Canon 550D/t2i or Nikon D5100: which 1 to buy

[ripanchy]

Now This 2 cameras priced in this way at amazon:
Canon 550D/T2i with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens: USD 620 or
Nikon D5100 with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens: USD700Which 1 I should buy

?

Pls consider these 4 big points too:
01. Built in auto focus for Canon T2i
02. Battery Life 50% high for Nikon D5100
03. Lower Lens price for Canon cameras
04. Better Image quality for Nikon D5100

will wait for all your valuable comments and points.

 

[MTVision]

Now This 2 cameras priced in this way at amazon:
Canon 550D/T2i with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens: USD 620 or
Nikon D5100 with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens: USD700Which 1 I should buy ?

Pls consider these 4 big points too:
01. Built in auto focus for Canon T2i
02. Battery Life 50% high for Nikon D5100
03. Lower Lens price for Canon cameras
04. Better Image quality for Nikon D5100

will wait for all your valuable comments and points.

I'm confused about #1 - what do you mean built in autofocus? As far as I know none of canons cameras have a focus motor built in - they are all in the lens which is the same as the Nikon d5100. The lens prices are probably lower because unlike Nikon, canon makes all of it lenses with an AF motor in it. I may be wrong.....

You can't go wrong with either camera. One reason I'm glad I went with the Nikon - spot metering. With Nikon you can spot meter off your focus point where you choose it to be. With Canon spot metering is only a small area in the center of the frame - it cannot be changed. If you look up spot metering (if you don't know what it is) a lot of sites will say its rarely used but I use spot metering all the time and it seems like a lot of people do so as well.

I'm not real familiar with canon so I can't tell you what is better in that camera but I have read their video is better. Best advice - go to a store and play with both. See which one feels the most comfortable!

 

[jaomul]

Both cameras autofocus, the Nikon has no motor so wont work af on older lenses, but you can use loads of old nikon lenses if you manually focus.. No canon has a motor, so it works all lenses built on the EF/EF-s mounts as the lenses have the motors, but canon has older lenses with a different mount system that cannot be used.
You will have very similar performing cameras here. Either would be a good choice. Someone on this form suggested buying into a system if one of your friends has if possible so you may get to swap gear.
I am not sure that in normal day to day use(not charts) you would notice the differnce in image quality between these 2 models.