can't choose between a canon or a nikon

snehs123

New member
Hi! i'm planning to buy a digital slr soon, but i can't choose between a canon or a nikon. i'm not a pro photographer--purely amateur, my current camera is the Canon G10, and it works fine, shoots almost like an slr, but i want the real thing. i can't decide between the two brands since i love canon, but based on some pictures i've seen, i like how nikon processes pictures. also, i kind of want a semi-pro/pro slr. or at least one that shoots like one, one that can of course, top my g10 (my g10 has 14.7 mp)

 

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co2jae

Senior Member
I am an amateur at best and I just upgraded from a canon point and shoot to a Nikon D7000. (big jump, I know). Anyway, I think the D7000 could be the last camera I ever buy because it is so technical. I have spent hours reading the manual and researching online and this camera is so easy to use despite its initial intimidation to me. After reading a lot of blogs, reviews etc I think the Nikon are mor for the purists and technically oriented shooters while the Canons are more user friendly for "sophisticated" point and shooters. Of course this is only opinion and I'm sure once you get above the D 7000 price point, any camera is going to be technically advanced. If megapixels is what you like,I believe the canons are higher per price.
 

Rick M

Senior Member
When I was deciding which to go with, I went to a store which had both on display and liked the feel of the Nikon better. The canon kit lens felt cheaper to me, not a very technical assesment, but I think I made the right decision. Of course we will all be recommending Nikon here, you may want to look at lenses you may want down the road to decide the best fit. Price and optical ranges vary and that is were you may spend most of your money down the road.
 

fotojack

Senior Member
I always get a chuckle how so many get hung up on megapixels. :) And 9 times out of 10 it's guys that are always talking about how many MP's their camera has! lol If you have 6 or more MP's, you're doing good. If you want to print out huge prints, then sure, go for more MP's. Just remember......the more MP's you have, the larger the files; the larger the files, the larger the memory card; which leads to 'more expensive'.
I don't think this megapixel war will ever stop. :) The marketers will get you every time, won't they! :)
 

Caz

Senior Member
I'm with Pedroj on this.

We "Nikonites" can tout the amazingness of our Nikons til the sun goes down (which we'll get several beautiful shots of, because we have awesome cameras, lenses, filters and other paraphernalia), but why did you really ask this question HERE, specifically.

To me, Canon and Nikon are so similar in that, there will always be someone touting the superiority of one over the other and whoever they are, they are right. It is their opinion. Even the person at the camera store will try to sell you one over the other.

I have stuck with Nikon as it's what I have always used, it's familiar to me, I like the feel of it, it is reassuring to me. I just don't get why I would suddenly switch to Canon. I've just bought a D7000, and I'm loving it. I am amazed at how well the camera picks up everything. The detail is INCREDIBLE. Even when I think there is an area where all detail has been lost (usually around the sun), I can still find the detail when I play with the image in Photoshop. I really am blown away by the D7k's image capture capabilities.

The D7000 only has 16mp. I don't plan to have my pics plastered down the side of a bus though.
 

pedroj

Senior Member
Hi! i'm planning to buy a digital slr soon, but i can't choose between a canon or a nikon. i'm not a pro photographer--purely amateur, my current camera is the Canon G10, and it works fine, shoots almost like an slr, but i want the real thing. i can't decide between the two brands since i love canon, but based on some pictures i've seen, i like how nikon processes pictures. also, i kind of want a semi-pro/pro slr. or at least one that shoots like one, one that can of course, top my g10 (my g10 has 14.7 mp)

Nikons newest entry level has 24 megapixels would you consider it semi pro...About $700 body only...Specs in link below

Product no longer available - Fotofriends Cameras On-line Sydney, NSW[name]=Nikon-D3200-DSLR---Body-Only---Black-NIKON-D3200&catalog[product_guids][0]=fcf53420-6c4f-012f-87c4-20cf30bab63e
 

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
This thread is more than 2 years old... Before answering a thread, check the date of the post. This one is going nowhere.
 

Dave_W

The Dude
Canon vs. Nikon is very much like Apple vs. Windows PC's, with Canon being Windows and Nikon being Apple. In the past Windows, like today, had a much larger percentage of the market while Apple produced a much finer product. However, Apple charged more for their OS which allowed the cheaper Windows OS to capture the bulk of the market. But in the past few years Windows has caught up to Apple in quality and now they're so much alike it's now a coin toss as to who has the better product. I think the same dynamic existed between Nikon and Canon. In the past Nikon made a better product but charged more while Canon sold theirs for less and captured the bulk of the market. Many of us are Nikon users because we date back to the days when Nikon made a superior product but Canon has up'ed their game and are now making cameras in the same class as Nikon's. In fact Canon got the jump on Nikon with an affordable line of FX cameras and then hit hard with HD video but Nikon learn its lesson and is now hitting back with the D800 and the soon to be announced D600.

So bottom line is both Nikon and Canon make great cameras, you'll do fine with either but as you probably could guess, I think Nikon is still a better product, especially their lenses. But that's just me.
 

AntrimHills

Senior Member
What's wrong with being a sheep?


For those that are having difficulty deciding, MP was never my first priority. Having looked at all cameras, bridge, compact system, dslr etc, the first thing I looked at was sensor size. And the 23.6 x 15.6 mm sensor on the consumer Nikon fell within my budget. The fact that it had 16MP was a bonus, but not terribly important; 12 would have been tons for what I needed...
 

Pierro

Senior Member
To add a little to this fixation on Pixels, an English pro photog friend of mine who happens to live in Crete ( a real Pro - its his main income ) , uses a D700 for all his sales work, mainly shoots in Manual, and this guy makes do with 12mp. How come ? His lenses are top notch gear, it has to be said, but he still works with what could be considered an 'older ' body.

And to compound this, he's made many 48" prints ( commissioned ) from his shoots. He hasnt been caught up in the MP race, ready to dump his camera every year for the next model with 10 more MP. He doesnt need to, because he can get exactly what he needs from the D700. Why waste money if its not necessary ? Thats because his talent can make full use of what he has. Changing gear because there's some new stuff available is like chasing butterflies, and seems to me these type of photogs are trying to fix a lack of talent, hoping the newest gear will do it for them. It wont though.

If your gear is working properly, and you have some decent lenses / body, then talent is all you need. It doesn matter whether your weapon of choice is Canon/Nikon/Pentax/Oly et al.

The latest marketing ploys by the big guns is no panacea for poor work behind the tools. We may not be pros, but thinking like one will save us a lot of money

If one thinks like a consumer, you will get sucked in like a consumer. Caveat Emptor

This is Tim's site

360 Virtual Tours

Large prints

Panoramic service
 
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Dave_W

The Dude
I agree with you, Pierro, 100%. A camera is an instrument, or better yet, a tool - plain and simple. And like any instrument or tool, if it has capabilities that you do not use or do not even know it has, then it's totally wasted on you. My dentist has been doing teeth the exact same way for over 35 yrs. He uses basically the same tool kit he started with 35 yrs ago. It would be silly of him to buy a state of the art drill with bells and whistles that he wouldn't use and in fact has no need for them. But are his fillings any better or worse than those being performed using the fancy new instruments? No, I don't think so.

In a similar vein, these newer, high MP cameras are just another tool in a long line of tools with a capability that the previous tool did not have. New tools and advanced capabilities will not make you a better dentist or photographer and they'll do you no good if you do not incorporate them into your art. In a very real way, new tools are for the next generation of practitioners who will put those capabilities to good use. If you have no plans on using these new tools then there's no reason you should pay extra money for capabilities that just gathers dust.
 

Rick M

Senior Member
To add a little to this fixation on Pixels, an English pro photog friend of mine who happens to live in Crete ( a real Pro - its his main income ) , uses a D700 for all his sales work, mainly shoots in Manual, and this guy makes do with 12mp. How come ? His lenses are top notch gear, it has to be said, but he still works with what could be considered an 'older ' body.

And to compound this, he's made many 48" prints ( commissioned ) from his shoots. He hasnt been caught up in the MP race, ready to dump his camera every year for the next model with 10 more MP. He doesnt need to, because he can get exactly what he needs from the D700. Why waste money if its not necessary ? Thats because his talent can make full use of what he has. Changing gear because there's some new stuff available is like chasing butterflies, and seems to me these type of photogs are trying to fix a lack of talent, hoping the newest gear will do it for them. It wont though.

If your gear is working properly, and you have some decent lenses / body, then talent is all you need. It doesn matter whether your weapon of choice is Canon/Nikon/Pentax/Oly et al.

The latest marketing ploys by the big guns is no panacea for poor work behind the tools. We may not be pros, but thinking like one will save us a lot of money

If one thinks like a consumer, you will get sucked in like a consumer. Caveat Emptor

This is Tim's site

360 Virtual Tours

Large prints

Panoramic service[/QUOT

I agree, however we really cannot compare 12mp Fx and 12mp Dx. I cannot produce 48" prints on my 16mp Dx, but a 12mp Fx can.
 

Pierro

Senior Member
The comparison isnt between FX and DX, its about shooting with your gear whatever it maybe. I could have picked another excellent photog who uses DX instead, and would have still made the same point.
 

Rick M

Senior Member
The comparison isnt between FX and DX, its about shooting with your gear whatever it maybe. I could have picked another excellent photog who uses DX instead, and would have still made the same point.[/QUOTE

And can make 48" prints with that 12mp Dx? I do understand your point.

We are also sometimes held back by our tools if we exceed their limitations. I cannot get a decent 40x60 print out of my 16mp D5100. Either I have poor technique or I have exceeded it's capabilities. I may either need to go Fx or Dx with more MP (or take a photography class).
 

Pierro

Senior Member
Yes, you can make 48" prints by doing panos. If you have a cropped DSLR, you must take a few more when doing an identical pano to using an FX because of the cropped view, but i'm sure you know this already. Tims 48" prints are generally made up of panos

Being held back by the equipment is another story entirely. If you're good enough to have found your cameras' limitations, and i have no doubt you have Rick, then this is the time to upgrade. Getting more MP's may not be the answer, ( depending on the camera of course ) as they have to make the photo-sites smaller to cram then on the same size sensor. The D700 , D3 , etc, while being older cameras, still only have 12 MP, but have covered a huge sensor, so the photo-sites can be huge. The light gathering is superb

Depending on what it is you need from your camera that you aint getting, then change it, yeah. Personally, i dont need MP, i need fast AF and good high ISO noise control, because i favour birds, which dictates what i need. I'd love a D3 becuase i'd like to to do more landscape work, but again, its only 12MP, but what a superb camera. That and a decent UWA is all i'd need
 
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