Another new ( gold plated ) lens.

[I @ M]

Looks good, price is hard to comprehend -------

[Roane Photo]

I can sort of understand the price due to the fact I have seen the amount of work that goes into making a quality lens such as this.

I will see if I can dig up the video

- - - Updated - - -

here's a video showing lenses being made, not Nikon but it does show the incredible amount of time, effort and quality control that is required.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjM5Mqx_fdU

[swifty]

Hmmm.. pricing doesn't seem in line with US pricing after conversion and adding GST. Hopefully street price will be much better.

[arthurking83]

Hmmm.. pricing doesn't seem in line with US pricing after conversion and adding GST. Hopefully street price will be much better.

At the current exchange rate of 0.754:

US price of $1250 converts to AU$1657. Add 10% for GST .. = Au$1822.70!!

I'm wondering two things:

1. what added benefit do Nikon Australia offer for their Au$426 price premium
2. can't help but wonder how much better Nikon's Australian sales figures would be if the Nikon Australia entity itself goes broke sooner rather than later!


But considering some of the still quite urgent lens matters Nikon still need to address with respect to their current lineup .. I can't imagine many Nikon shooting professionals, nor Nikon's Ambassadors, or beta testers all clamouring for a zooming fisheye lens!
Had it been say a 10-14mm f/4 rectlinear lens to counter Canon's not so recent 11-24, and Sigma's recent updated UWA in the 12-24/4 ... would have made a lot more sense as a product for the purpose of oneupmanship

The resources effort to create this lens could surely have been better utilized to create a 16mm, 23mm and 28mm Dx only prime lenses .. if only just to finally shut Thom Hogan up about the issue!

[swifty]

I'm more baffled by the inconsistency in pricing.
Take the also fairly recent 70-200/2.8E FL.
Currently it's about $3100 AUD including GST with Nikon offering $300 cash back.
Even without the cash back $3100AUD equals around $2350USD compared to a bit under $2800USD at BHPhoto (not including sales tax).

It'll be interesting what street prices are like for the new fisheye to see whether Nikon are giving more leeway for retailers to discount. This might be a new pricing strategy to officially price high but offer steeper discounts?