Z8 and Z9 Set up Webinar by Paul Van Allen from NPS

14 hours ago, Dieter Schaefer said:

Personally, I can't make a case for owning both the 600PF and the 800PF

Yup, that's why the weighing up, rather than decided to.. 😂

If the Z400mm 4.5 (don't have) and the F500mm PF (do have) focussed a bit closer, i'd use them as a more walkaround nat. hist. lens, where'as the Z100-400mm does focus pretty close, but gets a bit slow at the long end.

Oddly, the Z400mm 2.8 TC focusses the closest at 1:4, but short of selling EVERYTHING but my Z9, it's a lot of money!  and of course becomes the 560mm f4 with the TC.

... and it's a kilo lighter than my 400mm 2.8 FL, which is handholdable for short stints.

In hindsight (bad idea!) the Z800mm PF + Z600mm PF roughly equals the best grey price for the Z400mm 2.8 at about 10k.

1 hour ago, mike_halliwell said:

Yup, that's why the weighing up, rather than decided to.. 😂

If the Z400mm 4.5 (don't have) and the F500mm PF (do have) focussed a bit closer, i'd use them as a more walkaround nat. hist. lens, where'as the Z100-400mm does focus pretty close, but gets a bit slow at the long end.

Oddly, the Z400mm 2.8 TC focusses the closest at 1:4, but short of selling EVERYTHING but my Z9, it's a lot of money!  and of course becomes the 560mm f4 with the TC.

... and it's a kilo lighter than my 400mm 2.8 FL, which is handholdable for short stints.

In hindsight (bad idea!) the Z800mm PF + Z600mm PF roughly equals the best grey price for the Z400mm 2.8 at about 10k.

Not only expensive, the 400/2.8 TC reportedly has very long waiting times before delivery (I was told 12 months), but if there is one in stock that is of course a different matter. I don't see an acute need for new kit in your case (or many other posters for that matter). 😉 

The 100-400 does focus closer, but at least I find the autofocus can be difficult with that lens in close focus. I'm hoping to shoot some frogs with it next month; my reference is the 200mm f/4D AF Micro-Nikkor which I can use with manual focus with the aid of focus peaking on the camera (or autofocus with a DSLR). I'm keen on seeing how the two lenses perform for such subjects in practice. Obviously the 100-400 allows adjusting the framing more easily while the 200 Micro is more optimized for close-ups but an older lens. The zoom does have in-lens VR which should be helpful if not using a tripod. With the 200 Micro hand-held it's rather loose in framing. 😉 I prefer using a small tabletop tripod in this case.

The Nikon Z 400mm/f2.8 TC is currently in stock at B&H: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1669888-REG/nikon_nikkor_z_400mm_f_2_8.html

So is the 600mm/f4 TC.

It took each one of them for well over a year, but they eventually became in stock.

Available grey here now for under 10k pounds...!

If you say it fast enough, it almost sounds reasonable.. 😉

48 minutes ago, mike_halliwell said:

Available grey here now for under 10k pounds...!

If you say it fast enough, it almost sounds reasonable.. 😉

15499€ here. 

11 minutes ago, ilkka_nissila said:

15499€ here. 

https://www.cotswoldcameras.co.uk/NIKKOR-Z-400mm-f-2-8-TC-VR-S-Lens-1

10K 

10 minutes ago, mike_halliwell said:

https://www.cotswoldcameras.co.uk/NIKKOR-Z-400mm-f-2-8-TC-VR-S-Lens-1

10K 

If I bought it from the UK, the lens would probably be buried in customs and perhaps never arrive. 😉 EU has such love for Brexit Britain. 

5 hours ago, mike_halliwell said:

whereas the Z100-400mm does focus pretty close

5 hours ago, mike_halliwell said:

Oddly, the Z400mm 2.8 TC focusses the closest at 1:4

That's one reason I keep the 300PF around - it pretty much matches the reproduction ratio of the 400/2.8 (surpasses with the TC-14III attached) and is a bit shy of what can be achieved with the 100-400 (1:2.6).

2 hours ago, ShunCheung said:

The Nikon Z 400mm/f2.8 TC is currently in stock at B&H

Open box or used (around 10k pounds - but I assume there would be UK tax and duty on top of it). Only the 600 is available new.

4 hours ago, ilkka_nissila said:

but short of selling EVERYTHING but my Z9, it's a lot of money!  and of course becomes the 560mm f4 with the TC.

Glad that's not an option for me - too short and too heavy. Aside from the too-expensive part, of course.

Today saw a post of facebook about trading the 500PF for the 600PF - amazed how many justified the trade. The two who didn't both mentioned the amount of money lost on selling/trading the 500PF as one reason. To me, those two lenses are too close to justify an at least $3k expense.

Dieter, In your post you accidentally attributed a part of Mike's post to me. To clarify I am not selling my gear (or considering such actions) to help in the purchase of a 400/2.8. 😉 

46 minutes ago, ilkka_nissila said:

Dieter, In your post you accidentally attributed a part of Mike's post to me. To clarify I am not selling my gear (or considering such actions) to help in the purchase of a 400/2.8

Sorry, Ilkka, must have marked that section in the wrong post.

2 hours ago, ilkka_nissila said:

 EU has such love for Brexit Britain. 

😞

Nothing to do with the fact you can't get a lens cheaper than Nikon Official Price.

Can't you get grey imports? Blame the EU not the UK.

Here maybe?

https://grandyscamera.com/products/nikon-z-400mm-f-2-8-tc-vr-s-lens?variant=42065245896843&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=gs-2022-11-25&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw5ImwBhBtEiwAFHDZx3_r2j2Cy3O2nL-ULjL0vhBxIG0UyZEUNiqPfz7wilV56Cu7amdqTxoCWSMQAvD_BwE

The 400mm/f2.8 TC in the Z mount is available new at B&H for $13996.95. It is also available as an open box item, but at no savings, i.e. also $13996.95. Nikon USA has it in stock for $13999.95.

3 hours ago, mike_halliwell said:

😞

Nothing to do with the fact you can't get a lens cheaper than Nikon Official Price.

Can't you get grey imports? Blame the EU not the UK.

Here maybe?

https://grandyscamera.com/products/nikon-z-400mm-f-2-8-tc-vr-s-lens?variant=42065245896843&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=gs-2022-11-25&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw5ImwBhBtEiwAFHDZx3_r2j2Cy3O2nL-ULjL0vhBxIG0UyZEUNiqPfz7wilV56Cu7amdqTxoCWSMQAvD_BwE

That's a UK store. Purchasing from the UK by a customer in the EU is just not very easy at all, I've experienced delays of 1-2 months where the item spends most of that time quite close to me in customs but I can't get it because they take their sweet time. Probably some paperwork is not correctly done by the store, resulting in long waits. As for gray market, I'm not really aware of the existence of a gray market for Nikon lens sales in the EU area. Isn't gray market without manufacturer's warranty? The EU doesn't allow the deflection of warranty responsibilities just because of a different company imported it, so there is no incentive for lower priced gray imports (Nikon would not be freed of any responsibilities by using an unofficial import path to the EU market, so where would the lower price come from?).  Anyway there is no way I would buy such an expensive lens without Nikon's support for it.

Prices do vary in the EU stores and often there are lower prices than Nikon Store's own prices or their recommended retail price. Also the taxes are different in different countries within the EU and Finland has quite high VAT. I believe stores are expected to charge the VAT according to the country where the product will be shipped to (rather than the country the store is in) but I'm not 100% sure. Anyway the 400/2.8 TC is an item which not many people can afford. On higher-volume lenses there are often significant discounts even in the EU area. Eventually perhaps the 400/2.8's price can come down once the eager and wealthy have purchased their copies.