Canon vs Nikon: a very old conflict

[TCampbell]

There's no "brand vs. brand" comparison. It really comes down to a "model vs. model" comparison. The "best" choice is based on what YOU want to do with the camera.

Sports & action photography benefits from cameras that have certain features optimized for action, but if you don't shoot action photography then you're paying for features that you wont use.

Some cameras are more suited to studio shooting, landscape, etc. and both Nikon and Canon make cameras optimized to all these various needs.

So... for the moment... ignore the brand name label. What type of photography do YOU think that you want to shoot and we can perhaps help identify certain features that would be beneficial to you.

You didn't mention lenses at all, but another consideration is being able to match those same camera needs to lenses. Both Nikon and Canon make some models with extremely high sensor resolution. But those sensor resolutions aren't going to show off any advantage if the lens you use is unable to resolve fine detail.

I'm not always so interested in how "sharp" a lens is... there are a lot of qualities that make an image beautiful. Sometimes it's the quality of the out-of-focus areas that you care about and some lenses do a significantly better job than others.

 

[Derrel]

A couple years ago I wrote some fake lyrics to the television theme song from the old western series Rawhide. Every now and again, I like to dust off one of the classics, you know, when the time seems totally RIGHT for it. And so, herewith is the song I wrote! I hope you like it!

Trollin' Trollin' Trollin'
Keep movin', movin', movin',
Though they're disapprovin',
Keep them doggies movin' Rawhide!

Don't try to understand 'em,
Just focus,shoot, and snap 'em,
Soon we'll be shooting JPEGs with wides,
Boy my heart's a-palp-i-tatin,'
My shots'll all be shakin', be shaking,and
I'll say, "Well, least I tried.."

Move 'em on, head 'em up,
Head 'em up, move 'em out,
Move 'em on, head 'em out Rawhide!
Set 'em out, ride 'em in
Ride 'em in, let 'em out,
Cut 'em out, ride 'em in Rawhide!

Trollin', trollin', trollin'
Trollin', trollin', trollin'
Trollin', trollin', trollin'
Trollin', trollin', trollin'
Rawhide!


Trollin', trollin', trollin'
Though the streams are swollen
Keep them dogies trollin'
Rawhide!
Rain and wind and weather
Hell-bent for pleasure
Wishin' my pal was by my side.
All the things I'm missin',
Green Skittles, love, and pissin',
Are waiting at the end of my ride

CHORUS
Move 'em on, head 'em up
Head 'em up, move 'em on
Move 'em on, head 'em up
Rawhide!

Count 'em out, ride 'em in,
Ride 'em in, count 'em out,
Count 'em out, ride 'em in
Rawhide!

Keep movin', movin', movin'
Though they're disapprovin'
Keep them lenses movin'
Rawhide!

Don't try to understand 'em
Just load, soup, and scan 'em
Soon we'll be shootin' JPEG's with wides,
My hearts a' palp-a-tatin'
My true love will be waitin',
Be waitin' at the end of my ride.

Rawhide!
Rawhide!

 

[Rob5589]

Canon users are all attractive young woman and handsome men, Nikon users tend to be the more "cellphone on belt" crowd.

No they don't

Actually, think this may be true. After I moved to Canon I started stuffing my cell into my pocket and the wife has been all over me.

 

[zombiesniper]

I thought it was obvious. I shoot a Canon. Therefore it has to be the best

 

[goodguy]

You can talk about this, debate this.......................yad, yada, yada


OR JUST GO AND BUY NIKON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You know you want the best right ?

 

[Solarflare]

Canon users are all attractive young woman and handsome men, Nikon users tend to be the more "cellphone on belt" crowd.

I dont mind the "funny" and "like" votes, but the "agree" vote is really creepy.

There's no "brand vs. brand" comparison. It really comes down to a "model vs. model" comparison. [...]

True with compact cameras, wrong with system cameras.

 

[runnah]

Canon users are all attractive young woman and handsome men, Nikon users tend to be the more "cellphone on belt" crowd.

No they don't

Fine, sometimes they put their cellphones in their fanny packs.

 

[Mr.Photo]

One other feather in the cap for Nikon over Canon (in my opinion anyways), is that Canon changed their mount in the mid 80's and went to full electronic lenses rendering all previous lenses incompatible with the newer bodies. When this happened it really upset a large number of Canon users to the point they sold off all their Canon gear (at a significant loss) and jumped ship to Nikon.

Nikon has been able to modernize their lens lineup extensively while retaining their mount system, therefore allowing most of their camera's (film and digital) with exception to the entry level bodies (D3x00/D5x00) to use virtually every Nikon mount lens made from the mid 70's to today.

 

[BananaRepublic]

One other feather in the cap for Nikon over Canon (in my opinion anyways), is that Canon changed their mount in the mid 80's and went to full electronic lenses rendering all previous lenses incompatible with the newer bodies. When this happened it really upset a large number of Canon users to the point they sold off all their Canon gear (at a significant loss) and jumped ship to Nikon.

Nikon has been able to modernize their lens lineup extensively while retaining their mount system, therefore allowing most of their camera's (film and digital) with exception to the entry level bodies (D3x00/D5x00) to use virtually every Nikon mount lens made from the mid 70's to today.

My dads 70-250 tamron from around 1986 work on my d5100, course theres no autofocus but it works fine.

Advice on updating camera Dx or FX ( Genuine advise) | Photography Forum

 

[runnah]

One other feather in the cap for Nikon over Canon (in my opinion anyways), is that Canon changed their mount in the mid 80's and went to full electronic lenses rendering all previous lenses incompatible with the newer bodies. When this happened it really upset a large number of Canon users to the point they sold off all their Canon gear (at a significant loss) and jumped ship to Nikon.

Nikon has been able to modernize their lens lineup extensively while retaining their mount system, therefore allowing most of their camera's (film and digital) with exception to the entry level bodies (D3x00/D5x00) to use virtually every Nikon mount lens made from the mid 70's to today.

Ehh its a double edged sword. Keeping with the old fashioned mount style has limited their sales to only Nikon bodies. Whereas Canon glass can go onto a multitude of still and video bodies. This is great for people who do more than just photos. Right now at my job we have a pool of Canon glass that we pick and choose from when going out on jobsites. I will be adding an EF mount video camera in the fall so no need for new lenses.

 

[Mr.Photo]

One other feather in the cap for Nikon over Canon (in my opinion anyways), is that Canon changed their mount in the mid 80's and went to full electronic lenses rendering all previous lenses incompatible with the newer bodies. When this happened it really upset a large number of Canon users to the point they sold off all their Canon gear (at a significant loss) and jumped ship to Nikon.

Nikon has been able to modernize their lens lineup extensively while retaining their mount system, therefore allowing most of their camera's (film and digital) with exception to the entry level bodies (D3x00/D5x00) to use virtually every Nikon mount lens made from the mid 70's to today.

Ehh its a double edged sword. Keeping with the old fashioned mount style has limited their sales to only Nikon bodies. Whereas Canon glass can go onto a multitude of still and video bodies. This is great for people who do more than just photos. Right now at my job we have a pool of Canon glass that we pick and choose from when going out on jobsites. I will be adding an EF mount video camera in the fall so no need for new lenses.

As you mentioned it's a double edged sword of sorts. While your point is most certainly valid, a point can also be made that Nikon keeping it's mount unchanged makes it possible to get some excellent lenses for much less money than the current lenses.

 

[waday]

 

[runnah]

One other feather in the cap for Nikon over Canon (in my opinion anyways), is that Canon changed their mount in the mid 80's and went to full electronic lenses rendering all previous lenses incompatible with the newer bodies. When this happened it really upset a large number of Canon users to the point they sold off all their Canon gear (at a significant loss) and jumped ship to Nikon.

Nikon has been able to modernize their lens lineup extensively while retaining their mount system, therefore allowing most of their camera's (film and digital) with exception to the entry level bodies (D3x00/D5x00) to use virtually every Nikon mount lens made from the mid 70's to today.

Ehh its a double edged sword. Keeping with the old fashioned mount style has limited their sales to only Nikon bodies. Whereas Canon glass can go onto a multitude of still and video bodies. This is great for people who do more than just photos. Right now at my job we have a pool of Canon glass that we pick and choose from when going out on jobsites. I will be adding an EF mount video camera in the fall so no need for new lenses.

As you mentioned it's a double edged sword of sorts. While your point is most certainly valid, a point can also be made that Nikon keeping it's mount unchanged makes it possible to get some excellent lenses for much less money than the current lenses.

Eh, don't get me wrong there are some decent older lenses that are good, but the ability to use some cheap 30+ year old glass isn't as important as the ability to use a nice L lens on my still camera then switch it over to a 4k video camera is amazing.

 

[ruifo]

1. Auto focus (how fast)
   => Depends on the camera model, not the brand. Nikon D4s/D810/D750, or Canon 1Dx/1Dc/5DS/5DIII - all are good options
2. Dynamic range (depth of colors)
   => Nikon and Sony have the edge in here, not Canon
3. performance in high ISO
   => Canon has the edge in here, not Nikon. But not by far.
4. Sharpness (though this depends on lens as well)
   => Depends on the camera model, not the brand. The best Nikons are: D810/D800E/D7200/D5500/D5300, and best Canons is the 5DS-R, once these are the ones that don't have the low pass filter before the sensor. Nikon has more options. And yes, that also depends a lot on the lenses you're using with them.
5. Censor capability
   => Nikon and Sony have the edge in here, not Canon
6. How user friendly
   => That's so personal... Both Nikon and Canon can be very friendly, if you're used to it.
7. Quality of available lenses (of that brand only)
   => Both Nikon and Canon have the edge, and it's hard to say which is better. In the 1990s Nikon had the edge. In the 2000s, Canon had the edge. Now in the 2010s, Nikon is geting the edge back. Will Canon claim it back once again in the 2020s? I would not be surprised at all. Both have great lenses, and there is no way to go wrong with both brand's lenses.
8. Overall performance
   => Depends what you want it for. Sports? (Canon's 7DII/1Dx/1Dc, or Nikon's D4s/D3s/D750/D700/D300s). Resolution? (Nikon's D810/D810A/D800/D800E/D750/D610/D7100/D5500/D3300, or Canon's 5DS/5DS-R/7DII). Low light? (Nikon DF/4Ds/D750/D610, or Canon's 1Dc/1Dx/5DIII/6D). etc... What kind of performance are you looking for?
9. Durability
   => Depends on the camera model, not the brand. Nikon's D4 family (400,000 cycles), D3 family (300,000 cycles), D800 family (200,000 cycles), D700/D600/D300 (150,000 cycles), etc... Canon's 1D family (300,000-400,000 cycles), 5D family (100,000-150,000 cycles), 6D (100,000 cycles), 7D (150,000 cycles), etc... Built and construction? Canon's 1D/5D/7D families are pretty solid; Nikon's D4/D3/D800/D700/D300 families are also pretty solid.

Good luck!

 

[Solarflare]

Eh, don't get me wrong there are some decent older lenses that are good, but the ability to use some cheap 30+ year old glass isn't as important as the ability to use a nice L lens on my still camera then switch it over to a 4k video camera is amazing.

Thats only a shortterm advantage, though. Obviously Nikon will come out with 4K sooner or later, too. Well, I'm not holding my breath about that right now, but in 2 years pretty much everybody will have 4K - thats the time it takes to develop a new camera and there wont be new cameras without 4K.