I thought about switching to Canon...

[nerwin]

Last night I was chatting with a friend of mine about cameras and he mentioned he's really close to switching to Canon. I kind have been thinking about it a little bit myself because Canon has some lenses that I like that Nikon doesn't have or is as good but really that's it. Since my friend shoots more video, I can understand why he'd want to switch to Canon, Nikon really isn't known for amazing video or video features. I get it.

So I started thinking about what would exactly would I gain from switching to Canon. Nothing besides a headache.

1. I'd have to sell off my current Nikon equipment and all that money I invested in this system, I won't get much back. So it would cost more out of pocket to switch.

2. I'd have to relearn the camera bodies, button placements and menu systems. Okay okay ok..that is more of a cosmetic issue and after a while I'd be fine with it.

3. Image quality? Canon and Nikon have both equally good image quality. Perhaps Nikon having a slight edge in the dynamic range and low light performance areas but it's not like a night/day difference.

4. Auto Focus - Okay, this is subjective honestly. Some have said Canon has faster and more accurate autofocus systems whereas some also say the same about Nikon. So which manufacture has better autofocus systems? I don't know. It really seems to depend on the user and what they are shooting.

5. Better white and color? Yes..both Canon and Nikon have slightly different colors and skin tones but if you shoot RAW, can't you like adjust this in post?

So besides a headache, what would I gain? Maybe access to a couple unique Canon lenses and maybe perhaps better autofocus? Built in GPS and WiFi that I'd never use? Is it really worth it to switch to Canon just because of that?

At this point in camera technology, what is the point in switching manufactures to gain little to nothing?

The only thing I can see that would be beneficial of switching is that it's a change, it's something different and could spark an interest in something. It's like how some people drive Chevy their whole life switch to Ford just because it's different and end up liking it after all.

It really is a tough decision at this point.

 

[goooner]

I made the switch to Nikon earlier this year, but I might have stayed with Canon if the 80D came out 6 months earlier. I had a 450D (XSi), and the jump to my D7200 was amazing. I'm very happy with my switch, and have invested heavily in Nikon glass now. I still have a 100mm/2.8 Macro Canon lens I'm trying to sell, will then start looking for an equivalent Nikon lens.

At the moment Nikon has the best crop body around (D500), canon really does not have anything close imo. I also think the entry level FF bodies offer more for Nikon shooters, not that I've used any of the FF bodies yet.

 

[pixmedic]

same old song and dance...

you dont really gain much of anything switching between nikon and canon.
ones better here, ones better there...
ones got the best camera for this, ones got the best camera for that...
and every 6 months they flip flop when they release their new bodies and lenses.
not to mention the hit your going to take selling equipment and buying new stuff, and wanting to
switch back when nikon releases a newer/better camera than the canon you bought...
and then back to canon less than a year after THAT..
it never ends.

if you have money to where none of this matters...go for it.

 

[astroNikon]

I sold everything and bought an iPhone 7S.


okay, not really.

 

[nerwin]

I'm going to be honest, I'm not particularly happy with the autofocus performance of the D610, there numerous occasions where the camera just struggles but it is using the autofocus system from the D7000, it's getting out of date which is one of the reasons I'm exploring different options right now. Does Canon actually have better autofocus, especially in low light? Than say the D750?

I know there is most likely an update coming to the D750 which is making me interested and making it a super hard decision to switch to a different manufacture. But there really isn't any info on this D750 update yet and when it is due out.

 

[kap55]

Switching systems in a hope that "...it's something different and could spark an interest in something" will eventually leave you bankrupt.

 

[nerwin]

Switching systems in a hope that "...it's something different and could spark an interest in something" will eventually leave you bankrupt.

I may be stupid, but I'm not that stupid.

I have valid reasons to switch, but that would just be a benefit of switching not a reason to switch. Maybe the car analogy was a bad idea. lol

 

[goooner]

I'm going to be honest, I'm not particularly happy with the autofocus performance of the D610, there numerous occasions where the camera just struggles but it is using the autofocus system from the D7000, it's getting out of date which is one of the reasons I'm exploring different options right now. Does Canon actually have better autofocus, especially in low light? Than say the D750?

I know there is most likely an update coming to the D750 which is making me interested and making it a super hard decision to switch to a different manufacture. But there really isn't any info on this D750 update yet and when it is due out.

Like I said I have no experience with FF, but is the 6D better at focussing than the D610? From what I've heard, it is not, while the the D610 (at least to my knowledge), has better low light and DR than the 6D.

You have to compare apples with apples. I don't think think Canon makes a D750 equivalent, I guess the D800 would be compared to the 5D's.

 

[robbins.photo]

Ok, so if the problem is the AF system, then I'd recommend you reexamine how your using the AF system.

I shoot the D600 - and I rarely if ever have any issues with the AF system. The reason for that, I take control of the AF myself. Instead of giving the camera every focal point imaginable to choose from and relying on the tiny onboard computer to determine the best point of focus, I reduce the focus points to 1 and chose the one I want myself. If I'm in challenging lighting conditions or shooting stuff that's moving faster, I'll go to 9. Sometimes I might go higher, but only if I were tracking an erratically moving target against a relatively clear background, such as say a fast moving bird in flight against a blue sky.

I have shot a couple of Canon's here and there, I wouldn't say their AF system is really any better or worse than Nikon - about the same really if your intention is to allow the camera to pick the point of focus.

As to lenses, about the only advantage there on the Canon side would be that they have more options available in the 400mm range, and that's not really a huge advantage for most.

So unless you were going to be doing video production and making money from it, I just don't see a switchover to be all that beneficial. Much like I wouldn't advise most Canon owners to dump all their gear and switch over to Nikon. It's a lot of time, hassle and expense and frankly the benefits either way are negligible.

 

[astroNikon]

I'm going to be honest, I'm not particularly happy with the autofocus performance of the D610, there numerous occasions where the camera just struggles but it is using the autofocus system from the D7000, it's getting out of date which is one of the reasons I'm exploring different options right now. Does Canon actually have better autofocus, especially in low light? Than say the D750?

I know there is most likely an update coming to the D750 which is making me interested and making it a super hard decision to switch to a different manufacture. But there really isn't any info on this D750 update yet and when it is due out.

What specifically are the issues you are having?

The Multicam 4800 (FX version) is found in the FX: Df, D6x0
4800DX (DX version) in: D5500 to d5200, d7000.

The Df and D600 are some nice low light cameras. I had no problems with mine in low light but I also knew it had it's limits for Super Low Light AF.
Are you using the illuminator in super low light ?

I initially had better success with the AF system in the D600 vs the D750. But I learned how to use the D750 better and it does have about a stop better performance. I also prefer the 39pt AF system vs the 51pt which are just squished more together IMHO but I'm learning how to live with it and make it perform better.

FYI, the d600 killed the d7000 in low light when I ran my tests while I had both cameras. A good 2 stops better.

FYI, the focusing systems are not exactly the same. The one's in the FX bodies allow support to f/8, where as the DX ones I think only to f/5.6. I assume other tweaks too.

Now I'm trying to learn the D500 v D750 ...

 

[pixmedic]

Ok, so if the problem is the AF system, then I'd recommend you reexamine how your using the AF system.

I shoot the D600 - and I rarely if ever have any issues with the AF system. The reason for that, I take control of the AF myself. Instead of giving the camera every focal point imaginable to choose from and relying on the tiny onboard computer to determine the best point of focus, I reduce the focus points to 1 and chose the one I want myself. If I'm in challenging lighting conditions or shooting stuff that's moving faster, I'll go to 9. Sometimes I might go higher, but only if I were tracking an erratically moving target against a relatively clear background, such as say a fast moving bird in flight against a blue sky.

I have shot a couple of Canon's here and there, I wouldn't say their AF system is really any better or worse than Nikon - about the same really if your intention is to allow the camera to pick the point of focus.

As to lenses, about the only advantage there on the Canon side would be that they have more options available in the 400mm range, and that's not really a huge advantage for most.

So unless you were going to be doing video production and making money from it, I just don't see a switchover to be all that beneficial. Much like I wouldn't advise most Canon owners to dump all their gear and switch over to Nikon. It's a lot of time, hassle and expense and frankly the benefits either way are negligible.

agreed.
i had two D600's and never had issues with them focusing.

@nerwin you have a D610 now, and some nice lenses.
what were you thinking of switching to if you DID go canon? and what lenses were you looking at in canon mount that are lacking in nikon?

 

[nerwin]

Ok, so if the problem is the AF system, then I'd recommend you reexamine how your using the AF system.

I shoot the D600 - and I rarely if ever have any issues with the AF system. The reason for that, I take control of the AF myself. Instead of giving the camera every focal point imaginable to choose from and relying on the tiny onboard computer to determine the best point of focus, I reduce the focus points to 1 and chose the one I want myself. If I'm in challenging lighting conditions or shooting stuff that's moving faster, I'll go to 9. Sometimes I might go higher, but only if I were tracking an erratically moving target against a relatively clear background, such as say a fast moving bird in flight against a blue sky.

I have shot a couple of Canon's here and there, I wouldn't say their AF system is really any better or worse than Nikon - about the same really if your intention is to allow the camera to pick the point of focus.

As to lenses, about the only advantage there on the Canon side would be that they have more options available in the 400mm range, and that's not really a huge advantage for most.

So unless you were going to be doing video production and making money from it, I just don't see a switchover to be all that beneficial. Much like I wouldn't advise most Canon owners to dump all their gear and switch over to Nikon. It's a lot of time, hassle and expense and frankly the benefits either way are negligible.

I use single point AF as well.

The issue arises when the light is low. When there is plenty of light, I don't have any problems. I'm just getting a little tired of the camera taking forever or seems to anyways to find focus even when using single point AF, I often have to switch to manual to achieve focus and when its dark (not pitch black lol) its kind of hard to exactly see what I'm focusing on. From my understand the D750 does a lot better at focusing in low light than the D610.

 

[Gary A.]

The grass is greener.

But switching is okay, it sorta reinvigorates the passion, stirs up the coals. But you're going in realizing that there isn't anything significantly difference ... so your eyes are open. If you want to try something significant different ... pick up a X100T. The fixed lens will either make you or break you. Personally, I think you'll appreciate the challenge of the fixed lens and you'll love the Fuji files. (But make it an augmentation to your existing system.)

 

[coastalconn]

You might remember I made the mistake of switching to Canon in the Spring of 2015. If you like slightly OOF, noisy images with good color than Canon may be a good choice for you. I do really miss the 200 f2.8 prime though.. AFAIK the D610 is better than the 6d. The d750 will eat if for breakfast. To be fair, the sensor in the 80d was pretty good, but the camera was a little laggy.

 

[robbins.photo]

Ok, so if the problem is the AF system, then I'd recommend you reexamine how your using the AF system.

I shoot the D600 - and I rarely if ever have any issues with the AF system. The reason for that, I take control of the AF myself. Instead of giving the camera every focal point imaginable to choose from and relying on the tiny onboard computer to determine the best point of focus, I reduce the focus points to 1 and chose the one I want myself. If I'm in challenging lighting conditions or shooting stuff that's moving faster, I'll go to 9. Sometimes I might go higher, but only if I were tracking an erratically moving target against a relatively clear background, such as say a fast moving bird in flight against a blue sky.

I have shot a couple of Canon's here and there, I wouldn't say their AF system is really any better or worse than Nikon - about the same really if your intention is to allow the camera to pick the point of focus.

As to lenses, about the only advantage there on the Canon side would be that they have more options available in the 400mm range, and that's not really a huge advantage for most.

So unless you were going to be doing video production and making money from it, I just don't see a switchover to be all that beneficial. Much like I wouldn't advise most Canon owners to dump all their gear and switch over to Nikon. It's a lot of time, hassle and expense and frankly the benefits either way are negligible.

I use single point AF as well.

The issue arises when the light is low. When there is plenty of light, I don't have any problems. I'm just getting a little tired of the camera taking forever or seems to anyways to find focus even when using single point AF, I often have to switch to manual to achieve focus and when its dark (not pitch black lol) its kind of hard to exactly see what I'm focusing on. From my understand the D750 does a lot better at focusing in low light than the D610.

If the camera is struggling to focus in lower light, it means there isn't enough contrast provided by your focal point. Expand to 9 point or move your point of focus slightly to find a spot of high enough contrast to allow the camera to focus properly.

Canon or Nikon wouldn't make any difference there.