Canon or Nikon for School.

[NikonCowgirl]

I am currently attending school in the city of Chicago for commercial photography. One of my school's requirements is that I buy a new camera. Either the Nikon D7000 or the Canon 60D are part of minimum requirements. I currently shoot with a Nikon D60, with this being said I prefer Nikons. But my school has much more equipment for Canons then Nikon. Should the amount of equipment I have access to sway my preferences ? Thanks for the feedback everyone !

 

[Derrel]

I would say buy a Canon. Why? Canon has a longer flange-to-film distance than Nikon does, and so there is plenty of room for lens adapters between the lens flange, and the back end of lenses made by seven different 35mm lens makers. The Canon EOS system can use lenses that were originally made for M42 thread mount cameras, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax K-mount, Leica R, etc.

Lens adapters from eBay are around $17.99 each. FotoDIox makes a pretty good NEW, Nikon G-series lens to Canon EF mount adapter, which is expensive, at $129 or s, but it allows one to use Nikon G-series lenses, which have NO aperture control ring on the lenses; the Fotodiox adapter uses NIkon's 1959-era MECHANICAL aperture control mechanism to adjust the f/stop used by means of a simple,reliable mechanical adjustment tab that gives basically a 7-click f/stop adjustment range from wife-open to minimum f/stop.

If the school has loads of Canon gear, and YOU have a Canon, plus any NIkon gear you currently own, and a lens adapter or two, you'll have access to all types of stuff! And, if you are going to learn commercial photography, learning how to focus a lens stopped down,and shot from a tripod, will be a very valuable skill that you absolutely MUST learn to do.

I honestly think a Canon 5D classic would be better than a 60D, unless you need video capability...

 

[NikonCowgirl]

I was looking at the 5D like I had mentioned previously it waste bare minimum school would accept ! Thanks for the great advice !

 

[Overread]

I don't think there is much anyone else can add to what Derrel has already said. The 5D would be my suggestion as well and should certainly stand up well in such an environment.

Also in the field you're looking at I doubt that Canon or Nikon has a strong advantage over the other. There will be differences, but they'll be smaller scale and more about refinements than straight out possibilities - thus don't worry as you're not missing out anything by going for Canon (and actually probably gaining since I don't think Nikon has a 35mm digital camera in the same price range as the 5D original second hand).

 

[gsgary]

I was looking at the 5D like I had mentioned previously it waste bare minimum school would accept ! Thanks for the great advice !

I can't see why there is a minimum the school will accept, as long as it can be shot in manual that is all that matters, if you went to college over here you would start by shooting film