Nikon or Canon..... Cringe ;)

P

Pro Gressive

Active member
Hey Boys and girls,

I am about to take the digital SLR plunge after having owned 3 previous compacts, the one now being a Canon 800 IS...

I have put together the two following kits as my criteria is that the lense's must fit both 1.6 crop factor and full frame digital SLRs and i need a long lense for shooting fast action and motor sport. This will off course be in daylight.
The cheaper price swings Canons way by approximately $500 unless i go with the Nikon 18 - 200 VR over the 80 - 200? My concern is with the 18 - 200, as it might not be able to keep up with motersports???

Anyway here's the list:

Announcer: "In the left corner weighing in at under 1kg?!? all the way from japan:"


Canon

400D

70-200 f/4

17-40 f/4 L


Announcer: "And in the right corner weighing in at under 1kg as well?!?, all the way from japan:"

Nikon

D80

12-24 f/4

80-200 f/2.8

"Lets get ready to RUMBLE!!!" :violin:


Any information will be GREATLY appreciated :)

Thanks heaps, Ryan.
 
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85mm was always my favorite focal length in still photography, and in digital milimeters, that's what? about 50mm. I noticed in both your packages you have sizable gaps between the longest length of your shortest lens and the shortest length of your longest lens (say that five times fast). It may not matter for what you do, but it would drive me crazy.
 
I've been a Canon fan all my life, but recently when considering switching to digital the thought of Nikon has enticed me. Better lens compability, and I've heard nothing but great things about them, especially the D200.
 
FWIW, the UK photo zine Practical Photography has a comparison, I won't give away their conclusions, but check it out. I think you need to play with both cams and not listen to salespeople or fanboys--and then make your decision. Both companies have a great product line and the lenses you list are all first rate on both sides.
 
I've used Nikon for over three decades now. All the lenses I had in the beginning still work with my current Nikon dslr.

Nothing wrong with Canon either.

It's like the Ford vs. Chevy debate but in the end both of them are capable of driving you to the grocery store. :)
 
Yeah thanks Jeremy i was going to mention something like that!

Ok so some people are Nikon men and some people are Canon men, but what i really want to know is how do these 200mm lense's go with motor sports?

Will the 18 - 200 VR be alright for this???

Im leading towards the Nikon as i really like the layout. Although i have really liked the Canon 70 - 200mm sharpness and bokeh in sample photos! I guess its not really the cameras themselves but what the glass would be capable of???

Thanks heaps guys
 
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The 18-200 VR isn't a professional lens. It is nice for walk around general shooting but it isn't as sharp as things like the 70-200 2.8 VR.
 
Along with the 17-40 L, you should consider the 17-50 f/2.8 Tamron, at $450 it's substantially cheaper and has one more stop of light. You can check pbase.com to see sample images, they're pretty nice.

Like those:

http://www.pbase.com/needles76/image/64314724
http://www.pbase.com/needles76/image/69748782

I think you can get them with both the Canon mount and Nikon mount. So definitley take a look at that lens.


Jeremy-

What lens can you recommend for Nikon cameras in the 70-200 range. It looks like I'm gonna get a d50, but when I was looking into Canons the 70-200L f/4 at $600 seemed like a great deal, are there any similar Nikon lenses?
 
I have been shooting Nikon for about 4 or 5 years now, point and shoots and DSLRs.

I'm currently shooting with a D80 and a Tamron 17-50 2.8.
Just got an SB600 flash.

Even though I'm very pleased with what I'm using now, there is always something else that catches my eye.
Be it a lens, or a small feature in another Nikon, or a Canon, even in Sony or Pentax cameras.
There's always more.
More to invest in the current system I have now, or another system later down the road.

Ideally, I'd like to have both a Canon and a Nikon system, then still have the flexibility to rent a high end medium format every once in a while.
I don't think anybody should pigeon hole themselves into one system. But then again, both systems are fairly versatile so that the user shouldn't ever feel trapped.

Both systems (Canon and Nikon) are uniquely valuable tools when applied appropriately for certain types of photography, yet are flexible enough to perform very well under circumstances that their counterpart is *supposed* to be better at. It just depends on the photographer, their talent and/or skill set. And sometimes, luck.

One of the biggest rifts that sets off debates between Nikon and Canon camps is APS CCD(Nikon) vs Full Frame CMOS(Canon). Somtimes the lenses, but those are brought up with respect to their sensors.
As far as Nikon APS 1.5x vs Canon APS 1.6x sensors go, it's too close to call.
The image quality from both are very good; both exhibiting subtle variations that leave a little more to be desired, but can be corrected with better optics and post processing.

If you can, go out and handle both cameras at a store. Test some of the lenses on the cameras. Get a feel for what they're made of.
 
My extremely subjective thoughts.

I've currently got a Nikon D100 and love it. I went in to look at D80's and D200's with thoughts of upgrading. My thoughts on the D80 were that the body felt cheap, and the controls plasticky. I know it's a better camera than my D100, but playing with it just didn't make me want it, and that's never good. The D200 felt a lot more solid like my D100, but for the price I couldnt talk myself into it. The advice I was given in another thread would be to just get better glass for now and keep the D100, and that's my plan. 6MP is fine for me.

I should look at some Canons. I've never even bothered. Anyone here a D80 owner? Do you like yours? Am i being too picky about the plastic body?
 
Ming said:
Anyone here a D80 owner? Do you like yours? Am i being too picky about the plastic body?
Click to expand...
Well, it suits me fine, I'm not out on safaris or doing anything crazy out among the elements so I don't need something heavy-duty and weather sealed like the D200 or higher. Not saying I wouldn't want it, because if finances allowed I might have chosen that, but the D80's image processor is still better than the D200 in terms of noise reduction.
Anyway, if you were to compare the D80 body, or the D50 body for that matter with any of the Canon Rebels (XT/XTi), you'll notice the Nikons feel better balanced in the hand. However, when comparing anything above that, going into the Canon 30D and up, then you'd have to bring in the D200 to compare.
I personally think Nikon has built the best APS camera line on the market.
And they should be, considering they've been entirely devoted to it, no full frame. Not yet anyway.
 
Let's keep this thread on topic please. If you have specific recs regarding the products listed by the original poster that's cool, but let's can the generic N vs. C stuff or the thread gets locked. Tanks.
 
Barry_S said:
Let's keep this thread on topic please. If you have specific recs regarding the products listed by the original poster that's cool, but let's can the generic N vs. C stuff or the thread gets locked. Tanks.
Click to expand...
Barry, were you referring to my post?
With regard to what the orginal poster asked and what Ming asked, I was just curious where my post would have drifted out of line with respect to those questions?
 
As a Canon guy, Digigenic, I dont see anything wrong or inflamatory about your post or any others. Just a clean, informative opinion from a user.

Now get your act together before the thread disappears.


(I think using a Canon and editing on a PC is the only way to go. Have you ever seen photos taken with a Nikon and edited on a Mac? They are always out of focus and the compositions are always off. Stick to Canon and PC.)



-GageFX
 
Guys--I pulled any posts that didn't *specifically* deal with the gear listed above. We all know some of us like one brand over another, but I don't see how that helps Pro Greessive and we honestly don't need a long running Nikon vs. Canon thread, because everyone knows the superior brand is......gaghhhk.....ahhkk...polonium.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
 
I firmly believe he is better off buying a used, higher grade body (a 20D in this instnce) as opposed to the Canon he listed. ... I will also advise that he get a used higher grade body from Nikon over the consumer body he lists.

..offtopic text deleted...

-GageFX
 
Go with the Nikon gear you have listed. I bought Canon and it's all great stuff, in fact I see the two brands as apples and oranges (pick your flavor, etc.) BUT...if you ever want to use your lenses on any 35mm adaptor or RED then you'll want the Nikon lenses that allow manual iris adjusting. For that reason alone I regret going down the Canon path.
 
Hey Boys thanks for all you help. Now the reason im going for the d80 or 400d is because as we all know its the glass that matters and so thats what im going to spend the majority of my budget on.

Can someone maybe give me any advice on these 200mm lenses as i really like the canon, but would they really look that different in real work situations??? Will one work better than the other for motor and fast paced sports?

Im a little put off the nikon 80 - 200 due to the slight softness at 200mm... but dont know if its only on the macro side of things or not?

Cheers
 
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Also from what i have read about this is that all these lenses cannot be used with the red as they still have an electronic iris that is controlled by the SLR body...
 
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