 macro lens on my Z9 are so good

The sales of which were never great for film, but I wonder with the advent of DSLRs and now Mirrorless, could open the window for the Z treatment?

or maybe a 300mm f4 1:2 macro that takes TCs.... 😉

Edited May 11 by mike_halliwell

[Hemant Deshmukh]

Finally My Z8 arrived yesterday 🙂

On 37th page of User's manual. 

Took some sample shots with 24-120 . Wow.. its amazing.

Now the next step to shop for CF card and go far Z5+24-120 trade.  Order for  24-70- and 70-200 will be placed in few days

and awaiting heavy duty credit card statement...

 

[ShunCheung]

36 minutes ago, Hemant Deshmukh said:

Finally My Z8 arrived yesterday 🙂

On 37th page of User's manual. 

Took some sample shots with 24-120 . Wow.. its amazing.

Now the next step to shop for CF card and go far Z5+24-120 trade.  Order for  24-70- and 70-200 will be placed in few days

and awaiting heavy duty credit card statement...

 

The actual reference guide is an on-line PDF with 948 pages. I suppose just learn enough to get started. For CFexpress, perhaps get a 128G/165G ProGrade or Delkin to get started. For still capture, 128G is sufficient, but once you record high-quality video, we are talking about 1TB cards or above. There is a lot of discussion on suitable cards.

[djthomas]

Does anyone know when the Mother's Day Sale is actually ending? It sounds like it started at the beginning of the month--and Mother's Day has arrived--so I was wondering if they are running this through the whole month. Or does it end today?

[ShunCheung]

1 hour ago, djthomas said:

Does anyone know when the Mother's Day Sale is actually ending? It sounds like it started at the beginning of the month--and Mother's Day has arrived--so I was wondering if they are running this through the whole month. Or does it end today?

I am not sure, but my impression is that this current sale is for the entire month of May, 2024, but I could be wrong. Nikon USA will specify a sale end date to the dealers so that they can adjust the prices, but the sale could be renewed, based on sales, inventory, and exchange rate conditions. The reference to Mother's Day is just for convenience. After that, it is usually the Grads and Dads sale. Also, the sale is only good as long as stock is available. If you want something, it is best to order it while it is available. I kind of doubt that Nikon USA will run out of the D850 and Z7ii now, but those products will likely be discontinued in the near future. And they could run out of certain lenses for a short while.

This is purely my personal speculation, I think the Z8 has already replaced the Z7ii so that there may not be any follow up in the Z7 series. And most likely all F-mount products will be discontinued. The D850 was introduced back in 2017 and is almost 7 years old, and the very last F-mount products were announced in early 2020: D780, 120-300mm/f2.8 and D6.

[Hemant Deshmukh]

I saw couple of retailers mentioning sales ends on June 4th.

[ShunCheung]

Just came across Mike's Camera's web page. It specifies that the current Nikon Z8 sale ends on 19 May, 2024. That is exactly a week from today and is also a Sunday. A lot of Nikon USA sales begin and end on Sundays, but the current sale started on May 1, which was not a Sunday. (Mike's is a chain with 5 stores in Colorado and 4 in Northern California.)

Again, if some stores run out of stock, you'll be out of luck. And (part of) the current sale could be extended, but Nikon USA may potentially shuffle the items that are on sale and the amount of discount. That more likely happens during the year-end, holiday sale, as some different items can become on sale after a certain date.

 

[ShunCheung]

4 hours ago, ShunCheung said:

Just came across Mike's Camera's web page. It specifies that the current Nikon Z8 sale ends on 19 May, 2024. That is exactly a week from today and is also a Sunday. A lot of Nikon USA sales begin and end on Sundays, but the current sale started on May 1, which was not a Sunday. (Mike's is a chain with 5 stores in Colorado and 4 in Northern California.)

Again, if some stores run out of stock, you'll be out of luck. And (part of) the current sale could be extended, but Nikon USA may potentially shuffle the items that are on sale and the amount of discount. That more likely happens during the year-end, holiday sale, as some different items can become on sale after a certain date.

After I posted above, I went to my local Mike's Camera in Menlo Park and talked to the manager. He said the Nikon sale actually ends on June 2, which is also a Sunday, but Mike's updates their web site weekly and uses an earlier end date, just in case occasionally Nikon adjusts the sale items, similar to what I mentioned earlier.

[Hemant Deshmukh]

My Bad it was 2nd June. This is on Arlington Camera in DFW area. BTW they already out of stock on Z 8

[ShunCheung]

45 minutes ago, Hemant Deshmukh said:

My Bad it was 2nd June. This is on Arlington Camera in DFW area. BTW they already out of stock on Z 8

Guess the current sale will end on Sunday, June 2, 2024, but again, Nikon USA can always renew the sale, but they may optionally adjust what is on sale.

I don't see any sign that they may run out of Z8 yet. B&H still has them in stock, but they could have just a few. We are merely in mid May, we'll see whether Arlington Camera gets new Z8 stock.

I was at my local Mike's Camera to get a 26mm/f2.8, as it became on sale for the very first time in the US. It is a great, convenient little lens. I am well aware that it is far from the best optically. You need to have a much longer, tele-centric wide angle design to be great on digital sensors. I already have several zooms that cover 24-70mm.