Why choose Nikon, x many years ago ?

Good Afternoon,

I have a question for each and everyone of you

1. why did you choose Nikon over competing brands (namely Canon)?

2. knowing what you know now would you make a switch to another brand back then ? ( a bit of a back to the future type question haha)

As for many doing so would at this stage would simply be to costly.

P.S

Apologies if this is in the wrong thread, I am still learning to navigate through the site.

I always wanted a Nikon when I was a kid, and finally got one when I was an adult and could afford one. No regrets to this day.

When I went into the camera shop to buy a Canon Rebel 2000 (I think) the shop talked me into the Nikon N65 because it had a metal ring instead of a plastic mount ring on the body. The model was otherwise equivalent. It was THAT close.

when i went to buy my camera, it was between the rebel T3I and the D60, I choose the D60 because i got the 18-55 and 55-200 for about the same price, never had any regrets, plus if i remember the T3I felt a bit plastic?

In the early 70s it was the brand,Canon where just playing at it.

I came from a family with 20+ years of Nikon pride which seeped into me as well. It really helps that we can use and share lenses / gear when needed. The majority of family make fun of us when we have Canon's or Sony's out, so the pressure is real.
When I gave away my Nikon DX camera and lenses to my little sister, I had the option to go to Canon, but I stayed with Nikon because the D750 intrigued me. While building up my collection of FX lenses I can borrow family's.
I use a Sony too because sometimes having a tiny mirrorless is nice, Nikon1 isn't up to par yet. The tiny sensor makes for lackluster DOF which is unappealing to me. It is not cost effective to have two systems, photography is my most expensive hobby but I do it because I love it.

I've only been into photography for a year, I did a lot of homework before I got my Nikon camera, checking specifications (sometimes a bit baffling when your new to cameras)

Also reading reviews, going in the shops and checking the feel of the camera, I did not want to spend a lot of money, just in case I did not get into it, and the camera would then sit in a cupboard.

I got the Nikon D3200, at the right price for me, took me a little while to get into to it, but so glad I got it, and now moved up to a D7100, which is a excellent camera.

Simple. Nikon D5100 was on special
Would I change now - no I don't think so.

A guy I flatted with (roomed with I think is the US term) in the 70's had a Nikon and took amazing mainly macro photos. Hence my first SLR was a FM. Lenses followed over the years so I became "hooked" on Nikon bodies

When I went to art-school (for a while) and picked photography, those that shot Canon played polo and went on vacation with the Queen Elizabeth II. Not really but such was the pretense.

I used to be a punk those days and Canon became a some symbol of class division. It kinda stuck and each time I see a Canon, something deep inside still thinks poo-poo.

Back in the day when photography was still about pulling levers and turning wheels I shot Practika. When I, not too long ago, picked up the hobby again, I wanted something technologically advanced. That's when you end with Nikon.

After using a p&s for several years, i started getting into aviation photography. I moved onto a Bridge camera, and found it totally inadequate. I saw some truly fantastic DSLR photos and i knew that's what I wanted. So I jumped in and bought a D60 with kits lens as it was on offer. If it was a Canon that happened to be on offer at the time, i'd have been on Canonites (or whatever they call their website) right now.
I'd never rule out switching brands, if another brand starts to produce consistent Nikon-beating cheaper and better cameras with better and cheaper lenses, especially the superzooms and long range primes, then i'd seriously consider it. But, i'll not hold my breath.

What brought me to the brand was research - better low light capability of Nikon sensors. Compatibility of lenses across generations.

The only thing Canon has that I like is the ability to see on the camera LCD what parts of an image are blowing out.

I still would choose Nikon.

For me, it was ergonomics. The Nikon just felt better in my hands.

Would I switch, probably not, too expensive to buy all new gear.

If I had it to do over again, maybe. As I travel around the country, many true Camera Shops don't deal in Nikon, they say the company is too big a pain to deal with. So it gets a little more difficult to find Nikon gear when needed.

6 years ago I wanted a camera cos my Fuji FinePix S9500 was not that great . Went to the shop tested Canon and Nikon. Nikon was my favorite.

The story is longer but that written words are pointing out the reason.

I went into the camera store and handheld various cameras to see which one I could easily use in one hand, the Nikon and its nice grips sold me (D80). Looking back I don't think I would have changed unless I was super rich then I would of got a Hassleblad lol

undercoverbrother said:

Good Afternoon,

I have a question for each and everyone of you

1. why did you choose Nikon over competing brands (namely Canon)?

Click to expand...

Back in the 1970s, as a teenager, I developed an obsession with photography. and collecting cameras—mostly cameras that I picked up at thrift stores for a dollar or two. I also collected brochures from camera stores, on various brands and models, that, of course, were well outside of my budget at that time.

From all the brochures, I came to develop a particular affinity for the Nikon F2 series. At that time, the F2A and F2AS were the current models, but I came to understand that the pre-AI variants had the advantage of being compatible with all extant F-mount lenses, while the post-AI variants were only fully compatible with the newer AI lenses; and therefore, I came to regard the pre-AI variants as more desirable.

Late in 1986, having been in my first real job since the beginning of that year, and in anticipation of a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Arctic in connection with that job, I decided I finally had the excuse to buy the camera I had lusted after for a decade or more. By this time, I think the F3 was the current model, but that wasn't what I wanted. I wanted a pre-AI F2. I found one in a local camera store, and bought it, along with three lenses, all described in my .sig.

undercoverbrother said:

2. knowing what you know now would you make a switch to another brand back then ? ( a bit of a back to the future type question haha)

Click to expand...

What I didn't know then, that I know now, is that digital photography was coming in a few decades, and how the dominance of different brands would shift around. Nikon, which I regarded then as more of a high-end luxury brand (I tended to think of Pentax and Minolta as the dominant, middle-class brands of Japanese SLRs back then), would come out as one of the two dominant brands in DSLRs (Canon being the other). When the time came that I found myself in a position to be able to buy a modern DSLR, I went with Nikon largely out of some admittedly irrational brand loyalty based on my ownership of the F2, but also on some hope, which turned out to be realized, that the ancient lenses that I had for my F2 would work with my new DSLR. They are all non-AI lenses, and Nikon claims that non-AI lenses will not work on any DSLR except their DF model, but Nikon is wrong about this; they work just fine on my D3200.

As far as I know, Nikon is the only brand of SLR that I could have purchased back in the 1980s, along with some lenses for it, and have those lenses for that camera be usable on a DSLR that I would purchase nearly three decades later. Had I known that, then, I would certainly not have considered any other brand.

I had set myself a budget for my first ILC camera. After quite a bit of research it came down to the Nikon D5200 and the Canon T4i/T5i. The Nikon had the better focusing, better low light, better image quality, and felt better in the hand.

Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" I got a Nikon camera, I love to like a photograph, Momma don't take my Kodachrome away. LALALALA
A Nikon camera was the ultimate to me. Kinda silly, but it's that simple for me. No regrets.

Moab Man said:

The only thing Canon has that I like is the ability to see on the camera LCD what parts of an image are blowing out.

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You can do that in Nikon, too, if I understand what you mean correctly. When viewing a picture, pushing left or right (or up or down, my D70 is one way, the D7000 is the other), there's a display with the 'blinkies'. Unless the feature you're describing is different.

I used my Dad's Yashica for a long time, but wanted a SLR instead of a rangefinder. I also had a photography teacher in high school, Mr. Range, who touted getting a full manual camera to keep from getting lazy and going auto exposure, while learning. I took his advice and went to the local photo gear retailer, where the salesman I dealt with was a Nikon guy. He sold me on Nikon FM. A couple of years later, I added an FE.

Most of the other people I knew getting into photography about the same time went Canon, and I took a lot of crap from them about having a Nikon. I didn't care, and actually began to love being one of the "outsiders".

I've never regretted having Nikon equipment, but today I believe more is made of equipment than there needs to be. I'm no company's shill, and believe that each brand his its virtues. I wish some of Canon's lenses were also available in the Nikon line, but not enough to get a Canon camera. I do own a Canon AE-1 Program that my uncle left to me when he died, but I've never used it.

WM