All of the info I know is in the title. This is listed as a "Prime Early Access Deal", so it will probably start a half hour later for non-prime shoppers. I do not know what the price will end up being, but this might be a good time to pick this excellent lens up if you've been looking for a decent price.

Amazon page for the lens

Link to upcoming lightning deals



Click the link, or if that doesn't work, navigate to amazon.com, click on "Today's Deals" near the top of the page. Then click the link for "Lightning Deals" on the left side; to make it easier to find the lens, you can click the "Camera & Photo" box on the left side of the Lightning Deals page. You'll see the lens there, and can add it to your watch list, etc.

[endurance1986]

Yes, but to good homes

Yes! One of them being in Tuscaloosa, AL haha

[Mr. Ed]

Yes! One of them being in Tuscaloosa, AL haha

Well... Roll Tide!

[manishved]

They had 9 lenses at that price. I presume they were sold by Samy's (hence they charged tax in CA)

[endurance1986]

They had 9 lenses at that price. I presume they were sold by Samy's (hence they charged tax in CA)

How can you tell they only had 9?

[shahnm]

How can you tell they only had 9?

Be the incremental percentage the claimed bar advances... The math comes out to 9 lenses.

The amazon page did show that they were sold directly by amazon, though.

[Adam]

They had 9 lenses at that price. I presume they were sold by Samy's (hence they charged tax in CA)

That surprisingly low! But the price sure was nice

[LFLee]

They had 9 lenses at that price. I presume they were sold by Samy's (hence they charged tax in CA)

I put myself in wait list, and right away they let me purchase with that price.

It charge tax in my state as well (MD) so I think it from Amazon.com directly.

[shardulm]

I have a feeling that this was a more organized sale by Amazon + Pentax given how they were responding to the waitlist.

[shahnm]

I put myself in wait list, and right away they let me purchase with that price.

It charge tax in my state as well (MD) so I think it from Amazon.com directly.

I put one in my cart as soon as they became available. Just for kicks and giggles. I already have one of these lenses, so I removed it from my cart after a few minutes. I wonder if you got that one...

[lightbox]

I noticed that the timer for non-Prime members continued to count down even after the deal was 100% claimed in early access. I didn't stick around to see what happened (I'm not shopping for this lens) but I wonder if they were taking orders on more lenses than they said they had ??

[shahnm]

I noticed that the timer for non-Prime members continued to count down even after the deal was 100% claimed in early access. I didn't stick around to see what happened (I'm not shopping for this lens) but I wonder if they were taking orders on more lenses than they said they had ??

The way amazon does it is that they temporarily deduct items from the allocated lightning deal inventory as soon as they are added to customers' carts. If a person does not go through with the purchase (either removes it from his cart or waits more than 15 minutes to complete the purchase), then the item is made available again. The wait-list is started as soon as the allocated lightning deal inventory is purchased or put into carts and then the wait-list is filled from the non-buyers. Amazon usually has more inventory that they are prepared to ship immediately that is not part of the lightning deal inventory, so you can choose to pay full price for something if the lightning deal allocation is all claimed.