Difference between Canon & Nikon

[table1349]

If you are looking for any kind of interchangeable lens camera and think you are buying a camera you are a fool. You buy a camera with a point and shoot. You are buying into a system when you buy and interchangeable lens camera. If you are not looking at the entire system to make your decision you are wasting your time and may well waste your money in the long run.

 

[zombiesniper]

I think the best answer to date is "What do your friends shoot".

Since both Canon or Nikon will do what you need, why not have the added support of people close by that can aid in learning the gear and maybe even lend you a lens that you wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to use.

 

[Solarflare]

1) Which brand is best, Canon or Nikon ? One of my friend said, Canon is good for Ourdoor photography, and Nikon good for studio effects.Is that true ?
2) Which is good for Outdoor photography and low light photography ?
3) What is auto focus, where Canon have only 9 auto focus points and Nikon have 30+
4) Which is easy to handle ?
5) Is there any photo clarity difference between Canon and Nikon cameras ?
6) What is the mager part of Maga pixels in these cameras ?

1)a) Both are good
1)b) Nope. Both can be used for both tasks
2) Both. Unlike many people think, the output of Canon and Nikon cameras differ between camera models themselves, even if they have the same sensor, because theres many parameter influencing this; for example the A/D converter often isnt part of the sensor, and the digital postprocessing never is. These things have a huge influence; for example the D700, the D3 and D3s have the same sensor, but the D700 isnt that great with high ISO, while the D3s was for the longest time the king of low light, even beating the D4 and D4s. And if you like the way Nikon or Canon process colors really comes down to personal taste.
3) Theoretically the more AF points the better, however thats just one of many, many parameters of a camera, and 9 AF points can be perfectly enough for your needs. You wont do sports well in either case with entry level DSLRs, and thats when many AF points help. You dont really need more than 9 AF points otherwise because selecting the correct AF point by hand takes too much time if you have much more than that.
4) DSLRs are NOT easy to handle. Thanks to their relatively large sensors the focus plane is small and missing the focus is very visible. Because of that, initially I had a TON of misses on my cameras. DSLRs expect you to know what you're doing. Want an easy camera ? Get an iPhone or a small compact like a Sony RX100 (I would recomment the Sony RX100 Mark II).
5) Err, define "clarity" ? I only know that as a slider in JPEG generation and some photo editing software. More megapixels mean more resolution. More megapixels also mean less color resolution and less good high ISO, though. Personally I strive to get a good balance of all parameters, not just resolution and sharpness alone. I want my photos to be compelling even if shrunk really small.
6) I'll assume you are talking about Megapixels. Mega means millions. A Megagramm is 1000 kg. A Megameter is 1000 km. A Megasecond would be 1 million seconds. Etc. See: Metric prefix - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - correspondingly, a Megapixel is a million pixel. For example a camera producing 3000x2000 pixel images has thus 6 Megapixel (3000 * 2000 = 6 Million). A camera with twice the resolution, i.e. 6000x4000 pixels, has 24 Megapixels (6000 * 4000 = 24 Million). Quite honestly, Megapixel is mostly a tool for camera companies to sell you their newest trash; theres many such scams going around, including the rumor that old lenses cant handle the high resolutions of newer cameras. And people make a huge issue about the difference between a 16 and a 24 Megapixel camera, or worse between a 21 and 22 Megapixel camera. In reality is its really hard to see the difference in resolution between a 12 and a 24 Megapixel camera, if you magnify the 12 Megapixel image with a good software to 24 Megapixels. I once tried that with an image really full of detail - and was really impressed I couldnt manage to guess the 24 Megapixel image even after pixelpeeping and checking both pictures out for minutes. And above 6, at most maybe 12 Megapixel I would say more Megapixels is really mostly about getting more room for cutting parts of the image, not for more resolution you actually need. And if a camera doesnt have at least twice the Megapixels of another, IMHO thats pretty much irrelevant.

Canon and Nikon have been in competition with each other since many decades. At any time one of them was a bit in the advantage. Right now that seems to be Nikon.

I overall prefer Nikon because they have stayed compatible while Canon descided to create a completely new system in 1987 with the EOS system. This means you can get awesome old glas for Nikon. For example I have now a 300mm f4.5 glas from the early 1980s, optically brilliant, just as good as the current $1800 AF-S 300mm f4 PF VR (actually clearly better because its not PF) and full metal hull (the builtin lens hood is curiously plastic though), and I only paid a bit less then $200 for it and that wasnt even a cheap offer. Theres a lot of this old glas still around.

How accurate is Tony Northrup?

Northrup has a really bad name in the photographic community, I mostly ignore him because the few videos I've watched from havent been that great.

 

[beagle100]

1) Which brand is best, Canon or Nikon ? One of my friend said, Canon is good for Ourdoor photography, and Nikon good for studio effects.Is that true ?
2) Which is good for Outdoor photography and low light photography ?
3) What is auto focus, where Canon have only 9 auto focus points and Nikon have 30+
4) Which is easy to handle ?
5) Is there any photo clarity difference between Canon and Nikon cameras ?
6) What is the mager part of Maga pixels in these cameras ?

1)a) Both are good
1)b) Nope. Both can be used for both tasks
2)24 Megapixels (6000 * 4000 = 24 Million). Quite honestly, Megapixel is mostly a tool for camera companies to sell you their newest trash; theres many such scams going around, including the rumor that old lenses cant handle the high resolutions of newer cameras. And people make a huge issue about the difference between a 16 and a 24 Megapixel camera, or worse between a 21 and 22 Megapixel camera. In reality is its really hard to see the difference in resolution between a 12 and a 24 Megapixel camera, if you magnify the 12 Megapixel image with a good software to 24 Megapixels. I once tried that with an image really full of detail - and was really impressed I couldnt manage to guess the 24 Megapixel image even after pixelpeeping and checking both pictures out for minutes. And above 6, at most maybe 12 Megapixel I would say more Megapixels is really mostly about getting more room for cutting parts of the image, not for more resolution you actually need. And if a camera doesnt have at least twice the Megapixels of another, IMHO thats pretty much irrelevant.

Canon and Nikon have been in competition with each other since many decades. At any time one of them was a bit in the advantage. Right now that seems to be Nikon.

How accurate is Tony Northrup?

Northrup has a really bad name in the photographic community, I mostly ignore him because the few videos I've watched from havent been that great.

right, a small mirrorless that you can carry in your shirt pocket may be the best (phone or otherwise)
www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless

 

[chuasam]

1)One of my friend said, Canon is good for Ourdoor photography, and Nikon good for studio effects.Is that true ?
No.
2) Which is good for Outdoor photography and low light photography ?
Both work equally well.
3) What is auto focus, where Canon have only 9 auto focus points and Nikon have 30+
Depends on the Camera
4) Which is easy to handle ?
Nikon (but some say Canon)
5) Is there any photo clarity difference between Canon and Nikon cameras ?
Yes. Nikon is clearer but you won't see a difference till you get to the D810 level.
6) What is the mager part of Maga pixels in these cameras ?
I don't know either.

 

[mcap1972]

I think it's just a personal preference. I prefer Canon for two reason. Canon has more lenses that I like and also the rendering of colors on Canon is nicer (skin colors).