AF-100 discontinued . . . say it ain't so! (It ain't so.)

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When the product manager for the product says it is not discontinued, and when the dealer in question has done this exact same thing at least three times in the past, then I think I'm on quite solid ground to say that yes, unquestionably, B & H got it wrong. I don't see how it's reasonable to think otherwise.

And calling me a liar or whatever is really very much not appreciated. If you have something to discuss, please feel free to send a Pm and I'll be glad to clear up anything you may be concerned about.
 
Holy smokes! I just found out that production on my Bolex has been discontinued, for like 30 + years.
 

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Okay, just throwing it out there because I really don't appreciate being called a liar... and to back up my assertion that rather than "the company line" or whatever, it's far more likely that B&H just made a mistake, here are a few examples from the past:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...nued-b-amp-h&p=2287627&viewfull=1#post2287627
That's from March 2011, saying that the HPX170 has been listed as discontinued at B&H. That's a year and a half ago. Yet the HPX170 most definitely was not discontinued, and remains a current model today -- 18 months later. Including, obviously, from B&H themselves.

Here's another thread, five months later, listing the HPX170 as "discontinued at B&H". http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?257766-hpx170-discontinued

Here's a thread where B&H had listed the DVX100 as discontinued. I checked with Panasonic and they assured me that it most definitely had not been discontinued at that time. In that thread, I said the same kind of thing I said here: " B&H will have to sort out whatever the problem is with their website, because the DVX is still active.". Interestingly, in that same thread, user Reygun pointed out that B&H had also listed it as "discontinued" in April, but then later updated their site to remove the discontinued label. I pointed out at the time "Don't know what's wrong with B&H or why they would do that. B&H doesn't get to discontinue it. If it ever gets discontinued, that'd be by Panasonic, not B&H. And as far as Panasonic is concerned, they're still making and selling them." And then, two posts later, user "tmuss" said that B&H had listed the DVX100B again in their catalog! "I see today that B&H has relisted the 100B for $2195. That's $500 less than they were selling them for two weeks ago when they said they were discontinued."

Then, on June 12 of this year, user "munchybugs" says that B&H has, once again, removed the HPX170 from their catalog. A few posts later Jan said "Well someone from B & H is sadly misinformed. I will mention it to their rep. The HPX170 is not discontinued." And, since Jan is the product manager for the HPX170, and the fact that B&H still sells the HPX170 today, I would say Jan was right.

So here we are again -- B&H says yet another model is "discontinued" and the product manager says "no it is most definitely not discontinued." Pick who you choose to believe. Given the history, I'm far more inclined to think that B&H made yet another mistake, and that the product manager would know the truth of whether a product is discontinued or not, and when she says it's not, then it probably isn't.
 
HVXguy said:
Did they ever ship any of these???
I think the BlackMagic Cinema Camera might have blown this out of the water??
Click to expand...

Their estimated delivery date was Aug 2012. They raised $262,661 on Kickstarter.com with the claim of delivering the camera, Post suite software, and additional lens mount. I'd say they missed that mark!
 
It's quite common practice for high volume sellers to remove product lines from their range when they start to notice the sales are dropping off. Perhaps they have to buy and store a substantial number of each model to get their volume discount? So when B&H say it's gone - they simply mean gone from them, and they've discontinued the item. If they get wind of a new model in the pipeline, then if offered the old one at extra discount they may take it, if they think they can clear them before it really does become an old model. It's just business.

I think it's a bit pointless being cross because B&H are presenting the model as 'old' and no longer in their portfolio, when this is true. You cannot buy it from B&H. That's an accurate statement. Obviously, the manufacturer and other dealers with stock want to sell them, so they say it's not gone (keeping quiet about the fact that next week/month/year it could instantly have status changed to discontinued at the drop of a hat).

It's been around a fair while and in electronics terms, elderly. Does it matter? Depends if you want to sell or buy one.
 
HVXGuy "Heh, I use my Bolex lenses with my GH2 now...."

This has got to be in the top ten of the most awesome things I've ever seen on the internet. :-)

Shawn
 
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HVXguy said:
Did they ever ship any of these???
I think the BlackMagic Cinema Camera might have blown this out of the water??
Click to expand...

I believe they have stated they intend to ship in Jan. 2013
It's a very intriguing project and although that camera has a few holes in it regarding my particular workflow, it's exciting to see a small group of
people able to raise the money needed to bring it to market.

http://www.digitalbolex.com/bringing-sexy-back/

Disclaimer, I am not affiliated in any way with them but did make a small donation to their kickstarter campaign.
 
I believe November was for those that purchased through kickstarter, shipping to the general public is Jan 2013.
 
paulears said:
It's quite common practice for high volume sellers to remove product lines from their range when they start to notice the sales are dropping off. Perhaps they have to buy and store a substantial number of each model to get their volume discount? So when B&H say it's gone - they simply mean gone from them, and they've discontinued the item. If they get wind of a new model in the pipeline, then if offered the old one at extra discount they may take it, if they think they can clear them before it really does become an old model. It's just business.

I think it's a bit pointless being cross because B&H are presenting the model as 'old' and no longer in their portfolio, when this is true. You cannot buy it from B&H. That's an accurate statement. Obviously, the manufacturer and other dealers with stock want to sell them, so they say it's not gone (keeping quiet about the fact that next week/month/year it could instantly have status changed to discontinued at the drop of a hat).

It's been around a fair while and in electronics terms, elderly. Does it matter? Depends if you want to sell or buy one.
Click to expand...

I think it's much more likely that this is a mistake on B&H's part. The fact that you can still purchase the AF100 from AbelCine, Samy's DV, Amazon and Markertek, tells me that the AF100 is still shipping (well, that and Jan Crittenden). So, I think it might be worth considering that B&H's site is extrememly complex, and things are just bound to go wrong from time to time. Like Barry pointed out, the HPX170 has been marked as discontinued by them before... now it's not. Hopefully, they'll get this cleared up after they return from holiday next week.

Shawn
 
I was sweating bullets there for a minute! After 6months of begging we finally have the money to get the 2 AF100s and lenses needed to upgrade from our old XL1s. I work for a church and we film a weekly Bible study. Thanks so much for putting this rumor to rest!
 
The F3 is far from discontinued. Sony has changed the model designation and included S-Log with new cameras. This is old news already.

Ned Soltz
 
paulears said:
It's quite common practice for high volume sellers to remove product lines from their range when they start to notice the sales are dropping off. Perhaps they have to buy and store a substantial number of each model to get their volume discount? So when B&H say it's gone - they simply mean gone from them, and they've discontinued the item. If they get wind of a new model in the pipeline, then if offered the old one at extra discount they may take it, if they think they can clear them before it really does become an old model. It's just business.

I think it's a bit pointless being cross because B&H are presenting the model as 'old' and no longer in their portfolio, when this is true. You cannot buy it from B&H. That's an accurate statement. Obviously, the manufacturer and other dealers with stock want to sell them, so they say it's not gone (keeping quiet about the fact that next week/month/year it could instantly have status changed to discontinued at the drop of a hat).

It's been around a fair while and in electronics terms, elderly. Does it matter? Depends if you want to sell or buy one.
Click to expand...
Wrong- BH is claiming that the camera has been discontinued from the manufacturer. Click on the small question mark next to the word discontinued.
 
Because this notion is so silly, I received PM's from other dealers who assure me that it is in no way discontinued and they can certainly order new AF100s. Simple fact is, out of the hundreds of thousands of products on B&H's site, sometimes there's bound to be a mistake.

But B&H is not the voice of when a product is discontinued. Only the manufacturer can do that.
 
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