Nikon D40 vs D80 or Canon

William Petruzzo · Sep 3, 2008

The Canon 20D is the most comfortable and well layed out camera I've ever used. I've never been crazy about the Canon Digital Rebel series, they're just a little cumbersome, in terms of manual control. But every camera in the Canon x0D series is stellar, doing everything it promises and doing it with ease and comfort. I couldn't recommend it more confidently. Plus, 20D, 30D and 40D are all extremely affordable now thanks to the 50D's release.

I admit my bias, I am a Canon guy.

TUX424 · Sep 3, 2008

Yes i understand that the Canon 40D and 20D are great cameras but lets face it the 20D is over 4 years old and the 40D is alittle pricy for a being my first DSLR and im not willing to spentd that much on a camera yet

William Petruzzo · Sep 3, 2008

4 years old makes little difference. The camera is bangin and it'll provide everything a serious hobbyist could want, unless you buying for bells and whistles. But the best part is, the x0D series cameras all have the same basic layout as the canon professional line. Vertical mobility is easy. No need to reacquaint yourself with a new camera.

JustAnEngineer · Sep 3, 2008

photo28 said:
Nikon kit lenses are pretty good, but Canons are not.

Looking at the objective lens reviews on-line, they seem pretty similar:
[url=http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/widget/Fullscreen.ashx?reviews=7,1&fullscreen=true&av=3.667,3.667&fl=18,18&vis=VisualiserSharpnessMTF,VisualiserSharpnessMTF&stack=horizontal&lock=&config=/lensreviews/widget/LensReviewConfiguration.xml%3F3]dpreview.com comparison[/URL]

sabbath999 · Sep 3, 2008

JustAnEngineer said:
Looking at the objective lens reviews on-line, they seem pretty similar:
[url=http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/widget/Fullscreen.ashx?reviews=7,1&fullscreen=true&av=3.667,3.667&fl=18,18&vis=VisualiserSharpnessMTF,VisualiserSharpnessMTF&stack=horizontal&lock=&config=/lensreviews/widget/LensReviewConfiguration.xml%3F3]dpreview.com comparison[/URL]

With all due respect I have used both of them extensively... there is no comparison in quality, whatever some internet chart says... the Canon non-IS kit lens is supplied either with a camera or you can buy it out of a bubble gum machine for 50 cents. I would rather use the 50 cents on buying actual bubble gum that that horrible lens.

The IS version is MUCH better, however. It isn't as good as the Nikon 18-55 VR (again, I have used both for thousands of shots now), but it is better than the AWFUL non-IS Canon kit lens. The Nikon non-VR kit lens is OK.

Canon has a lot of great products, many of which are superior to Nikon... just don't try to kid folks that the non-IS kit lens is one of them.

TUX424 · Sep 3, 2008

One thing i am conserned about is that Canon switched there lens mounts more often than Nikon since i pretty sure the Nikon D80 can u lens that go all the way back to 1979 and i met this guy who had a Canon D30 who cant even use some of the new lenes and if that is true it is NIKON ALL THE WAY

reg · Sep 3, 2008

TUX424 said:
One thing i am conserned about is that Canon switched there lens mounts more often than Nikon since i pretty sure the Nikon D80 can u lens that go all the way back to 1979 and i met this guy who had a Canon D30 who cant even use some of the new lenes and if that is true it is NIKON ALL THE WAY

There are, like, four Canon DSLRs that can't take EF-S lenses, and they're so old now, you wouldn't use them. They're around 4MP IIRC. All of the Canon APS-C cameras for the past several generations have been able to take EF and EF-S lenses, and Canon's 5D takes EF lenses only.

But it's the same with Nikon, they have DX lenses and lenses that can be used on their Full Frame sensor, FX, and that's not fair so screw them both and OLYMPUS ALL THE WAY

</blatant fanboy>

JustAnEngineer · Sep 3, 2008

sabbath999 said:
With all due respect I have used both of them extensively... there is no comparison in quality, whatever some internet chart says... the Canon non-IS kit lens is supplied either with a camera or you can buy it out of a bubble gum machine for 50 cents. I would rather use the 50 cents on buying actual bubble gum that that horrible lens.

The IS version is MUCH better, however. It isn't as good as the Nikon 18-55 VR (again, I have used both for thousands of shots now), but it is better than the AWFUL non-IS Canon kit lens. The Nikon non-VR kit lens is OK.

Canon has a lot of great products, many of which are superior to Nikon... just don't try to kid folks that the non-IS kit lens is one of them.

Newsflash: The EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM (non-IS) lens was discontinued months ago. Not one word of my post referenced this lens.

You obviously did not look at the comparison chart that I linked, which compared the brand-new Nikon 18-55mm VR lens to the current EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS. The chart shows that the Nikon lens is softer and more distorted than the Canon lens at 18mm, while the Nikon lens is sharper at the extreme center with less chromatic aberration at 55mm.

djacobox372 · Sep 3, 2008

I recommend a used d200... they can be had for about $750 on ebay, and you'll be able to meter with non-cpu lenses unlike the d80.

JustAnEngineer · Sep 3, 2008

TUX424 said:
One thing i am conserned about is that Canon switched there lens mounts more often than Nikon since i pretty sure the Nikon D80 can u lens that go all the way back to 1979 and i met this guy who had a Canon D30 who cant even use some of the new lenes and if that is true it is NIKON ALL THE WAY

Canon went to the all-electronic EF mount in 1987 and made a clean break with their previous FD mount. All EF lenses produced since 1987 will work in fully automatic mode with even the cheapest EOS Rebel XS camera. As I posted earlier, there are currently 54 EF and 7 EF-S lenses (plus more discontinued models that you might find available used).

Nikon didn't switch to electronic focusing until 1996. Rather than creating a new mount, they modified the existing Nikkor-F mount. However, the entry-level D40 and D60 cameras lack the mechanical drive motor to auto-focus with the older Nikon lenses. If you want a Nikon lens that can auto-focus with the entry-level Nikon cameras, you are restricted to the 18 AF-S and 11 AF-S DX lenses. The D80 or D90 cameras include the drive motor so that they can auto-focus with the old mechanically-driven lenses, but they may not handle auto-exposure with some of the older lenses, so you could have to manually set your exposure.

As I understand it, to take full advantage of the wide selection of excellent older Nikon lenses, the D300 or D700 cameras are the thing to have.

usayit · Sep 3, 2008

I've had a few bring up the same question at the sales counter...... and bring it up as if the ability to use old lenses is a deal breaker. Months later... even years later... they still have yet to use a single old manual lens on the camera. Its a "give me everything" mental game that consumers play with themselves..... completely illogical unless you ~intend~ on using that feature (rather than have it "just in case"). Meaning... budget constraints (leverage cheaper older lenses) or a pre-existing collection or a particular favorite lens of the past.

Kinda like the manumatic or slushmatic transmissions (I'm not referring to the ones imployed by Ferrari, Porsche, and the like) that allow manual selection of a gear that was the rage many years ago. How many of those consumers paid a premium for that transmission actually ever use it?

In regards to lens mount....

Canon abandoned the FD mount for the EF mount to help bring forward motion with R&D and autofocus design. It was a risky move but did pay off with a rather huge marketshare. There were a lot of reasons for this move.... the FD mount is completely mechanical and not exactly simple in design. Designing the EF mount from a blank slate was the best choice at the time.

The decision involving EF-S was not driven by the want to abandon the EF mount. It was a move to provide optimized lenses for the smaller APS sensored cameras. The EF mount itself existed way way beforehand and still continues to be the primary lens mount for Canon. Full frame cameras can't use the EF-S lenses primarily because of the smaller image circle of EF-S lenses. There are small sensored cameras that also predate the EF-S mount and are incompatible. IIRC, the 10D was the last one which dates back to 2003. BTW.. your friends D30 (my first digital too) dates way back to 2000 (not to be confused with the much newer 30D). No one looking seriously at a reasonably up-to-date camera is going to have to worry.

As mentioned in the previous post, even systems that allow for older lenses do have limitations. IMO, the best system that maintains compatibility is still with Pentax. I own a Pentax KAF mounted camera simply because I enjoy the collection of old takumar/pentax lenses in my collection... which is not the case here.

WIth that said.... For someone starting out (doesn't have a collection of old lenses) mount design is probably ranks towards the bottom of things to look for when selecting a camera.

shivaswrath · Sep 3, 2008

to the OP, the 18-55 VR Nikon lens has a motor built in and works on the D40 if you're looking for a super budget deal. . .(it sounded like you thought it would AF on the D80 only. . .). . .at any rate, unless you're a Prime freak wanting freakishly fast f-stops of <2.8 (Nikon's 28, 35, 50, 85mm primes, etc.) you can use a D40 with all the new quick DX/FX lenses (14-24, 24-70, 70-200 all at f/2.8 and$$$$) or DX lenses only (18-55 VR, 55-200 VR, etc.). . .and Sigma does make primes for their DX cameras (30 and 50mm, both at f/1.4).