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Canon or Nikon
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BTW: Thorsten… your name always reminds me of “Thor, God of Thunder” so I hereby now crown you “Thorsten, God of Q&A”.
nfl-fan wrote:
BTW: Thorsten… your name always reminds me of “Thor, God of Thunder” so I hereby now crown you “Thorsten, God of Q&A”.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
Both are pretty much neck and neck now, one will inevitably have a sight edge for a few months before the other exceeds it so the timing of the question will give different answers. With that in mind, and as others have recommended, I’d go into a shop and try one of both brands to see which you feel more at home with, try various lenses and browse through the menu system. Then go for Nikon since it will make you much more attractive to the opposite sex.
Which reminds me, we were at the zoo and bumped into one of my wife’s old school friends, she took one look at my D200 and 80-200 with the ginormous hood on and asked if I was a pro. I said no but that the guy with an even larger Canon white lens taking pics of the Lion could be, she said she thought he probably built the lens himself in his mothers shed with a few plumbing pipes and jam jars :)
Hehe..I ‘ve always been a bit envious of those Canon white lenses…in fact I was even thinking of picking up the white version of the Nikon 70-200VR when I have enough money. I think they look more pro…maybe it’s because ya always notice them on sports events on TV.
Thanks for all the advice. Just to clarify something, I’m not a total amateur. I’ve had a Pentax film SLR for years and I’m well familiar with the techniques of manual camera usage and darkroom techniques. However I haven’t persued it as vigorously as I would’ve liked over the years and I’ve still loads to learn. The camera I buy will be my first foray into digital SLRs so I want to get the most versatile SLR I can afford. My main interest in the future would be studio portraiture and landscapes. So thanks again for all the advice, it’s been very useful. I’ll let you know what I end up getting
Cheersphildoyle wrote:
Thanks for all the advice. Just to clarify something, I’m not a total amateur. I’ve had a Pentax film SLR for years and I’m well familiar with the techniques of manual camera usage and darkroom techniques.
Ah, in that case if you already have a few lenses, especially if they’re decent ones, why not take Andy’s advice and consider the K20D? The K10D is/was an excellent camera for the money, and I’ve no reason to expect the K20D won’t surpass that. I think they can take just about all the Pentax lenses back to the year dot, but I’ll defer to Andy on that one.
John
That’s right John,
The new Pentax digital models will work with any K mount lens ever made right back to the original K mount in 1975.
All stabilised now too !!! You just enter the focal length into the body for the older lenses.
And one last point. Mike Johnston wrote in his weekly column in Luminous Landscape that he considered the Pentax 77mm Limited to be the best AF lens ever made.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-02-05-02.shtml
Yet the very best AF SLR lenses made today are the Pentax Limiteds. There are only three, and they have focal lengths apparently chosen by means of occultish numerology: there’s a 31mm f/1.8 wide, a 43mm f/1.9 “true” normal, and a 77mm f/1.8 short tele. All three are made of metal (imagine that), focus manually more than passably well, and are of an size and weight that doesn’t constantly penalize you, whether you’re lugging them around or holding them up to your eye on a camera. They have beautiful matching metal lens hoods and a feel of quality that puts them above virtually all other AF lenses.
I ended up getting a Canon 40D and I absolutely love it. I was sort of leaning more towards the Nikon but as so many people said, you can’t make a proper decision until you actually handle the camera. I checked both cameras out in Gunns and within about 10 seconds I knew the Canon was the one for me. I loved the feel of it and the larger size compared to the Nikon gives it a much more professional feeling. Maybe that sounds like a silly reason for choosing it but it worked for me. I also really like the large wheel control on the back. I bought the kit from the UK and went for the 17-85mm USM lens and I find it very good. I know someone mentioned that the kit lenses may not be the best, and perhaps that’s the case, but I did some research on it before I bought and it’s not a bad at all. There was another option that included 2 lenses for a small amount of money extra but I felt I was going to get 2 cheaper lenses rather than 1 better one. So all in all I’m very happy with my choice. In a few years I’m sure I’ll upgrade the body, but at this stage the 10.2mp resolution is sufficient and I can focus on building up my lens collection
My next purchase is going to be a good portrait lens, any suggestions? I heard there’s a new Tamron lens that’s supposed to be great.
Canon 50/1.8 and 85/1.8 are frequently recommended for portraits. I am sure some of the L series zooms that cover 70-100 range would also do a decent job – the 70-200/2.8 for instance.
Expresbro wrote:
Hehe..I ‘ve always been a bit envious of those Canon white lenses…in fact I was even thinking of picking up the white version of the Nikon 70-200VR when I have enough money. I think they look more pro…maybe it’s because ya always notice them on sports events on TV.
Just look at any sport on tv and the press photographers bar 1 or 2 will be using
those “L” lenses the white ones!!I dont think there is anything between Nikon or Canon, I dont know for definite but I think
Canon have a bigger range of lenses.I think also that once you start using either well thats what you get used to, I started with Canon
about 15 years ago and I havnt moved to anything else. Good think or bad thing I dont know.Well, I’m a Canon user. Haven’t really used Nikon, so can’t comment on Nikon.
I really LOVE Canon though, superb image quality, lenses are fantastic (mid to top range).That’s why I mainly sell Canon as I have a very good understanding of Canon cameras.
You get great Sigma lenses as well, hich would both serve Canon & Nikon.
Canon has a very wide range of lenses. If you can afford it, I’d suggest a Canon EOS 40D & EF-S 17-85mm IS USM Lens. You can get both, plus a battery grip for around €1000 nowadays.
My suggestion though, go to a shop and play around.
Pls let us know what you decided on…
Phil,
If you get nostalgia for your Pentax lenses you may be able to mount them on the canon.
I have a manual focus Pentax lens and use it on a Canon digital.
For the moment I’m using a simple mount adapter which doesn’t give me focus confirmation.
I’ve found and ordered a new adapter with some electronics that will coax the camera into giving focus confirmation (in viewfinder).Martin
Ya, sit down and do a hell of a lot of research.. Because depending on the amount of lens you buy for either manufacturer will determine which one your gonna stay with!!!
I would also suggest going into a shop and just getting a feel for each of them, because ergonomically you’ll prefer one over the other, one will just feel nicer in your hand and thats a very important thing.
Don’t rule out Pentax either though…
Take cae and good luck,
AlanI picked Canon as I found them a bit more intuitive to use over Nikon. That said, my major gripe on Canon is their external flash units – they are simply too fragile. Battery doors or the plastic feet are very prone to a knock, which is a great way of quickly bricking a couple of hundred euro of gear.
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