Nikon to Canon..why'd you do it?

[Jorge18]

I've been a lifelong Nikon shooter and recently the Canon cameras have caught my attention. I've noticed that the Canon products are usually cheaper and more easily available. I also like the fact that the Canon cameras have better video as it's something I've been thinking about pursuing.

So my question is to the Nikon guys that have switched to Canon...why did you do it, and how much of a pain is it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Derrel]

Back in the Canon 20D era, when d-slrs had been stuck at 6MP for a while, I bought the then hot new crop-body amateur camera, the Canon EOS 20D. Its image quality was above that of competing Nikons and Fuji d-slrs. A few years later, I bought the then-current EOS 5D, so I could own a full-frame camera. At THAT time, Nikon had NO FF camera,at any price, only the D2x, which I also owned. The 5D did better at higher ISO values than the D2x, AND was full-frame. The D2x was an absolutely FANTASTIC camera body, with the best AF system one could hope for, but it was hobbled by a sensor that got very noisy very fast, and lost dynamic range pretty quickly as ISO levels went up. The Canon 5D on the other hand was a excellent FF sensor in a crap body...slow AF, no peripheral AF points, viewfinder LEDs that were so dim they disappeared when shooting in sunlight, basically a $389 EOS Elan body for the camera, with a really good $2800 sensor inside. I gave Canon a good, fair shake, and bought two bodies, an 18-125 Sigma DC, Canon 50/1.8, Canon 50/1.4, Canon 100/2.8 macro, 135/2.8 Soft Focus,Canon 85/1.8, 135/2-L, 24-105-L, 70/200/2.8 L IS USM, and Sigma 80-400 OS. A pretty decent, two-body Canon system. I gave Canon a good, long trial.

I prefer most everything about the Nikon system's body and control interface and the entire Nikon "ethos". I've recently re-committed to going back to Nikon fully with the D3x, my first new Nikon since 2005. However, I have to say--with the DOF preview button moved to the right hand side, front of the body, and a FUNC button added and placed below the DOF preview button, Canon is now imitating Nikon's exact control placement, and the new 5D Mark III acts a LOT like a pro-Nikon body from 2005-2012. Ergonomically, the new 5D-III is outstanding, yet it still has a lot of Canon DNA that drags it down for me. I still loathe Canon's button and control concepts and the overall "our users are idiots" Canon engineering ethos. I just do not like the way Canon cameras force me to interface with the controls....like for example, the shooting mode button on the 5D-III has a lock on it!!! Good lord-a LOCK on the mode selector? What am I--a toddler??? And...other issues, too numerous to mention, like the alternating shifting of the command functions of the back and rear control wheels!!! With a Canon, it is always a guessing game as to which control will will move the f/stop and which will move the shutter--because the two dials alternate fucntions, DEPENDING on which shooting mode the camera is in...simply ridiculous...

 

[sovietdoc]

I shoot with a 5D III and I agree that having the dials alternate their functions based on what mode you're in is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. Also, on a nikon you can adjust things like focus and shutter presets via turning the dial. On canon, you have to press a button and then select the mode. And on 5D III the zoom button is on the left instead of being next to the main dial on the right WTF.

The camera feels lie it's a part of my hand that's for sure, but some of the button functions and their layouts are frickin stupid. It's almost as if they want people to buy 1D X because it's absolutely flawless without those silly corks. Screw big corporations and their business strategies.

I guess no single camera is perfect...

Of course, if I only shoot in manual or in custom modes I dont care about dials switching functions. But I do like the new DOF preview button location and the fact that I can customize almost every button to do what I want and not the default function.