Nikon or Canon

[Legoz]

Hi, Im new to photography

I want to buy a dSLR and I've heard that Nikon & Canon are good manufacturers in dSLR's.
But what I want to know is, which is better? Or are there any other brands that are good in dSLR's?

Thanks!

I can see that the rest of the guys are not very helpful when they request you to read reviews and forums.
I note from your post that you are a newbie. As such, its already difficult to know what you want to shoot...let alone decide which camera brand is better.

I would suggest you buy the Nikon D300 and the Cannon 40D.. use both cameras and decide for yourself which is better. Once you establish your needs, you can sell away the other camera that you find is not so useful to you.

I can be contacted via PM when you need to sell the camera. I hope you sell the Nikon D300 though..

Regards
Very Helpful.

 

[lsisaxon]

Regards
Very Helpful.

Indeed... I think TS should buy a D3 and 1DsmkIII instead.. ;p

 

[vonlichenstein]

I can see that the rest of the guys are not very helpful when they request you to read reviews and forums.
I note from your post that you are a newbie. As such, its already difficult to know what you want to shoot...let alone decide which camera brand is better.

I would suggest you buy the Nikon D300 and the Cannon 40D.. use both cameras and decide for yourself which is better. Once you establish your needs, you can sell away the other camera that you find is not so useful to you.

I can be contacted via PM when you need to sell the camera. I hope you sell the Nikon D300 though..

Regards
Very Helpful.

why not he buy the whole range of Nikon, Sony, and Canon cameras? that way sure won't regret his choice. :thumbsup: (eh no offense)

your method is very costly leh. D300 is ABOUT $2k. 40D i dunno. but its really damn ex to buy 2 bodies and sell later. AND you lose resale value on it, even if you buy and then sell immediately after. A cheaper idea would be to go meet any one here in CS with the cameras he's considering, and try abit.

If you want to try D80, i have. haha :bsmilie:

 

[Benjamin168]

Thanks all!

You've really been a great help & I'll be sure to bear the pointers given in mind.
Once again, thanks!

 

[faaiz]

Run thru a small survey, go for roadshows, see what each company offers

 

[Deming86]

The Light or the Dark Side, what matters is you enjoy what you are shooting with! *Then again i always winch when i hear the nice cool shutter sound of a Nikon set...* hahaaa

 

[calebk]

The Light or the Dark Side, what matters is you enjoy what you are shooting with! *Then again i always winch when i hear the nice cool shutter sound of a Nikon set...* hahaaa

Winch?! You meant wince didn't you?

Frankly, the most important thing to me about the mirror slap sound is not so much the sound itself (like whether it makes you feel good), but rather how unobtrusive it is. The Pro body mirror slaps are always a tad less obtrusive than those on lower end cameras.

 

[Benosaurous]

another fire session, the reason why we choose not to answer the new guys with this question .... pick a side, and here goes the flaming session.

Both brand is good, and like other previous users said, you cant go wrong, one brand wins this year, the other brand overtake the other year, this is technology cycle.

Most importantly, you must go down and test the cameras, knowing your budget and test the cameras within your budget, ignoring the freebies first and feel which camera calls for you literally.

i'm recommend you to go down to MS colors at AMK or Cathay Photos at Penisular Plaza/Marina Square, they offer good service and you can test most of the cameras/lenses in their shops.

You must love your camera to love shooting, i dont want to see another guy complaining in either of the sub forum about how bad their camera is, if you do a flickr search, all the major brands shoot fabulous photos

 

[lsisaxon]

Winch?! You meant wince didn't you?

Frankly, the most important thing to me about the mirror slap sound is not so much the sound itself (like whether it makes you feel good), but rather how unobtrusive it is. The Pro body mirror slaps are always a tad less obtrusive than those on lower end cameras.

Nikon seems to have it the other way round.. The mirror slap of the semi-pro and amateur bodies sounds more muted than the single digit bodies.

 

[liionel]

markon.

endorsed by entropy_h, period.

 

[PreciousP]

Setup your budget, say $1.6k or $10k, whatever the number.

Goto each camera brand forum and post the question: Hi Bro and Sis, I have $xk budget, which camera would you recommend?

Also make sure you included a list of lenses you want to use, if you know.

Get the answers and do an internet review of each of these cameras. Do a shortlist. Also check out the prices of lenses you might want to own, cause the DSLR game is a never ending thing.

Then go to a reputable camera store, put your $xk on the table, and try out each of the camera you shortlisted.

Buy the one that you like most, in terms of handling and how it feels to you, and how the output look (the best handling camera that doesn't give you the look and feel isn't any good).

If we start going through pros and cons of our favourite brand this will get to become a flaming war. Ask the brand question at each brand's HQ (i.e. the forum pages) and you'll hear the good, the bad and the ugly side of all these cameras.

Me? I use Nikon, been with it since 1985. Can use my 1959 Nikkor on my 2008 D60, ditto 1992 SB-24 on my 2008 D300, or my 2008 AFS 60mm micro on my 1969 Nikon F Photomic FTn. If I had started with Canon (almost bought the T90) I would have had to dump a few FD lenses, ditto Minolta MD lenses (almost bought the X-700).

If I had use this approach in 2008 I would have ended up with S5Pro, but my head said D300.:embrass:

 

[eosdigital]

I believe only the brand war will end if Canon and Nikon merge with each other :bsmilie:

CaNikon? :sweatsm:

 

[deklan]

wads the TS trying to find out from his question?
is there even an answer to such questions........
apple or orange
BMW or Audi
honda or toyota
harley or ducatti
nike or adidas
hmmmmmmm......

 

[milamber]

It doesn't matter what brand you choose. Just shoot lots of pics and learn as much as you can, with the camera you end up with.

 

[Simon_84]

:hung::hung:...omg here we go again...

 

[Cyberian]

Which is BETTER.. NIKON or CANON?

Well here's the answer... there's not such thing as better.

I use a Nikon DSLR and I do use my friend 450D too. If I have the $$$, I'll buy Canon DSLR too. ;p Too bad money not enough ...

 

[Headshotzx]

As stated above, i'll reiterate:

- Set a budget (1.6k is a good starting budget for your startup set, inclusive of accessories. You might be able to afford more)
- Think of what you want to shoot most often
- Think of how long the camera will stay with you (if it's a few years, get the best you can afford, for example. If you're in it for the tech, start small and build up your lens lineup)
- Readup on information on the internet forums like clubsnap.
- Go to the camera stores and ask around (do NOT go to best denki / courts / challenger, they mostly don't know what they're talking about, I recommend John3:16 @ Funan level5, Cathay Photo @ Peninsular Plaza opposite Funan or MS Color @ AMK Blk 711)
- Ask to feel / try out the cameras from different brands for a few minutes each
- Decide which feels better
- Cross-check with information gathered from the internet
- Decide
- Pay
- Start shooting

 

[PreciousP]

As stated above, i'll reiterate:

- Set a budget (1.6k is a good starting budget for your startup set, inclusive of accessories. You might be able to afford more)
- Think of what you want to shoot most often
- Think of how long the camera will stay with you (if it's a few years, get the best you can afford, for example. If you're in it for the tech, start small and build up your lens lineup)
- Readup on information on the internet forums like clubsnap.
- Go to the camera stores and ask around (do NOT go to best denki / courts / challenger, they mostly don't know what they're talking about, I recommend John3:16 @ Funan level5, Cathay Photo @ Peninsular Plaza opposite Funan or MS Color @ AMK Blk 711)
- Ask to feel / try out the cameras from different brands for a few minutes each
- Decide which feels better
- Cross-check with information gathered from the internet
- Decide
- Pay
- Start shooting

Pretty much complete.

I will add check the prices of lenses and the quality of the output. AFAIK the Canon EFS 18-55 is quite soft (to my eyes). Review performance of lenses you want or need over the internet and then decide.

Of course if you wish to go the way of Tokina / Sigma / Tamron then the step of checkng lens performance vs price is moot.

 

[eblim]

HI Ben,

I guess that I might have been a bit too technical in the language - what is it that you want me to clarify?

You got the general idea, your Nikon lenses can always be used on any Nikon SLR/DSLR camera body, old or preesent or yet to come. But there are limitations to that such as you do not expect a manual focus lens to become an auto focus lens just because you put it on an auto focus body, but that MF (manual focus) lens can still be used manually.

There are Nikon AF (auto focus) lenses with no built in motors to drive the AF mechanism, and there are Nikon AF lenses with built in motors to drive the AF. These are called the AF-S lenses. These are the only lenses that will AF on the D40, D50 and D60 because the camera has no motor to perform the AF function, the lens has it. So if you use an AF (not AF-S) lens on the D40, you will manual focus it.

But that same AF lens will AF with the D 70, 80, 90, 100, 200, 300 because these DSLR bodies have the motor to drive the AF, and you can also use the AF-S lenses on these camera bodies too.

Then that said there are 2 kinds of DSLRs - the DX type with the smaller light sensor and
the FX type with the full 35 mm frame sensor.

The DX sensor in the Nikon is about one third smaller than the FX sensor. The FX lens can be used on the DX SLR and the image appears 50% larger because the sensor is smaller. Some people say this makes your 50 mm lens into a 75 mm lens. But that is not true. Your 50 mm loens is still a 50 mm lens but it can only 'see' what a 75 mm lens would see if you had used a 75mm lens on a full frame camera. The down side of using a FX lens on a DX SLR is that you 'loose' on the wide angle. For example my 20mm lens will 'see' only what a 30mm lens will 'see' in an FX camera.

Now if you use a DX lens on a full frame FX DSLR you will get vignetting, that is a shadow on the edges of your image. This is because there is no way a DX lens designed to be used with a smaller light sensor is going to be able to see what a full frame FX DSLR with a bigger light sensor can see.

Remember I said I did not want to buy any DX lenses, because I knew that eventually I will want a FX DSLR (Nikon now has 2 of these the D 3 and the D 700).
This is the reason because a DX lens will vignette, unless you switch the FX DSLR to a DX mode, in which case your 12 megapixel FX camera becomes a
5 megapixel DX camera. Hell both my D 70s are already 6 megapixels each and most point and shoots are more than 5 megapixels already so why would I ever want to use a DX lens on a top line FX camera? Don't make sense to me.

Hope I can help, you can send me a pm if you like.

 

[imvane]

You might want to head to the following site to do a basic run through of the various aspects of the DSLR that will streamline (hopefully) your thoughts.

http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/what-is-the-best-digital-slr.html