im going to buy a new digital slr,but im unsure which is the best make.it will be my first slr any help please

To be honest just about the same
all depends on the feature/functions
But both great makes to be honest.

Probaly come down to how the camera feels in your hands and ease
of use of the cameras menu system

CANON 🙂
not so much a matter of better but personal preference

Agree with all the above. The only thing is you have any existing gear for either brand. Then stick with it.

If starting from scratch, and would like a slightly better choice of second hand, then Canon gets my vote. Not much in it though!

Canon.

Nota SLR but as a compact.

Ixus 1000 HS ….. Love It 🙂

Nikon bodies are a bit larger than Cannon, hence they have a different feel. Check out Ken Rockwell’s website for a comparison of one vs the other (in conclusion, just down to personal preference).

Try both. They are both excellent and it really comes down to which feels the most usable in your hands.

A (very) general rule of thumb: those with proper manly hands prefer Nikon; those with dainty little girly office-boy hands prefer Canon. 😉

I went for a Nikon. Mainly because it just felt better in my hands. I also thought the lower priced Canon’s had a cheap plasticy feel to them. Higher priced Canon’s were fine. Nikon seemed consistent throughout their range.

a camera v a projectile weapon? hmmm

i found canon easy to use i think the word is “intuitive” but not had any experience of Nikkon

HTH

Canon.
Nota SLR but as a compact.
Ixus 1000 HS ….. Love It

Indesit

Nota camera but as a washing machine.

PWC 8128 W ….. Love It

I also find Canon very natural to use and so they’re my choice. I can’t get on with Nikon, they just feel wrong to me. Apparently the Nikon AF is a bit faster but never had much problem with focusing on the Canons I use..

I chose a Nikon D500 over the canon as it just felt more solid and felt better to hold. Its personal preference really. Plus the Nikon was slightly better on a couple of features i wanted.

simonfbarnes – Member
CANON
not so much a matter of better but personal preference

Thought you were a D300 man SfB – no?

Depends on what you shoot. Pro sports and wildlife photographers mostly use Nikon and portrait/wedding guys shoot Canon.

They say Canon build cameras for enthusiasts and Nikon build tools for photographers.

Nikon, go to jessops andf theyll try and flog you a sony , lump of plastic, really heavy thing it was.

I got a Nikon really good camera.

Thought you were a D300 man SfB – no?

correct, well, at least that’s what I have at the moment – I was correcting the spelling 🙂

I wouldnt knock the offerings from sony or my choice of pentax both film and dslr… Both are excellent esp at the lower end / beginner market – and have image stabilisation built into the body vs the lens and so you can use legacy / older lenses and get some benefit… just my 2ps worth… I do like nikon though re friends dslrs..

paul

they all do the same thing equally well unless you are a pro, get the one that feels best in your hand

that’s Nikon though clearly

Oh and buy the model down from the one you choose and save the money for lens upgrades, far more important than the body

JCL; none of that is true. I know a few pro tographers. They either use whatever their employer can get a good deal on from their suppliers, or what they themselves prefer. Canon have long been favoured by sports photographers, because they had faster auto-focussing. Pretty much equal now though. Nikon were the cam of choice for the majority of photojournalists, because of the toughness of the equipment. I’ve seen old Nikons that have been hit by bullets/shrapnel, yet still worked.

As for other areas; again it’s what the company uses or the photographer prefers.

They say Canon build cameras for enthusiasts and Nikon build tools for photographers.

Such nonsense. I’ve sold cameras and handled hundreds, even thousands, of different models. Canon have made some brilliant cams; F1, A1, T90, Eos1 to name just a few.

simonfbarnes – Member
I was correcting the spelling

Fair enough – I’ve given up with spelling and grammar on here (even my own). I mean it’s deplorable a lot of the time. If they were kids you’d send them to do their homework again.

No, I’d beat them and then lock them in the cupboard.

Without any supper.

They say Canon build cameras for enthusiasts and Nikon build tools for photographers.

Whilst not strictly photography, the last episode of House Season 6 was shot entirely on Canon 5DMKIIs afaik, and it looks perfect.

Interesting opinions but I’ll take DxOMarks test results thanks.

http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/en/Camera-Sensor/Sensor-rankings

Decide how you want to use the camera.
Go to a shop.
Play with each camera.
Choose the camera that satisfies your needs.
Job done.

I bought a Canon because I liked the colour of their lenses. Personally I think the EOS5Mk11 is the only camera an amateur will ever need, but some say they’re expensive. 🙄

Not much in it. I went for Canon as I had some lenses from an earlier film SLR. Biggest choice is full size sensor or APS-C size. Even then I found the choice made by the cost and size of camera. Perhaps it was my soft, delicate hands that made the choice for me

A (very) general rule of thumb: those with proper manly hands prefer Nikon; those with dainty little girly office-boy hands prefer Canon.

Sony etc are OK, but Canon and Nikon seem to have a wide selection of lenses if you want to do more playing.

I’ve heard it said that Nikon make better cameras, but Canon make better lenses.

Not sure if there’s any truth in it but there you go. 🙂

As for toughness, I bought a Canon 400D a few years ago, (mainly becasue I had a Canon compact and the buttons were similar and the memory card was the same) and it’s been faultless, absolutely faultless. I’ve dropped it, crashed on it hard enough to damage a lens and actually thrown it down the road at 15mph trying to take a low-down, rear-facing shot of the riders behind me! The only damage was a bent flash mount, which I bent back.
It’s been soaking wet more than once, carted round numerous rides, chucked in various bags and generally abused, but it just carries on clicking away
I’m now committed to Canaon as I have 4 Canon fit lenses, and I’m very happy with my choice, becasue it’s a tough old tool and very intuitive to use
(I tried a 450D at the weekend actually….. I wasn’t so keen on the button layout on that: All on one side of the screen, so you have to operate it with one hand. Bigger screen was nice though)

I’ve used a couple of Nikons and they feel great too, so I imagine I’d be just as happy with one of those too, if I’d have taken that route 🙂

I brought a canon digital slr as I was upgrading from film, so all my lenses fitted, so I kind of became brand loyal to save money. If I was starting out I’d buy the nikon as I think the build quality is better, not that canons is bad. The nikon feels less like a toy to hold.

The nikon feels less like a toy to hold.

Having used both, I don’t think there’s any difference to be honest, for comparable models. It’s like saying one hammer is better than another IMO! 🙂

Come on PP – of course one hammer is better than another. Size and balance are very important. Of course if you’re using your SLR to bang nails…

Only with really big stuff like sledgehammers……

8)

Yep, all depends which one feels best in your hands. Nikon’s for ham fisted monkeys, canon’s for people who don’t have fingers like bananas. 😉

They say Canon build cameras for enthusiasts and Nikon build tools for photographers.

LOL. Personally I believe there’s absolutely nothing in it but if you *really* want to see what professionals seem to use the most, check out any scrum of news photographers at newsworthy events. You’ll see a field of cream L lenses.

edit: After a quick image search I’ll say that gap has been closed somewhat. See this picture from the 2008 olympics. Seems to be about 50:50 now.

Nikon for me:

Controls seem more logically laid out and fewer lens standards so less confusion over choice – almost every lens fits every body.

But more to the point, when I was a scruffy student with a bent Praktica I always wanted one of these:

rather than the Canon alternative.

And as far as I know, no ones ever taken a Canon to the moon 🙂

Get whichever one your mate-who’s-really-into-photography uses.

Then you can scab lenses, flash systems, accessories etc off him.

(Nikon D5000 here)

Come on, there are other makes just as good! Sony and Olympus for a start. Sony offer way more value for money than Canon and Nikon, with more features.

Pro sports and wildlife photographers mostly use Nikon and portrait/wedding guys shoot Canon.

bobbins!!!

Come on, there are other makes just as good! Sony and Olympus for a start. Sony offer way more value for money than Canon and Nikon, with more features.

True molgrips, but will Sony still be in the camera business in a few years time? They’ve already made noises about abandoning the whole thing a few years ago when the PS3 tanked against the Wii – with Nikon & Canon, photography is their core business.

Sony do offer good value and have moved on a great deal since the rebadged Minoltas they originally sold, but why take the risk on a system that may not exist next time you want to upgrade your camera body?

try before you buy. if it’s just for pics of sunsets on flickr any differences in image quality between sensors/lenses are irrelevant

Sony = Minolta, no? Been around for a long time. Although fair point about support. It’d be a shame, as their cameras were nice and offered something different. I almost bought one because of fast continuous focus live-view.

Olympus have cameras as their core business – and it shows in their kit. Consistently well reviewed and yet not many people buy them. Perhaps because people march into Jessops and say ‘give me the one that’s better than the Dxxx’ – so that they can just pose around with them gadget-show style.

For this reason, other makes are often on special offer and represent better VFM in many cases.

Molgrips, I agree with you about Olympus:

They have a great reputation and are offering something different from the mainstream with Four Thirds, excellent for people who value light weight and portability.
Sadly, most people (me included) seem to have chosen a bigger sensor over convenience, even though we probably wouldn’t have noticed any perceptable drop in quality.

I think with the switch to digital, people wanted to stick with the most established brands and the most common format, as the technology was still pretty much in it’s infancy and no one wanted to end up with loads of kit for a defunct system. Shame really.

Pentax seem to have dropped off the pace with digital as well – shame, as I’ve got a couple of older lenses that might have proved useful. However whenever I’ve looked at their recent cameras, and Olympus as well TBH, they just don’t seem to have the solidity and build quality of the Nikons I’ve tried.

Interesting opinions but I’ll take DxOMarks test results thanks.

the trouble with the DXO rankings is they don’t take into account the native iso of the sensor. for the 5dII it’s 160, and you should only ever use multiples of this. i only use 160/320/640/1280 as they are noticeably cleaner and have avoid the pattern noise that can show up in the blacks.