Spectacular Deal on...@!#$!??

Look, I know there are a few people out there who are going to be steaming over this. I'm sorry, but don't blame me, I'm just the messenger.

B&H just announced a spectacular deal on the still-pretty-much-brand-new Nikon D600 with the 24–85mm ƒ/3.5–4.5G ED VR lens...along with a bunch of extras...for $1,996.95.

I will dodge now, while those who just paid full boat for a D600 attempt to pelt me with fruit through their computer screens. (That doesn't work.)

Others who might have been weighing a D600 purchase might want to go here.

Anyway, how do you think I feel? They also dropped $200 off the price of the D800....

Both deals are two days only.

[UPDATE: This is the last day for the big D600 deal. B&H Photo is closed until 5:45 p.m., but the same deal is available from Amazon. —Ed.]

Mike

Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Trevor Buss: "B&H service is fantastic. I ordered my D600 through TOP links a few weeks ago, and B&H is exchanging that purchase for the current deal with the 24–85mm lens. Strangely, I do have to send the original body back to them and they are sending a new one. B&H has earned my business from here on out. By the way, the D600 is excellent. The AF leaves a little something to be desired, but not enough for me to justify the price difference for the D800 (believe me, I've tried)."

MarkR: "Horrors! Already my D600's pictures are starting to acquire the stench of the proletariat. I did a quick check of my photos in Lightroom, and it's true: my net photographic value with this camera has dropped by $200! (Thank god for the 'sort by $$' feature.) I may have to buy a more elite camera so my photos don't devalue any further. There haven't been any discounts on Leicas, have there?"

Comments

[Janne]

With digital cameras you're not buying a lasting tool. You're buying a computer with a lens in front. And just like any computer, the price will only go down while it rapidly slips behind in features and performance.

And just as with your computer - or your phone - be ready to dump and replace regularly. You want to buy at a price level where you can feel comfortable paying the same price all over again every three or five years. If, say, the $2k of a D600 is just too rich for you to part with on that schedule you probably should be looking slightly downmarket or at discounted older models, and making a habit of it.

Again, you're not doing a one-off "investment", you're on a regular payment plan.

[Manish]

Wondering why OM-D prices are not coming down. Even mighty Nikon is being forced to discount its recent cameras. On the other hand, when the prices of m4/3 cameras fall, they fall hard! So there is some consolation there.

[Stephen S. Mack]

...and the moral of the story is (if there is one): don't be the first out of the gate to buy a new DSLR. Wait for a year or two until all the kinks get worked out and the price drops????????? ;~)

With best regards,

Stephen

[David W. Scott]

Thom Hogan had given a couple of warnings that Nikon buyers might want to wait until the middle of December. I guess we know why now.

[Taran]

I think the more subtle message here is that the DSLR is dead. Slicing 1/3 of the price off a new model just shows how much profit Nikon has been making all these years. It also signals a sea change in people buying bigger cameras, they are just unnecessary for doing anything short of professional work. Mirrorless has come so far, and gets better everyday, where as the DSLR just stays the same, looks the same, and is always too much weight to actually have with you all the time.

[Steve Ducharme]

Don't kick yourselves too hard. I just.. could.. not.. wait.. till the Christmas sales season and paid $400 too much.... Not for a D600. not for a D800. But for a D5100. And yes, I knew there'd be a sale but I didn't think the 5200 would also be announced. Oh well. Live and learn.

[David Baker]

As the proud owner of a d600 I feel let down by Nikon... That price is fully $500 less then I paid for my camera. And you get a tripod and memory card to boot. Sheesh I can't win!

[Tom Noto]

Thanks Mike! Really really appreciated. I just ordered the deal through your link. My wife was planning on surprising me with the D600 body as an ultra-generous combined Christmas and birthday present. She spilled the beans a few days ago because she wasn't sure where to get it.

[Thom Hogan]

How is it a two-day deal at B&H when they're closed one of the days? ;~)

[Jeff Glass]

I'm sure that's very frustrating for you early adopters, although pretty predictable.

I bought a D90 a few months ago for a song! In a year or so, the D600 will also be mine for a (slightly dearer) song!

Buying a generation or two behind is a pretty effective way to make your photo budget go farther, and it's quite easy to do . . . as long as you stay off all those digi-worship sites that make you feel like a loser if you don't have the latest model. All those folks w/ the latest now will be bailing out for the new latest in a year and I'll be there waiting patiently.

[Dave.W]

As photo nuts we tend to loose perspective on what can be called a deal.

I just showed this to a non-photographer friend and he was like:"You call that a deal?"

[Jim in Denver]

Pricing in the manner that Nikon has adopted is the beginning of one of two things - the race to the bottom, or (most likely) proof positive that there is no more growth in DSLR and they are attempting to buy market share in order to be the last man standing.

Regardless of the actual cause, (and it's inevitable effect) the result is that the prices are fantastic for the consumer.

[Jim Ullrich]

If I recall correctly, Costco has a two lens kit with the D600 for about $880.

Jim

[Marc Rochkind]

For a couple of weeks or so, Thom Hogan on his site has been telling anyone wanting a Nikon FX DSLR to wait until Dec. 15, for reasons that he was unable to disclose. Now we know why! Yet another good reason to read Thom's site (bythom.com) regularly.

[Matthias Steup]

Thanks. Order placed.

[James Sinks]

I am a B&H customer for life. Their customer service is second-to-none. When I was trying to find a good tripod in 2010/2011, I bought several very expensive tripods from B&H, destroyed them completely (without even trying--for instance I broke a $1200 Gitzo carbon fiber tripod setting it up for the first time in the comfort of my own home, I had a $600 Manfrotto basalt fiber fall apart while it was slung over my shoulder, and on and on and on and on), and returned them for refunds without any hassle whatsoever.

Whenever I can, I buy from B&H. And whenever I remember (which isn't often, sorry, Mike!) I do it through TOP's affiliate links.

And if anyone wants to buy a tripod, learn from my mistakes: look for bargains, comparison shop, read reviews, drool over all those expensive Italian tripods, budget out all those cheap Chinese tripods, and then grit your teeth and send $1200-1400 to Really Right Stuff for a 2- or 3- series set of legs and an appropriate ballhead. And an L plate.

James

[Christer]

Leica discounts. They call it something else.

Juliet:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

[John Whitley]

Having just sold my Nikon kit to acquire a wonderful new Olympus OM-D, I find that I'm completely at ease with this news. ;-)

[wchen]

Sadly, my over 5-year-old D200 was staring at me when I was reaching for my credit card...better to lock it in the closet immediately.

[Bob]

If you are in the market for a D600 this is a no brainer...
B&H has the D600 body only for the same price as the kit with the 24-85mm lens and with some extra goodies thrown in.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=d600&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

[Alan Fairley]

Interestingly, the pricing of the 24-85 bundle means the D600 has gone even lower than the rumored $1500 price that was floating around the net before it was announced.

[Ed]

Oil anyone......read some strange reports about oil droplets from the shutter winding up on the sensor. After 3000 frames and a thourough cleanig that should be okay....any experiences with the D600 in that matter. Looks like a great camera to me, but I would hate to buy a problem for 1600/1700 euro (that's sort the street price in the Netherlands now).

Greets, Ed.

[Paul De Zan]

>If I recall correctly, Costco has a two lens kit with the D600 for about $880.

Put a "2" in front of that price and you're absolutely right. :-)

Actually, I just checked and the two lens kit is down to $2390 as of now. That's a $600 drop since mid-November.

I've now returned two D600s for sensor contamination with oil and dirt; in both cases this problem showed up within 200 shots and it's not trivial. I was completely fed up after the second one went bad, but at this price I may have to try a third time and see if I can get a good one. It has stunningly good IQ. When it's clean.

[Bryce Lee]

Nice deal except, a new Nikon camera purchased from B&H or any other statesideretailer will not come with a Canadian warranty and hence Nikon Canada will not touch it for any reason whatsoever. It may as well be (and is) grey
market.

And as James noted in an earlier post:
"With digital cameras you're not buying a lasting tool. You're buying a computer with a lens in front. And just like any computer, the price will only go down while it rapidly slips behind in features and performance. "
so figure the computer with lens will be history in two or three years, or less.

Our disposable society! Mind if that's the way you wish to fritter away your money, that's your choice.

[David Howard]

I am impressed with B&H working with people on this matter. Amazon on the other hand is not so good. They felt my "disappointment" of purchasing the camera and lens 10 days ago for $500 dollars more and that is it. I am waiting to hear from Nikon.

[D. Hufford.]

Learned my lesson with the D300 about buying as soon as it came out. Even in Japan, where retail prices are extremely slow to come down, it drooper something like ¥20,000 a few months after I bought it. Then there was the Olympus EP-3, which dropped slightly too, but I wasn't burned too bad on that.

Had I bought a D600 or a D800, I'd really be p.o'd at myself if I were in the US. Doubt there is any similar discount in Japan. We pay full price so you guys can buy cheap.

[D. Hufford.]

@Jeff Glass:

You know that if you do that, the photos you take will be obsolete. ;)

[Mike Johnston]

Everyone should note that this is NOT a price drop, or at least it's not being framed that way so far. It's a two-day pre-Christmas sale. We'll see what happens to the price tomorrow (sometimes these kinds of sales are extended, sometimes they're not), but we shouldn't all be discussing this like it's a price drop until we see whether it is or isn't.

Mike

[ggl]

Is it just me or Nikon is trying to get rid of the oil-on-the-sensor D600s as fast as possible?

[Dean Forbes]

We bought the D600 kit for the office from our local camera store, Glazer's Camera in Seattle, for the pre-sale price. They honored the extra rebate and we saved $500!

[Arun]

Nikon's behavior has convinced me that the future is NOT with the DSLR.

I want to be happy with my D7000 but the focus inaccuracies of phase-detect AF drives me nuts (I like to shoot at f/2.8 and open-er). I am not biting if the D600's AF system is no better.

I am instead off to OM-D land, though mind you, it is gonna be scary not owning even one SLR/DSLR for the first time in more than 12 years.

[Kevin Purcell]

Thom Hogan has been commenting on Nikon's curent strategy which seems to have moved from profit to looking for market share: they want to be #1 in all sales categories.

DSLRs aren't dead. Yet. They have a way to go before they're dead. For example, in APS-C we're waiting for a D400(?), D7200(?). And the announced D5200 isn't in the US yet.

Thom was implying that these discounts might stay in place though that's now a little less clear. You would expect these cameras to drop by 30% over their lifetime but the $300 Nikon V1 (66% drop in a year) showed that Nikon has been quite willing to be ruthless to shift stock and perhaps start a market for the Nikon 1. I suspect a lot of these bargains are snapped up by savvy enthusiasts rather than the person in the street as Olympus has found with the cheap E-PL1.

The market for cameras is quite soft. There isn't lots of free money out there and there are a _lot_ of good cameras out there right now with some more expected in January: an OMD update? E-P5 replacment? But 2013 is expected to be even softer.

[Dale]

I ordered my D800 from BH Wednesday via TOP. Noticed Friday that it had dropped $200 and had a better accessories promotion.
I went on line and "chatted" with a CSR and was not only refunded the $200 but also shipped the additional accessories.
Way to go BH!

[Kevin Purcell]

http://nikonrumors.com/2012/12/16/nikon-d600d800d800e-instant-savings-extended.aspx/

Instant savings extended to Dec 29th ...