Taking Pre-Orders for Tom A's 50/1.1 Lens Hood, 2ND Production Run

[CameraQuest]

Hi.

For those of you not familiar with it, original 50/1.1 Nikkor lens hoods usually sell in the $3000 to $4000 range in nice shape, due to rarity and high demand. That's right, the lens hood ONLY.


The reason is that the 50/1.1's are probably the most sought after and popular Nikon Rangefinder lens. The original lens Nikkkor hoods are very difficult to find. Most (95%?) were made of plastic and were easily broken.

Tom A produced 26 metal lens hoods a few years back, far superior in strength to the originals.

All are now sold out. You can see the original prototype at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rapidwi...7603555472315/
My article with pics is at http://www.cameraquest.com/nrf5011TAhood.htm

Anyway, Tom is considering making a 2nd production run. I am taking pre-orders (no deposits) at $750 each. As they are far more complicated than they might seem to make, Tom wants another 25 orders before making the next batch.

If you want one, just PM Tom A or myself.

Thanks
Stephen

[dreamsandart]

And what about a few more of the 1.8/35 hood that I hesitated on getting !?

[Krosya]

If hood costs that much, how much does the lens set you back?

[Bob_McBob]

I understand that the design is complex, but $750 seems like an outrageously high cost for this hood. I'm curious to know how much labour is involved to justify the asking price. It reminds me of the (lower) prices for replacement Canon super-tele hoods, though at least those are made of a reasonably expensive material.

I suppose Nikon RF users are used to paying out the ass for pretty much everything, though.

[xayraa33]

when is the Orion adapter replica going to show up?

[Vickko]

to Krosya, The lens itself is a $3000+ item.

Drop me a pm if you want to buy a lens for the hood.

...Vick

[Tom A]

Bob, these hoods are damned expensive to machine. The alloy alone for one of these is over $100/hood and the machning is done on a $500 000 turning center. Due to the complexity of the design, you end up machining away about 97% of the material and that is done slowly to avoid distorting the material.
The lathe and operator costs around $500/hour and I have to pay up front for the whole thing. Trust me on this, at $750/each nobody really makes any money on it. The first batch was made just to see if it could be done and we barely broke even on it. IF I do another batch (and that needs 25 firmed sales to even start the process), I have to at least make some profit from it to offset the time spent on it.

[Abbazz]

Originally Posted by xayraa33

when is the Orion adapter replica going to show up?

These appear regularly on eBay for much less than the original Orion adapters: Orion adapter replica

Here is a picture of the adapter:
AD1a.jpg

Cheers!

Abbazz

[Tuolumne]

LoL. And people complain about a $5400 price for an entire M8 camera!

/T

[Hacker]

Was there ever a 2nd production run?