Prime Lenses: Canon vs Nikon, Who makes them best?

[Jin]

Related to my previous post at
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/p...0mm-1-8-a.html

I'm looking for a DSLR Body + Prime Lens with a current budget of 800-1200$ combo and I was just wondering which company (Nikon or Canon) makes the better prime lenses?

As of now, I'll most likely be sticking to the sub 400$ prime lenses, but I will be upgrading to more expensive primes later down the road, maybe next year or so.

So, what are everyone's opinions?

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[usayit]

Your poll doesn't make sense.....

"pro" and "consumer" of which both overlap into "overall"

[Jin]

Overall as in the company excels at making both cheap and expensive glass.

[djacobox372]

both are about equal, BUT ill give nikon the nod since they have amazing prime lenses dating back to 1959 that will still work on a modern dslr.

[JustAnEngineer]

both are about equal, BUT ill give nikon the nod since they have amazing prime lenses dating back to 1959 that will still work on a modern dslr.

The old manual Nikon lenses work the same on a Canon DSLR with an inexpensive adapter as they do on most Nikon DSLRs - fully manual. Only the AI-S Nikkor lenses from the 1980's can shoot in Av exposure mode with manual focus, and only on the more expensive Nikon DSLR cameras (D300 and up). If you've got a D90 or lower, you're still stuck with fully-manual operation (including manual exposure), just as you would be when adapting the Nikon lens to another brand of camera.

[Village Idiot]

Nikon makes prime lenses?

[Formatted]

Nikon Optics are the best in the World. There is a reason that Nikon is the worlds largest microscope glass manufacture.

You can't take price into account, when talking about what is best!

[Village Idiot]

Nikon Optics are the best in the World. There is a reason that Nikon is the worlds largest microscope glass manufacture.

You can't take price into account, when talking about what is best!

This is funny. So they're better than every other single corportation that deals with optics completely and utterly across the board. Like their lenses are all better than Zeiss's?

[Petraio Prime]

Nikon Optics are the best in the World. There is a reason that Nikon is the worlds largest microscope glass manufacture.

You can't take price into account, when talking about what is best!

Amusing. Leica lenses are the best, overall.

[djacobox372]

both are about equal, BUT ill give nikon the nod since they have amazing prime lenses dating back to 1959 that will still work on a modern dslr.

The old manual Nikon lenses work the same on a Canon DSLR with an inexpensive adapter as they do on most Nikon DSLRs - fully manual. Only the AI-S Nikkor lenses from the 1980's can shoot in Av exposure mode with manual focus, and only on the more expensive Nikon DSLR cameras (D300 and up). If you've got a D90 or lower, you're still stuck with fully-manual operation (including manual exposure), just as you would be when adapting the Nikon lens to another brand of camera.

That adapter will not give you light metering, or focus information, unlike using a old nikon lens on a d2,d200,d300,d700, or d3

[djacobox372]

Nikon Optics are the best in the World. There is a reason that Nikon is the worlds largest microscope glass manufacture.

You can't take price into account, when talking about what is best!

Amusing. Leica lenses are the best, overall.

Not any more... new leica lenses are laging behind canon and nikon in reviews, even though they still cost twice as much.

[Petraio Prime]

Nikon Optics are the best in the World. There is a reason that Nikon is the worlds largest microscope glass manufacture.

You can't take price into account, when talking about what is best!

Amusing. Leica lenses are the best, overall.

Not any more... new leica lenses are laging behind canon and nikon in reviews, even though they still cost twice as much.

LOL

Hilarious. Deluded but hilarious.

[Overread]

Honestly there is only one difference between Nikon and Canon and it hardly affects anyone - and that is the Canon MPE65mm macro - the only single lens (that I know of) that goes from 1:1 magnificatio to 5:1 magnification.

That said its really only of concern for those of use who want to take pictures of a fly's eye. And even though the lens is unique to canon there are other options that Nikon (and other brand) users can use (such as microscope elements and bellows setups) which can achive similar or even superior quality images.

As for a by price comparison it was the case that Nikon lenses (At the expensive end) were generally more expensive than Canon brand lenses (very much noticable in the telephoto ranges). However as for quality whilst tests and such might show differences I've yet to see either company able to totally outclass the other - they are both pretty much equal in the market - heck sigma and tamron are also able to make lenses that can achive similar highclass level optical quality.

[Overread]

Nikon Optics are the best in the World. There is a reason that Nikon is the worlds largest microscope glass manufacture.

You can't take price into account, when talking about what is best!

actually if we go by sales Sigma ship far more lenses than canon or nikon!

[pbelarge]

Preference = better *which could change year to year