Is anyone here truly brand loyal to someone?

JerryPH · Apr 24, 2008

I am 50/50 on brand loyalty. I like the Nikon line for their bodies, but am not so blinded to acknowledge that when it comes to accessories or lenses, that there are superior performing options for less money available, and I would be a fool to not take advantage of those options.

"Brand Loyalty" only goes so far with me... that goes for about anything. Don't give me a brand, give me a result!

deudeu · Apr 25, 2008

If i was rich i would be loyal to Leica, Kenzo, KTM, Bang & Olufsen, Romeo y Julietta, Chateau Lafitte, Omega.
But i am poor... Not brand loyal!

kundalini · Apr 25, 2008

I am loyal to my friends and family. There are certain brands that I will give first refusal to, but at the end of the day, it is a matter of what (consumable) has the best to offer at the best price. Photo gear wise I will always give Nikon a first glance, but will consider my options.

ryan7783 · Apr 25, 2008

Nikon, Volkswagen, and Firefox are the only things I'm loyal to other than my fiance. I even tried to like Canon but it just wasn't meant to be.

Now my fiance will tell you that Canon is the best but we often have that argument.

usayit · Apr 25, 2008

Not really..

I shoot with Canon, Pentax, and Leica. My first "real" camera was a Minolta (my father's which he recently gave me to have). My Canon system has a Tamron and Tokina lens. My Pentax has a vivitar used pretty frequently. I have zeiss and voigtlander lenses that are mounted to my Leica rangefinder and mount Leica lenses to my Epson. (Some Leica shooters would see that as sacrilege hehe lol)

We have 4 cars in the family.. Jeep, Mazda, Dodge, and Nissan.

I am pretty loyal to Macs though...

Cloths?... Kohls, The Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy.. doesn't matter to me... Shoes.. I do like Doc Martins but I currently don't own a pair...

Antithesis · Apr 25, 2008

I will be brand loyal to certain things until I've seen evidence that there is something that I would like better. For example, my last two cars have been subarus, both turbos, both fast, but it's time to move on. When I had my WRX I dreamed about an EVO, and I'm sure if I had an EVO, I would have dreamed about an STi. But now, I'm going to get an older BMW so I can bust my knuckles in the engine bay and enjoy tinkering on an engine again. Do I think BMW's are better than Subaru's? Not really, but it will suit me better for the time being.

I have favorite brands in terms of clothes and other stuff, but I certainly won't buy a pair of puma's just because they are puma's. I buy them because they are a good product.

Brand loyalty is sort of doing yourself an injustice. Competitive markets allow you the choice over the products you purchase for the best price.

Now that I think about it, I am probably brand loyal to Apple. Simply because I will never touch a Windows OS computer ever again. Sanity = the win.

9secondadidas · Apr 30, 2008

Unless Apple ever licenses OS X for standard PC computers, I'll be loyal to Apple for my personal computing needs.

Which is funny because I support software that only runs on windows for a living.

Josh66 · May 1, 2008

I only wear adidas shoes - unless, of course, I have to wear something more formal...but, if adidas made formal shoes I would buy them.

In all other things I'm not very loyal. I have preferences, of course, but I'm usually limited by my budget.

Alex_B · May 1, 2008

9secondadidas said:
Which is funny because I support software that only runs on windows for a living.

probably this is why you know so many reasons not to use windows yourself

Garbz · May 1, 2008

O|||||||O said:
I only wear adidas shoes - unless, of course, I have to wear something more formal...but, if adidas made formal shoes I would buy them.

In all other things I'm not very loyal. I have preferences, of course, but I'm usually limited by my budget.

Now there's an interesting one. The shoes I wear is not something I ever associate a brand to. Funny.

usayit · May 1, 2008

Garbz said:
Now there's an interesting one. The shoes I wear is not something I ever associate a brand to. Funny.

Me either.. you're probably like me..

If its comfy and on a sale, I'll buy it. Don't think I spent more than $50 bucks on shoes ever. My parents bought me a pair of Dr. Martins a few years ago... I LOVED them.. but they are never on a good sale.. thus I haven't purchased a pair.

My friends think my priorities are screwed up... I am (for the most part) thrifty but when it comes to cameras all bets are off and the wallet is wide open. heheheheh lol

mrodgers · May 1, 2008

Ah, shoes! I'm not 'brand' loyal to shoes, but store loyal. All my shoes are usually the $6.99 shoes at Walmart :mrgreen:

Jim H · May 1, 2008

Canon made me brand loyal to Nikon after F'ing me back in the late 80's when I wanted to upgrade bodies ... but couldn't take my glass with me.

abraxas · May 1, 2008

I've been buying computers (some for me, some for resale) exclusively from the same small company since 1985.

Ben-71 · May 2, 2008

Good question

Before I bought my first film Nikon, I thoroughly compared between brands.

I even checked the MTBF ('Mean Time Between Failures').

Over all, Nikon seemed to have more pluses & fewer minuses than others,

so that's what I bought.

I've used it for years, and it stood up to my requirements.

Here and there, the system was stretched to the limit of the performance envelope.

e.g.:

I was asked to make a 1meter B&W print of an archeological seal, which was a little ellipse carved stone, 10 mm long. That's a 1:100 magnification...

I used a Kodak film that gave the highest available resolution. I think it was the (discontinued) TP2415, originally made for Sun photographs.

Still, Kodak's recommended development wasn't enough, so I spent a whole day on developing tests, and finally got the dilution-temperature-time deliver what I wanted.

There was no grain on the final print.

With a loupe, only the paper's grain was visible.

This case, and many others, build confidence in the camera, optics and the equipment around them.

As much as you want to be unbiased, when you compare it to another make, you trust and like the system you know, while there's a factor of the unknown in another system.

When it was time to change to digital, much of my system became useless.

Lenses didn't support the new functions, and so on.

(On the digital, there's even nowhere to attach the 2meters "hose" of the soft air-release :wink:

)

'Loyalty'? Digital was a new world of equipment, so, again, I thoroughly compared between brands, down to the last detail.

Again, Nikon seemed to have more pluses & fewer minuses than others, so that's what I bought

I think that I made an objective comparison, but did I? --

Old Nikon lenses still fit new bodies.

Somewhere along the way, Canon "betrayed" customers and changed the bayonet.

Nikon has a tradition of remarkable dedication to the photographers.

With that fact in the back of my mind, can I be objective?

The lack of any malfunction, along years of intensive use, in practically every imaginable condition, on land, air or sea, made me trust a company, trust that I didn't have in the competitor, just because it wasn't given the same chance.

The D300 has a feel more like the F3 than any Canon can have.

Though the D300 is different, it feels like an old glove.

This is no coincidence.

It is a company's policy, to keep continuity along the decades.

What this feel relayed to me was, that when I change to digital, Ill get the same quality & reliability that I had with the film cameras, and that, in the box,

I also get the traditional dedication of the company to the photographers.

So, I really wanted to objectively compare, but didn't all that influence my decision, at least subconsciously ?

Only if my decision was to change to Canon, could I say with certainty that I wasn't biased.

At my favorite photography shop in Tel-Aviv, I got an almost new Canon, to play with for a week. I tried. I tried to like it. I looked for its strong points.

It didn't grow on me.

It didn't feel instinctive in my hands, like the Nikon or the Mamiya 6x7 very quickly did.

I sold the old system and bought a digital Nikon.

It seems to be more complicated than - 'loyalty to Nikon'.

If my subconscious ever turns conscious, I'll know :wink: