Heard both camps and now I'm confused-CANON or NIKON!

Joined: 31 May 2005 Posts: 127

I'm having difficulty in choosing which one to buy, CANON XTI or NIKON D80. I thought I already made up my mind with Nikon. Comparing them feature for feature they are almost the same. So it boiled down to looks. I liked the Nikon better because it's bigger and fuller when I'm gripping it. The looks are also better with the controls and LCD screen at the back and at the top of the camera. One sales person told me that Nikon has not changed their lense mount since 1952 so you can pretty much be sure that the lenses I buy will be transferrable if I upgrade 5, 10, 15 yrs from now.
Another sales person told me that Nikon is still gear driven and the mechanism is in the body which makes it heavier, slower and noisy zooming. He let me test the two cameras. He pointed out that the Canon lense is electronic and the mechanism is in the lense w/c makes it faster and quiter when zooming in and out. Plus he showed me the vertical grip that you can attach which also makes it a bigger camera if I want to. Body for body, Nikon was made in Malaysia, Canon in Japan. So please give me feedback to break the tie. I would appreciate it. Thanks.

Joined: 31 May 2005 Posts: 127

Also, is it better to buy the camera body only and get a lense separately than buying camera with the lense that comes with it, 18-55 mm. Is this "common" lense really usefull? Thanks.

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 10:50 am

Buy the one that you like best. They are both brands of excellent quality. Each brand has its own strengths and weaknesses, and it all comes down to a personal choice. Read a lot and then go out and actually handle the candidates you have selected.

The default kit lens for the Nikon used to be the Nikkor 18-70mm, which is a very good lens. It is still available in some kits. The Nikkor 18-55 is of lesser quality.

Joined: 10 Nov 2006 Posts: 127

Either way youll be happy with your choice they're both excellent cameras, 18-70mm kit lens is nice but you might want to get the 80-200 lens along with your kit just to give yourself some more range when trying to get certain shots cuz a 70mm zoom really isnt that good

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 10:27 pm

Why are you just looking at Nikon or Canon? What about Pentax or Olympus?

Joined: 31 May 2005 Posts: 127

Thanks for all the input. I made a decision. I'll get the Nikon because it boils down to the looks and how they feel in my hands. After considering it, I don't need a really fast AF nor a really super quiet lense that comes with Canon. In fact I like the camera noise, hearing those gears adjust. I especially like Nikons sound. Although I like the white Canon lenses but they are really expensive. My choice boiled down to the above description since most of their features are at par with each other.

I was looking at Nikon or Canon because these two pretty much sets the tone in the Camera world.

Joined: 02 Dec 2005 Posts: 63

Buy whichever one feels better in your hand and against your face. If you don't like how it feels in your hand when you use it, you won't want to use it. Nikon lenses may be *louder or *slower when compared to an electronic lens (though I've never heard of that, probably just a sales thing) but it's going to be a negligible difference. Think about it - a company that hasn't changed it mount in over 50 years is going to make lenses that are somehow inferior? Nikon lenses focus just fine, and the amount of noise they make and how fast they focus is a function of how much you pay for it.

When I was looking at cameras around a year ago, I didn't like the Canon interface, the layout of the controls of the camera, so I went Nikon. Buy whichever feels more comfortable to you.

Joined: 31 May 2005 Posts: 127

Thanks. Probably is a sales thing. I wouldn't notice how loud or slow it is since I'm not a pro. I just made my decision, NIKON.

Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 6:46 pm

I believe the salesman is more or less lying. You can get HSM (the companies all call it something different, but its basically the same, fast and quiet AF) type lenses for both Nikon and Canon systems, and since Pentax is the only company to have ever made an SLR with power zoom the motor certainly will make no difference to the speed of zooming.

Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 8

Choice is not that difficult I guess . . . with Canon glass, you can only use Canon camera's . . . BUT with Nikon glas you can use nikon camera's . . . . AND the FUJI DSLR camera's like the Fuji S3 Pro or the new Fuji S5 Pro that will be available soon this year .

Joined: 10 Jun 2007 Posts: 6 Location: Greenville, SC

I'm a Canon man myself, but it's always about what you like.

They are both great camera manufacturers. If you get an recommendataion in this post, it will be what that member uses.

Good luck in your search and enjoy shooting.