cjc2 wrote:
So, you don't really have any idea either. That website's information disagrees with what Nikon has said, which is they produce @ 1000 500/5.6PF lenses a month, or 12,000 per year.
The number posted on a German NPS board of "about 1,000" 500mm lenses being produced per month was a single point in time (Aug, 2019), a number that has never been confirmed by Nikon. The cumulative number of sold lenses for a year doesn't necessarily disagree with this number. It is possible that the number being produced per month at the start of production (Aug, 2018) was more like 500 per month (presumably Nikon accumulated a number of months production before even starting to release these lenses). Yes this is speculation on my part, just like your speculation and those of others. My point was that the demand for this lens is larger than that for the 300mm pf lens and it would be hard to ramp up the production when demand so exceeded supply. Also, Nikon wouldn't want to overproduce the lens. Many people are ordering from multiple sources so it is impossible for them to know how many lenses really are needed to fill the demand without overproducing them.