Many of the new camera releases from Canon, Nikon and Sony are currently on back order in the US, according to the website of the largest online camera retailer in the world, B&H Photo.
Inside Imaging has reviewed availability of models which should be in the market by now, according to the manufacturers’ press releases.
The review was by way of a reality check on two recent stories we broke – the first regarding the devastating fire at specialist components fabricator, AKM, and the second looking at freight price hikes and delays in shipping due to Covid. We thought that these two issues would be beginning to have an impact by now.
We reasoned that if any camera retailer would have stock, given its massive leverage over suppliers, it would be B&H. However, we discovered that there were many more new camera releases marked as being available in Australia than there were on the B&H website. (Perhaps an opportunity for local retailers to switch the table on ‘parallel imports’!)
B&H currently lists 31 cameras as New Release models. Many of these are simply different bundles of the same model (body only, kits lenses, etc). Most are currently listed as ‘New Item – Coming Soon’, with prospective purchasers invited to request a stock alert notification when stock arrives. But when we cross-checked with Australian retailers, many of these new releases were marked as being in stock locally. We did not dig down to find out whether ‘In Stock’ meant you could actually rock in and grab a camera off the shelf, or some looser interpretation – but there are laws about that kind of misrepresentation in Australia.
These are the cameras currently unavailable from B&H, along with the dates the camera manufacturers stated that they would be in the market:
Canon EOS R5 is listed as Released in Limited Quantities but currently unavailable. The camera was released in extremely limited quantities in the middle of the year, with Canon announcing the second release from November.
A cross-check with Australian retailers, however, indicates it is in stock here. (Although it was not listed at all on the website of one of Australia’s leading and most reputable camera specialists, Michaels Cameras, and the Nikon Z6 II and Z7 II were advertised there on a Pre-Order basis.)
The Nikon Z6 II is listed as New Item Coming Soon. It was announced in October with availability supposed to be from November. It appears there is currently stock in Australia.
The Nikon Z7 II is also listed as New Stock, Coming Soon. It was announced along with the Z6 II in October, with availability from this month. In Australia, it appears to be on back order from some retailers and in stock from others.
The Sony Alpha AS7 III was announced back in July, with availability from September. It’s listed as New Item Coming Soon on the B&H website but there appears to be some stock in Australia, with other retailers having the camera on pre-order.
The Leica Q2 Monochrom was announced in November with availability soon after. It’s listed on B&H as a New Item Coming Soon. It’s also on back-order from Australian Leica stockists.
The monocular-looking Canon Powershot Zoom (which annoyingly doesn’t actually zoom!) was announced in October with availability from late November. Listed as New Item Coming Soon on B&H. We found one stockist in Australia.
The Fujifilm X S10 was the first camera in B&H’s New Release listings to actually be In Stock. It was announced in October for November availability and has kept to its schedule. Hats off to Fuji!
The Canon EOS M50 II (not released in Australia) was announced in October with late November availability. New Item Coming Soon, says B&H.
The we have the Ricoh GR III and the Sony ZV1, both in stock, and the Olympus OM-D EM10 IV on back order – but once again available in Australia.
The Nikon D850 is another popular model currently unavailable from B&H – but with ‘More On The Way’ in the next 2 – 4 weeks.
Time hasn’t allowed us to have a more extensive review or to, as we mentioned, dig a little deeper and chat to some retailers and distributors. We hope to follow up next week.
Be First to Comment