Canon vs. Nikon

[Jaszek]

I shoot Nikon because my brother shoots Canon and I don't really like him all that much.

nice lol. So that means my brother has to get a Nikon lol.

 

[SlimPaul]

I don't understand people who speak out against something although they've never used it. Don't say that canon's better if you've never used the better Nikon. Same story with the PC users. They live in their own world, and say all the bad stuff about macs. "they're not compatible, bla bla bla". I've used PC for 5 years before and from my own experience, I can tell you that Macs are better. Period.
Sorry for the little OT.

 

[Dionysus]

I've had canon before and I wasn't happy with it. After I moved to Nikon I saw a HUGE difference! Nikon's faster, more comfortable, has better image quality. Everything's better about Nikon!
And who's saying Nikon's more expensive? Nikon D90 beats the Canon 5D!!

lol the nikon d90's counterpart is not the 5d...its more the 50d

 

[tsaraleksi]

Having used both cameras, I'll be straightforward. If you claim that the D90 is better than the 5D in any critical context, then you flat out don't know what you're talking about. Perhaps you prefer Nikon's native bumped saturation, sharpening, and contrast levels-- that would give the impression that Nikon is better for someone uninterested in spending much time finetuning the camera to their personal needs.

As is usually the case, one company may have a photo-finish lead on the other for a second, then it switches, then back again. To claim one company is vastly superior to the other is foolish.

Interesting note though-- from what I can see, Canon owns a lot of the the "used to shoot medium format before high-res 35mm dSLRs came out" portion of the market because it took Nikon a long time to release a really high-res dSLR. (1Ds mark II came out in what, 2004 vs. the D3x which is just being released).

 

[Dionysus]

I don't understand people who speak out against something although they've never used it. Don't say that canon's better if you've never used the better Nikon. Same story with the PC users. They live in their own world, and say all the bad stuff about macs. "they're not compatible, bla bla bla". I've used PC for 5 years before and from my own experience, I can tell you that Macs are better. Period.
Sorry for the little OT.

it's solid stances like this that cause the flamewars. Words like "better" shouldnt exist in these threads...all sides will think that their brand is "better", especially for them.

ideas and thoughts are fine, its the rigid statements like "______is just better" that has no place. "better" is like beauty, its all in the eye of the beholder.

 

[SlimPaul]

lol the nikon d90's counterpart is not the 5d...its more the 50d

I'm not talking about megapixels...
and the D90 is faster than 5D

 

[Dionysus]

neither am i.

 

[SlimPaul]

neither am i.

I'm not gonna argue with a Canon guy

 

[CAG76]

Wow! I see so many Canon people. That makes me feel good though if I had a Nikon I wouldn't feel bad either. As Teneighty23 said, I bet they are more than likely the same as far as picture quality. It's all about preference.

 

[inTempus]

I think we should start one. See what everyone has to say. Maybe there is someone who has had both. Me? I've just had Canon for years love it, but am thinking about getting a Nikon sometime just to see how they are and how they match up. Im not knocking Canon, but the Nikons seem to be built better. Also the D40, I've noticed has a kit lens that seems and feels so much nicer than the Canon kit lens that came with my XSi. These are things I've noticed, but I do love my XSi.

Let me here what others have to say about their Canons, Nikons, Olympus, etc. and if you have had maybe both or all brands. Which is your fave?

-Christopher

This week I gave myself the opportunity to reevaluate the 50D and the D90. I spent quite a while driving the lady nuts at the local camera store playing with both. Shooting pics, playing with the auto-focus in various light conditions, playing with the menus, figuring out what features I like and don't like... what I need and don't need.

I'm not predisposed to any particular brand as I just got in the DSLR game about a month ago. I was really torn between the D90 and the 40D (at the time) and even after my purchase continued to research the D90 and compare it to my 40D. I sold my 40D this week and started over (I do things like that).

So, here's what I came up with. These items are in no particular order, they are more or less random thoughts on my side-by-side comparison.

1) 50D "feels" much better built than the D90. I suspect it's because the 50D is magnesium and the D90 is mostly plastic. I much prefer the feel of a metal body. I did play with a Canon XSi and I agree that the Canon plastic frames don't feel as well built as the Nikon... but then I don't care for plastic frames in general... and I feel the D90 is more evenly matched with the metal framed 40D in terms of price point and features. The Canon wins in this department.

2) The Nikon kit lens did "feel" better in terms of how smooth and solid the zoom was. The Canon doesn't feel bad at all... but the D90's 18-105mm lens offered a little more resistance to my input than did the Canon 28-135 lens. Having spent time behind the Canon 28-135mm lens I can say it's a pretty good lens and have no problem with it at all. I would say it's a draw here.

3) I much prefer the menu of the 50D. To me it's more logically laid out and easier to navigate. It's not cluttered with a bunch of useless features (to me). I don't care to edit my pictures on the camera or overlay pictures on the camera, I much prefer to use my PC for that. Having these features on a DSLR doesn't make much sense to me and I think it clutters things... gimick features I would never use. The Canon does have one annoying feature, the sRAW stuff. On the 50D they took it even further and now have two levels of sRAW, or compressed RAW format. I see no reason to use sRAW vs. RAW or JPG. This is a relatively minor point. I also don't care for the HD Video of the D90. I thought this would be a really cool feature and it haunted me after purchasing my 40D. Now that I've played with it, I can honestly say I would never use it. It's really pretty bad. Just another half developed gimick I have no use for. Canon wins here.

4) I prefer the button layout on the 50D. Even the trigger on the D90 wasn't to my liking. It points pretty much straight up at an uncomfortable angle (I have huge hands). With the 50D the trigger is angled more forward and is easier for me to comfortably rest my finger on. There were a couple things about the adjustment wheels I did like about the D90. You have one under your trigger finger (Canon has it just above the finger which is good too) and they have one by your right thumb. I like the wheel under the right thumb vs. the big wheel much lower on the 50D's layout. The LCD light button is also easier to hit on the D90 (power switch surrounding the trigger button). Aside from these two buttons/wheels, I like the overall layout better of the other buttons. I especially like the big wheel for menu navigation on the Canon. I could do with either, but the slight advantage goes to the Canon.

5) Playing with the AF was another key issue I wanted to further investigate. I wanted to see if the D90's 11 point auto focus was any better in practical use than the Canon 9 point. I played with them for about 30 minutes, comparing them side by side. I honestly found very little difference in their performance. The D90's AF point markers in the viewfinder were way more subtle and I found it difficult to see them under certain lighting conditions. The Canon was always easy to see regardless of the lighting conditions. Both cameras performed the same under lower light (I couldn't test outright dark conditions) in my tinkering. I found no practical difference in the 11point vs the 9point systems and I prefer Canon's viewfinder AF point markings. I gave a slight advantage to the 50D.

6) I liked the LCD screen on the 50D better than the D90's. While they have similar specs in terms of resolution on paper, the 50D's LCD seems sharper and is viewable at a wider angle than the D90's. I didn't get a chance to see them both in direct sunlight, but in general I really like the 50D's display. It BY FAR blows away my 40D's display, and this alone would be enough for me to jump ship from the 40 to the 50D.

7) I like the fact the 50D has a faster continuous shutter speed than the D90. I also like that I have an extra stops on the ISO and on the shutter speed with the 50D. In practice I don't know how much of a difference this would make in shooting pictures or how often these extra stops would be used (I'm still a noob after all)... but I do like having them there to play with.

8) I don't have first hand experience, but I've read on the 'net that the D90 has trouble connecting to PC's sometimes via its USB cable and to be prepared to use a card reader to get your images off your camera. I didn't have this problem with my 40D and I suspect the 50D is no different. I prefer to connect my camera via USB and not be forced to pull my memory card out every time I want to dump images or be forced to carry a card reader with me in my Macbook Pro bag.

9) I've not seen any appreciable difference in image quality between the two cameras. I would say they're pretty evenly matched on this front. It boils down to features, layout and construction for me.

I would say I'm quite comfortable sticking with Canon and the 50D on my next purchase.

If I were looking at staying in the D80/XSi-XTi realm I would have to do another evaluation. But in the higher end models such as the D90 and 50D I believe the advantage goes to Canon - at least for my personal needs. Heck, I would say the 50D is more evenly matched with the Nikon D300 than the D90 which is even better given the price difference.

YMMV

 

[CAG76]

SlimPaul I am a Mac man too! Grew up on PC and had PCs for 15 years. I've worked on a Mac for 10 and about time I finally got me my own iMac. Not even a Mac Pro and I just love it! No problems with that, that I am having even with my PC at work. I don't dog PCs, but I do like Macs better. I am a graphic designer anyways, so we have more of an advantage with Mac.

 

[andrew99]

Well this thread has more level headed posts than I expected!

Both systems are great, the two best out there. You can't go wrong with either one. I chose a Nikon as my first camera, mostly just because of the ergonomics and I liked the large, bright LCD screen.

So what generalities has everyone noticed about Nikon and Canon? Let's stay objective without the brand loyalism.. This is what I've noticed from my own experience and also reading on the internet:

Canon seems to produce slightly sharper images. Could be due to in-camera processing, though.
Nikon seems to produce stronger colours and better contrast, also could be due to in-camera processing.
Nikon seems to have better ergonomics, but this is purely subjective...some people might hate Nikon's menus and button layout.
Nikon has a better flash system.
Canon lenses are a bit more reasonably priced.

 

[usayit]

I think we should start one. See what everyone has to say. Maybe there is someone who has had both.

START ONE... sheesh... there are at least a two dozen of them every year. :er:

 

[mrodgers]

I have a Fuji, and it's also not a dSLR. Thus, I don't have much of an opinion, but.......

Image quality wise, I've seen great images from Nikons, Canons, Sonys, Pentax, Fuji........ They are all pretty much the same when you get right down to it. Even with kit lenses, how can you complain about quality of any dSLR when looking at comparable models from each company.

So, we move on to feel and ergonomics. I have played briefly with a Canon XTi and in the stores played with a D40 and an XS. In my hand, with the D40 my finger was on the shutter button at all times with my thumb or fingers of my other hand free to move to all the other buttons. Finger at the ready on the shutter no matter what button I wanted to hit to change something. The Canon XS, several functions would require my index finger to move off the shutter. I believe it was the same with my friend's XTi, had to pull the finger off the shutter to use the scroll or a few of the buttons.

That sells me on Nikon if I were looking. Of course, that isn't looking at the higher models, but I wouldn't be looking at spending what I would spend to replace my POS car on a camera. The way the XS I played with in the store just seemed all wrong to me. The D40, I could easily adjust anything with only picking up the camera for the first time and for the second time ever having a dSLR in my hand. The first dSLR I had in my hands was the friend's XTi of which I had to hunt around to find what would adjust what, all the while him telling me, "You'd better not mess up my settings." Which that is funny beings that he uses it in full auto of everything, LOL.

 

[epp_b]

Wow... page 3 and no digression into a flat-out flame war yet, I'm impressed.

I have a Nikon because, well...it was the cheapest "big name" DSLR that I could find at the store I was browsing at the time. I didn't actually know much of anything about cameras or photography at the time.

If I had to choose again, I could probably be swayed either way, but not likely in the way of any of the other brands.

I like Nikons for their intuitiveness, navigability, handling and comfort. Their LCDs are also better. The vast compatibility of the F-mount can be both a blessing and a curse. I can buy just about any old manual lens and use it on my newest digital body and vice-versa. But, then I have to buy all this old crap, because I can! It's so cheap!

If I could get over not having the giant wooden hands that Canon seems to model the cameras for and having to dig through menus for basic, frequently-used settings, I could swayed towards Canon because of their no-nonsense EOS system. An EOS lens is an EOS lens is an EOS lens. Is it any wonder there's no such thing as "CAS"?

Sony: maybe because of the compatibility with the Konica-Minolta system that they inherited and their very fast AF system. But, I generally don't like Sony as a company.

Pentax: nope. I hate those stupid electronic focus rings.

Olympus: Handling is OK, similar to Nikon...but 4/3rds, are you kidding?