5D Mark II Stock Shortages in US?

[mileibramires]

Does anyone know if the 5D mark II Body is currently having stock issues in US? I've been accessing www.nowinstock.net and the 5D Mark II Body is not available in B&H for more than a week, which is very unusual for such an important retailer. It is also not available in Amazon.com (by Amazon), J&R and Calumet.

 

[Loswr]

Canon USA (like most manufacturers) does not inform the public of their stock levels, but looking online it seems a few retailers are out of them. I would not over-interpret this - a couple of times in the past months, several retailers have been out of stock, needlessly fueling the 5DIII rumor mill. In particular, Amazon seems to be out of a lot of Canon lenses now, too.

Adorama has the 5DII in stock, by the way.

 

[bvukich]

The 60D is also out of stock nearly everywhere.

 

[Loswr]

The 60D is also out of stock nearly everywhere.

Yeah, but that's not unusual for a camera that's relatively new.

 

[gene_can_sing]

I'm hoping that it's a sign of the the 5D3, but sadly and tragically, it could be because of the earthquake and Tsunami.

 

[Loswr]

I'm hoping that it's a sign of the the 5D3, but sadly and tragically, it could be because of the earthquake and Tsunami.

When a shortage of 5DII's happened previously, many thought it was a sign on an impending 5DIII. That shortage was in early 2010, when the ground and oceans were comparatively quiet.

 

[kubelik]

I think what neuro is trying to say, without beating anyone over the head with it, is this:

the 5D Mark II still sells very well as a camera. that, combined with the fact that production is run in batches rather than in a continuous manner, inevitably results in shortages every now and then.

to me, every time 5DII's go out of stock, it's equally an indicator that the 5DIII is not coming yet ... why replace something that still sells great? despite criticism (there's never a perfect product), it's clear that the overall marketplace is still very enamored of the 5DII ... and that's why I keep saying I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see a 5D Mark III until fall of 2012

 

[unfocused]

I would not over-interpret this

Smart advice. A lot of the fun of rumors sites is to see how other people read the tea leaves. But really, only Canon knows what may be causing shortages of camera bodies or lenses. Recently, there has been a lot of speculation here that the earthquake and tsunami may be affecting supplies. But, while that sounds logical to those of us outside of the company, we really don't have any accurate information to even support that.

In fact, I've found that just because Adorama or B&H state on their website that a product is not in stock, that isn't always the case. I've ordered products from Adorama before when they have said they are temporarily out of stock only to have it shipped within a day or two. I suspect, but don't know, that some of the big retailers say a product is out of stock once their inventory falls below a certain point.

I'm guessing they track their sales pretty closely and rather than risk disappointing customers by not being able to deliver a product that's been ordered, they put up the warning when stock falls below a certain minimum. Also, they probably get shipments every day from distributors and might not know just how many of an ordered item will actually arrive on a given day.

This is just my speculation and not any more valid than anyone else's. But, just a caution not to read too much into these things.

On an unrelated but positive side note, it looks to me from CanonPriceWatch.com that prices for the 7D are starting to fall back to pre-rebate levels for the second- and third-tier sellers. (Of course NOBODY has the body in stock anyway). I'm guessing (this is a rumors site) that Adorama and B&H prices will also fall back to their previous levels once shipments start coming in and they need to compete with the other sites.