*UPDATE* Official Bad News - Lenses Delayed.

[Canon Rumors]

*UPDATE*

Apparently both of the new teleconverters are delayed as well.

EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM, EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM and EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM lenses delayed

Following the announcement of the new EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM, EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM and EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM, on 26th August 2010, Canon has now delayed the introduction of these lenses due to some adjustments in the manufacturing process. These lenses are now due to be released in March 2011.

Canon would like to apologise to any customers who will be inconvenienced by these delays.

[NL]

cr

[kubelik]

so ... we won't be seeing the 500 and 600 until christmas next year?  and whatever else gets announced next year as well

[J-Man]

That sucks, good thing I can't afford them right now,
or I might have been upset @ having to wait. LoL

[oalali]

Great! after selling my 400mm F/2.8L IS in anticipation of the new lens, I'm officially screwed! 

I better go and find my self a used 400mm now... 

[hsmeets]

maybe reshuffled resource allocations for other lenses that are expected to be selling faster? new (kit) lens for new camera?

[neuroanatomist]

Great! after selling my 400mm F/2.8L IS in anticipation of the new lens, I'm officially screwed!
I better go and find my self a used 400mm now...

You could just go get the new 70-300mm L zoom lens, since Canon announced that it would available in late October.  Oh, wait, they lied about that, too...

[MadButcher]

Great! after selling my 400mm F/2.8L IS in anticipation of the new lens, I'm officially screwed! 

I better go and find my self a used 400mm now... 

It's not clever to sell your old one before you have the new one.

[Justin]

This is horse sh*t.

[Justin]

It's not clever, it's strategic. Most people can't afford 2 lenses that cost this much. Canon announce the lens, gave a release date and showed the lenses off at trade shows. It's not like it was a cr1 rumor he acted upon.

Great! after selling my 400mm F/2.8L IS in anticipation of the new lens, I'm officially screwed! 

I better go and find my self a used 400mm now... 

It's not clever to sell your old one before you have the new one.

[Justin]

I bet this has been Canon's strategy all along. They never intended all thes lenses to ship this year. The lenses they showed were alphas and nothing more. Only a few dozen made. With the yen being so strong against te dollar on might assume the Japanese are strategically delaying these releases in hopes of better returns down the road. Wishful

Great! after selling my 400mm F/2.8L IS in anticipation of the new lens, I'm officially screwed!
I better go and find my self a used 400mm now...

You could just go get the new 70-300mm L zoom lens, since Canon announced that it would available in late October.  Oh, wait, they lied about that, too...

[SMP_Homer]

Great! after selling my 400mm F/2.8L IS in anticipation of the new lens, I'm officially screwed! 

I better go and find my self a used 400mm now... 

self-inflicted

[neuroanatomist]

It's not clever, it's strategic. Most people can't afford 2 lenses that cost this much.

It's not clever to sell the old one before the one even becomes available.  I'm not even sure it's strategic - in many cases when a MkII is released, the retailers that still have stock of the MkI lens actually raise the price (because the new lens is even more expensive, so they can sell a new copy of the MkI for more and to the customer it still looks like a deal).  When the price of a new MkI goes up, the average selling prices of used MkI's also drifts upward.  This happened recently with the 70-200 II.  So, the strategic decision would be to wait until the new lens is available, then sell the old lens to offset the cost of the new one.

[Flake]

They've probably realised that the plastic bodies they've moved to are not as stable as the metal ones they've replaced.  I'm sure that on smaller lenses plastic is not an issue, but on something this size?

Anyway Oalali I sold my 24 - 70mm f/2.8 L on the basis a new one was due out, I can manage with the 24 - 105mm f/4 IS L until it does.  I got nearly as much for it as a new one fetches, and if I'd waited there's no way it would have fetched so much.  The money raised allowed me to buy a 70 - 200mm f/2.8 IS L MkII so hardly a disaster!

If you would like a new 400mm f/2.8 IS L MkII then the price in the UK (Calumet) is around £11500 so I would suggest that you give the big Canon a miss and buy the Sigma 200 - 500mm f/2.8 There's not much difference in the price, and you get another 100mm + that huge zoom range too.  (Just buy a truss for when you have to lift it onto the tripod!

BTW has anyone done a serious review of this lens?

[scalesusa]

OOPs, i'd bet that someone made a wrong setup and a whole lot of parts were made incorrectly.  Thats the thing about computer controlled machinery, it can do a lot of damage quickly, but to fix it you have to get more raw material which might be hard to get if it is specifically made for the purpose, like lens blanks, for example.

They probably started up the assembly line and found out the hard way.  Maybe the prototypes were tweaked but the drawings or machine programming did not get updated.  If the glass was ground wrong, thats a expensive error.

[visceralpsyche]

Rare earth supply issues maybe? (No idea if they are needed in lens electronics but you never know)

If they're hedging their bets on the Yen weakening in the next few months.... bad hedge IMHO! (I'm in Japan)

Cheers,

Paul