LeAp Of fAiTh?

gribur

New member
Hey Guys. Love photography, time to evolve, a little. My mom just purchased a t3 and I loved using it for daughters B-Day, but I now see I can get the T4i for about the same price. I have been looking at two camera's, I don't want to hear the moans LOL I am starting out in the DSLR world and the learning curve is massive. So there is the T4i and the second is the Nikon D3200. I understand if you are biased. I am not so concerned about the entire video aspect, it is more of an extra to me. I want to capture most importantly childhood memories and get into Macro photography, super excited about that. Also living on the shores of Lake Huron, Landscape will play a role. both are good from what i can see, both are also close in price point. I would also consider buying something older that is better but has gone down in price due to age. I know neither are even close to the best but I am hoping to buy something i can learn with, grow with and eventually graduate from. Ty for any help, take care and hope to hear from you.
Cheers
 

suvlady

Senior Member
Hey Guys. Love photography, time to evolve, a little. My mom just purchased a t3 and I loved using it for daughters B-Day, but I now see I can get the T4i for about the same price. I have been looking at two camera's, I don't want to hear the moans LOL I am starting out in the DSLR world and the learning curve is massive. So there is the T4i and the second is the Nikon D3200. I understand if you are biased. I am not so concerned about the entire video aspect, it is more of an extra to me. I want to capture most importantly childhood memories and get into Macro photography, super excited about that. Also living on the shores of Lake Huron, Landscape will play a role. both are good from what i can see, both are also close in price point. I would also consider buying something older that is better but has gone down in price due to age. I know neither are even close to the best but I am hoping to buy something i can learn with, grow with and eventually graduate from. Ty for any help, take care and hope to hear from you.
Cheers

You might find this link helpful.

Canon T4i vs Nikon D3200 - Our Analysis

I went with the D3200 before Christmas and I've been very happy with it so far.
 
you will find that because nikon has used the same mount since about 1964 there are more older and cheaper lenses available which will prove great for macro work..read the report above and 3200 wins hands down...Once you buy nikon or cannon thats you for the next 20 years unless you have the bucks to change ...I love my 3200 I just wish it had two cards..ok I wish it was a D7200 but thats 2 months away I hope....
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
My assessment from a lot of looking around, trying things, and talking to lots of other people is this (in an extreme over-simplification):

- If you want point-and-shoot, go Canon. They are hard to beat across the entire range, both in terms of features and image quality.

- If you want a DSLR as a hobbiest or serious amateur so you can do things that even the high end point-and-shoot stuff won't do, go Nikon. The features and image quality, particularly on the upper end of the non-professional line, is hard to beat. I've had more than a couple Canon shooters look at my D7000 and D600 with envy.

- If you are young and have aspirations of perhaps making photography a career, take a long hard look at Canon as they seem to own that space, so any investment you make now in Nikon or any other brand will either need to be shelved or sold off at some point to make the switch. Good glass is expensive and a worthwhile investment no matter what your level, but it's easier to hang with what you know than to have to change over down the road. And if you're lucky enough where someone will hire you and let you shoot with company gear, it's nice to be able to use the same stuff you have at home.

Most of us here find ourselves in the middle group, though there are indeed some who shoot professionally and do so with the same gear I've mentioned in that section, so there's plenty of support for that part of the Nikon line. One thing not to neglect is what your friends and family shoot. The ability to trade, share and borrow gear is a nice benefit. My brother is a Canon pro, and I thought long and hard about that before buying my D7000. In the 2 years since I've heard more than a couple verses of, "I just sold my XYZ lens. You could have gotten a deal on it if it would have fit on that camera of yours." But I also heard him rave about my D600 when he played with that over Christmas.

I think you'll find a way to be happy with either choice - and a way to regret not going the other way on occasions. If you go with a Nikon then you've already found a good group of people to push you through the learning curve.
 

Sambr

Senior Member
It's what you are comfortable with. For me it's Nikon has been since 1978 when I bought a Nikon FE. I know the brand well and over the years have been very happy with all aspects of Nikon. The product, the image quality & service. Yes I have had excellent service from Nikon whenever I had to have repairs ( very few of them) So there you have it. Call me a Nikon fanboy I don't care.
 

gribur

New member
I am reading and reading and reading and becoming more and more confused. I am pretty sure that the canon t4i and the nikon 3200 are the best in their respective categories, but they each have their pros and cons. how much of a pro is a 6MP improvement? Yes i may want to blow up some of my future work for framing and sale, will the canon with 18mp handle this. I also saw how the nikon has better traking while shooting video and may be better at lower light levels. I do not want this to become a "well it depends how it feels when you hold it" question. I want the best of the best for what i can afford. Guys please dig deep, think if you had the knowledge you have now and owned no equipment, no camera and were just starting out with around a $650 budget and knew you would not be able to afford a new camera for a very long time. Basically you would need this camera to easily take you from a baby to your mid twenties in terms of potential growth. ty and talk soon.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
More MP's means that you can also do a little more cropping if necessary on the back end and still have the ability to print at certain sizes. Depending on what you're shooting this may or may not be important. I do a lot of birds in flight stuff, so cropping is a must, which is why the D7000 won out 2 years ago.
 
Top