**** DISCLAIMER **** The prices I mention in this article were at or before the writing of this Article.
Stop wasting your money on Pre-Orders for cameras or lenses! Save money by waiting for the fire sales that will follow six months after the hype dies down.
Take my advice because the following happens to me all too often, more than I wish to admit. You are considering adding to or replacing your camera or lens when you see the announcement that "Coming Soon" the NextGen, the best ever camera or lens is about to be released. This is followed by your invitation to place a "Pre-Order". STOP. Don't take the bait. Why? here is my experience and I believe it applies equally to all other Camera/Lens manufacturers as well - Leave a comment if it does.
Some Camera Companies are notorious for hyping their new releases, with product announcements, promises, and great marketing which may help persuade you to make that Pre-Order at Top Dollar Prices. I have been doing pre-orders for as long as I can remember. Then six months later I regret it when I see a big price drop when the item is on sale. As an example, the Nikon Z7 was a whopping $3400, today you can pick up a spanking brand new one for $2400.00 for savings of $1000.00. Same with Nikon's lens, I pre-ordered the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 Z lens for $2600.00 then a few months later it was on sale for $2400.00 and their F mount legacy lenses have even greater savings because of their S lenses catching up in offerings. Post-Pre-Orders Nikon began offering a trade-in program for any working Nikon camera to help save money - thus those who made pre-orders were left out of the trade-in opportunity.
Originally the FTZ adapter cost $250.00 even if you did a pre-order of the Z6/Z7 because the company knew most customers had legacy lenses so you had to pay for the FTZ adapter outright. A few months later the camera company bundled the FTZ for free to help promote sales, at one point you buy one for $99.00. It pays to wait.
Nikon was offering the Nikon D850 for 600.00 off - Why? Because Nikon was about to release the Nikon Z9, their Mirrorless flagship. Thus all the loyal customers who recently paid the premium for their D850 get shafted out of $600.00.
Does this mean you should never pre-order or buy the first releases? Not exactly, sometimes it makes sense to pre-order or purchase that brand new just released lens or camera - like for business needs but you will pay the premium.
What I recommend - Wait, wait, wait for it...boom! there it is ON-SALE. Also, keep an eye on Nikon's refurbished store, which in addition to the normal 10% discount Nikon even has sales on their refurbished cameras and lenses as much as 20% on special occasions.
All camera and lens manufacturers use some form of advertising or other tactics to hook early adopters willing to pay top dollar for new products then offer the same products for hundreds off six months later. it is your choice - choose wisely.