Some months ago now, I promised myself a Nikon 24mm f1.4 lens for my 50th birthday which occurs next month in April. This little beauty of a lens weighs in at £1650… wow! Needless to say, it will be the most expensive lens in my collection although another couple of my lenses have cost the wrong side of £1000. It “should” also be the best quality lens I have and I’m really looking forward to those hand-held low-light landscape shots that the lens is made for, especially when coupled to my D700.
Only a few weeks to go from now but then, we had the utter devastation and loss of life caused by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Of course, the economic impact of such an event pales into insignificance compared to the human impact and suffering but there will be economic repercussions felt around the world, not least within the photographic industry. Nikon had a plant at Sendai which has seen some damage and a few minor casualties. Operation has stopped at this plant completely and Business Continuity Management procedures are in force to assess and determine a strategy forwards.
From a completely pragmatic viewpoint, what effect will this have on the short to mid-term price and supply of Nikon products? Well, we don’t exactly know yet but I’m assuming that there will certainly be some impact on products manufactured at the Sendai plant and, without doubt, a disruption in supply as a whole. We have already seen two price rises in the UK in quick succession (and this was before the earthquake).
It was, therefore, with this in mind that I brought my purchase forward and travelled to Jessops in Birmingham to collect the 24mm in person that I had ordered online this morning. I was told this was the last one that branch had in stock and the company, as a whole, only had two left nationally. Just three were on backorder.
So, my advice to those who have been thinking of buying that new Nikon camera or lens made in Japan and you know it is currently available; I wouldn’t hold off in purchasing it. In a small way, it could help the company and employees recover from this terrible tragedy by clearing stock and increasing demand when production finally resumes.
These new Nikon's nano lenses are pretty hard to find in Thailand also. The frustration of waiting has prompted me to switch my DSLR system to Canon last year.
@dgc4rter For the new generation of prime lenses, I think now Canon is playing catch up game. Your 24 f/1.4 is wonderful (never had one tho, only tried it and read review). If I already have a fairly good collection, I wouldn't change either!
I wish I could run out and grab my dream camera but the economic reality at home says I can't and based on the devastation we are continuing to watch unfold, I suspect it will be even longer than expected. So sad on so many levels.
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Only a few weeks to go from now but then, we had the utter devastation and loss of life caused by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Of course, the economic impact of such an event pales into insignificance compared to the human impact and suffering but there will be economic repercussions felt around the world, not least within the photographic industry. Nikon had a plant at Sendai which has seen some damage and a few minor casualties. Operation has stopped at this plant completely and Business Continuity Management procedures are in force to assess and determine a strategy forwards.
From a completely pragmatic viewpoint, what effect will this have on the short to mid-term price and supply of Nikon products? Well, we don’t exactly know yet but I’m assuming that there will certainly be some impact on products manufactured at the Sendai plant and, without doubt, a disruption in supply as a whole. We have already seen two price rises in the UK in quick succession (and this was before the earthquake).
It was, therefore, with this in mind that I brought my purchase forward and travelled to Jessops in Birmingham to collect the 24mm in person that I had ordered online this morning. I was told this was the last one that branch had in stock and the company, as a whole, only had two left nationally. Just three were on backorder.
So, my advice to those who have been thinking of buying that new Nikon camera or lens made in Japan and you know it is currently available; I wouldn’t hold off in purchasing it. In a small way, it could help the company and employees recover from this terrible tragedy by clearing stock and increasing demand when production finally resumes.