p.1 #1 · B&H Photo - Stating that Nikon 120-300 F2.8 Has Been Discontinued
I was considering the purchase of this lens and received an email today from B&H stating that it has been discontinued. It remains on the Nikon website, but I did not see a way to order it.
Does anyone know if Nikon plans to make a Z version? I shoot a lot of baseball and this would be a great lens to cover the infield, especially under the lights.
p.1 #2 · B&H Photo - Stating that Nikon 120-300 F2.8 Has Been Discontinued
Checked on Adorama and it looks like you can order from them, but the issue is that it's backordered and I have no idea if they even make this lens anymore (probably not since it's discontinued). The thing you should really do is see if Nikon would even service it if you can source a used copy.
p.1 #5 · B&H Photo - Stating that Nikon 120-300 F2.8 Has Been Discontinued
Introduced late in the F-Mount cycle, the 120-300 never received the accolades it deserved. While acknowledged as an absolutely amazing lens, many photographers moved on to the Z-system and did not even consider it to be an option.... (note, I fell into this category).
It would be great if Nikon would re-engineer the lens for the Z-Mount,...
p.1 #6 · B&H Photo - Stating that Nikon 120-300 F2.8 Has Been Discontinued
Have you ever shot with it personally? I’ve always wondered about it. It would have to be damn good to justify being 7 pounds.
OwlsEyes wrote:
Introduced late in the F-Mount cycle, the 120-300 never received the accolades it deserved. While acknowledged as an absolutely amazing lens, many photographers moved on to the Z-system and did not even consider it to be an option.... (note, I fell into this category).
It would be great if Nikon would re-engineer the lens for the Z-Mount,...
StillFilm1 wrote:
I was considering the purchase of this lens and received an email today from B&H stating that it has been discontinued. It remains on the Nikon website, but I did not see a way to order it.
Does anyone know if Nikon plans to make a Z version? I shoot a lot of baseball and this would be a great lens to cover the infield, especially under the lights.
p.1 #8 · B&H Photo - Stating that Nikon 120-300 F2.8 Has Been Discontinued
RoamingScott wrote:
Have you ever shot with it personally? I’ve always wondered about it. It would have to be damn good to justify being 7 pounds.
Only once... it was a huge step up on the 200-400 f4VR in terms of holdability. Add a 1.4x, and it was a 165-420 f4...
I loved the flexibility and speed of the 200-400, as this was one of my favorite lenses ever and allowed me to be a better wildlife photographer. I think the 120-300 w/ and w/out converter would have allowed me to produce as good... if not better images than I was getting with the 2-4.
p.1 #9 · B&H Photo - Stating that Nikon 120-300 F2.8 Has Been Discontinued
RoamingScott wrote:
Have you ever shot with it personally? I’ve always wondered about it. It would have to be damn good to justify being 7 pounds.
I used to own one and worked with it for nearly 2 years until I traded it in favor of the 400mm f2.8 S TC.
The 120-300mm f2.8 is a wonderful design that focuses really fast on the Z9. Stunning image quality, impossible to tell apart from the previous gen 300mm f2.8 prime. Probably a bit better in fact.
Z9 + 120-300mm f2.8
It is heavy because it belongs to the same generation as the 400mm f2.8 E released in 2013. Same physical built, same motors, same look,...
p.1 #10 · B&H Photo - Stating that Nikon 120-300 F2.8 Has Been Discontinued
I rented it a few months ago, but the baseball game I rained out. I played with it a bit. It's a beast to handhold but seemed to work well on my Z9. Canon's 100-300 f2.8 is under 6 pounds. I bet if Nikon releases one for the Z mount it will be even lighter.
p.1 #11 · B&H Photo - Stating that Nikon 120-300 F2.8 Has Been Discontinued
Killer lens, sad to see it discontinued so early. Maybe it will go up in value one day
Sep 20, 2025 at 08:41 AM
AmbientMike Offline • • • • • • [X]
p.1 #12 · B&H Photo - Stating that Nikon 120-300 F2.8 Has Been Discontinued
Sorry to hear it's been discontinued. I really dont get people's reticence to use the adapter. It's not like it adds meaningful weight not exactly a pancake lens
p.1 #14 · B&H Photo - Stating that Nikon 120-300 F2.8 Has Been Discontinued
RoamingScott wrote:
No one is scared of an adapter. Very few people want to pay $7000 for a 7lb niche lens.
It is very similar in weight to the former 300mm f2.8 and much lighter than all the 400mm f2.8 prior to the current generation. And photographers were perfectly able to work with those. Besides weight distribution is as important as weight and the 120-300mm f2.8 was well distributed, similar to the 400mm f2.8 S TC that I now shoot fully handheld without a monopod for hours without any issue. Just as recently as yesterday in fact.
The 120-300mm f2.8 is also much LESS niche than a fixed 300mm f2.8 being way more flexible. No idea why anyone with the choice would buy a fixed 300mm f2.8 really, even if it is very light. Weight isn’t the purpose of photography. Actual photography is often about capturing the images one ambitions to capture. And a 120-300mm f2.8 offers way more options than a prime because in many of the situations in which such lenses are used the photographers are constrained in their location relative to the subjects. Just like nobody uses anymore a 180 or 200mm f2.8 since 70-200mm f2.8 have been available 30 years ago. A 180mm f2.8 is niche, every serious photographer I know owns a 70-200mm f2.8.
As a further testimony to that, the Canon 100-300mm f2.8 is very popular among RF tele shooters.
The objective and reasonable way to read this situation is that the 120-300mm f2.8 is being discontinued simply because the latest batch was sold out and Nikon decided that the Z version is close enough from release that it didn’t make sense to launch a new batch.
And based on everything we know it’s clear that a Z 100-300mm f2.8 S TC would probably not weight more than 2.2 kg. That’s the lens a vast major oof photographers actually using such lenses will prefer over a 1.5 kg 300mm f2.8. Without any hesitation really. And this is coming from someone who actually owned and used both options practicing actual photography out in the field.
But personally the lens I would far prefer over these 2 options is a 100-200mm f2.0 S TC. And I think we are going to get one. Like Sony released a 50-150mm f2.0… not a 150mm f2.0.
p.1 #15 · B&H Photo - Stating that Nikon 120-300 F2.8 Has Been Discontinued
The 120-300/2.8 is a phenomenal lens. I suspect we'll see a Z version soon (perhaps 100-300 as some think), maybe around/before the Olympic games next year.
Cue me in as one of those folks who might find a 100-200 or 50-150 f/2 as super interesting (although well above what I want to spend for a time!)
