Philip Homburg wrote:
In article ,
David Kilpatrick wrote:

All the kit which companies like Nikon use on these press trips is
subsequently sold, after full servicing and cleaning, to dealers as
B-Stock and should appear at low prices as ex-demo or B-stock labelled.
So look out for some Nikon kit appearing on the UK market after their
exhibitions and stuff are all over, probably early next year.


I don't know about cheap consumer zooms, but I expect professional Nikkors
to work without protective items.

Some of my Nikon lenses and cameras have show a lot of wear but work fine.

If such a B-stock item has minor scratches on the barrel and no scratches
on front or rear glass elements then there is no reason to assume that it
is not going to work.



The lenses will, I am sure, work without 'protective items' but glass is
glass. A filter or protective glass is really a pretty low cost
insurance against thousands in repair bills. I'm fairly surprised you
would class a UV/glass cover as something undesirable or not really needed.

It will require very careful cleaning for all the items we used on the
Atlas mountains trek. The cameras were thick with red sandstone dust,
and that included the front of the 18-70mm I was using. Blowing didn't
remove all of it; I had a cloth, but wiping this stuff off would be
instant destruction for the lens - like sandpapering the front glass. I
had to put up with the thin layer clinging on after blowing off loose
dust, and just avoid any into the light shots. That, or ruin a new Nikon
lens.

We gave some Berber kids cans of coke and stuff, they were all bright
enough to know that opening these straight out of the jeep coolbox
results in a fountain of wasted pop, so they hung on to them, waiting
for the effects of the journey to die down. One little girl dropped her
can and it burst spraying Seven-up. That's the time when you really want
a £100 filter on the front of your £5000 big glass, not an interesting
mix of sugar, water and road dirt.

I don't think Nikon would sell an optically damaged lens as B-stock.

David